Hulled Hemp Seeds Vs. Whole Hemp Seeds

Hulled hemp seed, which is the whole seed with the crunchy outer shell removed, comes by quite a few names like hemp hearts, shelled hemp seed and hemp nut. Since the hulls of the hemp seed are quite crunchy and contain a lot of fibre, we as a society are not used to eating this kind of item. Hulled seed was created essentially to make eating hemp seed more appealing and easier to eat. When you bleach wheat to achieve white bread, you essentially are removing all of the nutrients. Why do it then? Simply, white bread is softer, more palatable and more visibly appealing. It is not more nutritious then it's whole grain counterpart. This same analogy can be used for the difference between whole seed and hulled seed.

One recent comment from one web site reader commented that this is true in most other situations but that hemp seed actually becomes more nutritious when you remove the hulls. While this is true to an extent, it does increase the overall percentage of protein, increases the total EFA content and reduces the carbohydrate percentage, the material you are removing also contain some excellent nutrition.

When you remove the hull of the seed you are causing several detrimental effects to the nutritious whole seed. The main detriment is that you lose the hull, an excellent source of minerals but more importantly, a rare source of insoluble fibre, something that we get very little of in our modern diets. You can use the hull of the hemp seed to gently cleanse your colon and flush toxins from your intestinal tract. It is an excellent source of a type of fibre that is not found in our diets because of over processing of foods. Another good source of insoluble fibre would be soil, something not commonly consumed.

Whole hemp seed is also an excellent source of minerals and is much more stable out in the air then hulled seed. All in all, we feel that even though the seed is small, very crunchy, and may get stuck in your dental work, the benefits of the added fibre in your diet significantly outweigh the detracting factors of the hull. In the end though, we would much rather you eat hemp and gain the benefits of the excellent nutritional value of the seed from either the whole seed or the hulled seed.