June 23, 2021 • 32 mins
This plant and its nutritious, gel-producing seeds have been used as a staple crop, in nanotech, and as an indoor pet. Anney and Lauren dig into the science and history of chia.
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Speaker 1 (00:08):
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of iHeart Radio. I'm
Annie Reese and I'm Lauren voc obaum, and today we're
talking about chia and chia seeds, yes, which a lot
of you have suggested. Um, and I couple years ago
I went on this huge like chia seeds phase. I
(00:29):
was putting them in everything. I was putting them in
baked good and smoothies, UM, yogurt. I would use them
as a substitute for eggs. But it kind of fizzled out. However, Um,
as some of you listeners know, as Laurence certainly knows,
throughout this pandemic, I have acquired more snacks than I
normally have. Yeah, like people giving me things or just
(00:53):
you know, just in case. Um. And it got to
the point where it was a health hazard when I
would open my pantry and like things would fall out,
and I kept putting it off, like I just kept thinking,
this is gonna be a miserable experience. I bet something's
broken in the back and there's cockroaches, Like I like concern,
share share, just anxiety about it. Yeah. Yeah, But a
(01:15):
couple of weekends ago, I had somebody over for the
first time in a year like that isn't like super
close to me, so I felt like I did have
to clean up. Um, and I was cleaning out. I
uncovered so many things, over a hundred couzies for sure.
(01:37):
Uh definitely something was broken and it was a tail
password I got injured. Oh I found a packet of cheas. Oh. Yes,
I also found some sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds and
(01:59):
chima okay I had Yeah, well cool, mm hmm. Yeah,
that's my recent chia experience. That is your your arrands
for a very seedy future. That sounds terrible. I I
(02:23):
have never really gotten in on the chia seed trend.
I don't think I've ever used them at home. Um,
but I don't. I mean, not for any particular reason.
I think I just kind of saw the trend happening
because it was quite intense for a few years there,
and kind of went like me, uh that that just
just total noncommittal, like I I don't care about this,
(02:45):
and people care so much about it that I care
less sort of sort of thing, which isn't a very
useful human emotion, but none. Nonetheless, it was one that
I was experiencing, but but doing this research I'm I'm inspired.
Maybe go out and find some girls home, get some
little sprouts going perhaps, Oh yeah, I've got some good ones. Okay,
(03:15):
as we shall talk about later in the episode. But
I suppose this brings us to our question. Yes, chia,
what is it? Well? Chia is an herbaceous plant that
is soft stemmed and smallish in the Salvia genus within
(03:36):
the mint family. A couple different species are referred to
as chia botanical names Salvia Hispanica and Salvia colombarre a. Yes,
we're gonna go with that. They are related to stuff
like sage and time, but are less aromatic and more
commonly used as a small green like like sprouts. Like
(03:57):
other sprouts are used or for their seeds. The plants
can grow to about a meter tall around three feet
and produce these small white and purple or or white
and blue flowers. It's a fall to winter flowering plant,
but grows in the tropics and or subtropics places with
very mild winters like no frost. The flowers will dry
(04:18):
out on the plants and then the seeds grow to
maturity in bunches of four. In those papery little flower
shells um and those seeds are very small and flat,
like like sesame seeds are smaller but a little bit
less pointy. They're technically the whole fruit of the chia
plant um. Unlike fleshy fruits like say, apples, the outer
(04:41):
layers of the chia fruit are thin and dry and
inseparable from the single inner seed of the fruit. So yeah,
that whole fruit is referred to as a seed. And
those seeds come in up neutral shades like white to brown,
to black to spotted, and you can use them as
a topping or addition to baked goods or salads, raw
or toasted. Their flavor is mild and a tiny bit nutty.
(05:05):
The seeds also produce a lot of goo when you
get them wet, like a like a tiny edible gremlin
or mob way. I guess, yeah, I got to be accurate, Yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry,
although gremlins also produce a lot of good when you
(05:26):
get them wet. But anyway, this this goo, in the
case of chia seeds, not magua um is well, actually
probably in both, is called mucilage um, which is a
stuff that gloms onto water molecules and then expands in
a in a matrix holding that water. Yeah, and this's
like slightly sticky matrix of of molecules UM. In nature,
(05:51):
this is useful because it will help like a weed
dry seed, hang onto the water that it needs to
grow UM and or help it stick to say the
of an animal that might help disperse it, and or
will help it stick to the soil that it lands in.
All of this helped chia thrive in the sort of
arid hot areas that it evolved in, namely mountainous regions
(06:14):
of what's now Mexico and Guatemala. The mucilage is also
why chia is a great seedling for small indoor decorative
planters like chia pets, because you just mix like one
part seeds to three parts of water, and within a
very short period of time the mixture will gel up
(06:34):
into this like spreadable goo yeah, that you can easily
plant onto a terra cotta pot or you know, anything
else with a permeable surface up to it, including just
like a paper towel. They do germinate quickly and will
grow sprouts within a few days to a couple of weeks,
so they're they're an easy d I y science and
or decorative project. UM and Yes, you can harvest your
(06:55):
chia pets for for your sandwiches or smoothies. We our
Food Show, despite evidence. I've never thought of it as fur,
but I guess yeah, that's technically what it's acting as.
Scenario yeah uh huh um. Back to the muselage. Culinarily,
(07:23):
the muselage is is useful because it forms a sort
of a gelled texture like like gelatin or pudding or
or egg. Um. So you can use chia seeds to
thicken or add interesting texture to any number of foods. Um.
It's both gelled and it has that little crunchy crunchy
bit from the seed. Um. Tia is used thus in
(07:45):
a in drinks like a like lemonade or other juices,
in both sweet and savory porridges and puddings, as a
vegan substitute for eggs and recipes, or um to replace
some of the oil or egg content in baked goods. Um.
The seeds are sold whole or sessed into flowers, oils,
and gels. Yeah. Um. If anyone has not used Jesus seeds,
(08:08):
I actually think it's pretty cool. Like he gets the
seeds in there and put some water in theno. It's
like a science experiment something I have a horror movie.
You now, they would be a good use for some
special effects type things. Sure? Yeah? Oh man, where I
miss our video series? Where's so gross? Right? Where is Tyler?
(08:34):
And are like time laps? Extreme close up camera? Rig?
I want it? What? What? God? Are the days? Unfortunately?
Where we just spent hours watching honey drip with that
camera focused on it, And then people would come in like,
what are you doing? Oh, we're just filming this honey drip?
All right, look at how cool it is? Okay, bestizing
(08:56):
it was? Anyway, maybe one day, maybe one day, I
got this package of cheese seeds. You can put them
to use. But all right, in the meantime, what about
the nutrition she had? Products are pretty good for you.
The greens have a good punch of fiber and vitamins.
(09:17):
The seeds are more calorie dns. They're oily, with good
fats um and with a with a good punch of
protein and fiber plus a smattering of minerals. Cheese seeds
are apparently the best known source of Omega three, fatty
acids in plants that human people eat, like even better
than flax seed um. The seeds are up to a
third oil by weight and um. They also contain more
(09:40):
protein than corn or wheat, or rice or cunua. They
also contain a number of antioxidant compounds that are being
investigated for helping reduce the risk of a number of
diseases and conditions heart disease and cancer for example. And
that mucilage can help soothe the digestive tract um, slow
your digestion rate, make you feel more full, and help
(10:00):
your body regulate blood sugar levels. So cool stuff. However,
since yes, the seeds contain this stuff that like absorbs
a whole bunch of water if you eat them, make
sure to hydrate, I mean, always make sure to hydrate. Furthermore,
(10:21):
in large amounts gia seeds can have a blood thinning effect.
There's a compound in there that can do that. And
they contain another compound um that that will reduce mineral
absorption from your digestive system into your body. UM. So
you know, a couple of tablespoons fine like a pound.
(10:42):
I don't know, I you know. As as always with
everything um uh, our bodies are complicated. More research is
necessary before ingesting a medicinal dose of anything. Consult with
a health professional who is not us, Yes, definitely not us. Oh,
(11:05):
and that that muselage is also furthermore, furthermore being investigated
UM for for other uses like in manufacturing medicine capsules
and for work in nanotechnology, because the fibers that make
up that muselage are uber tiny. They're like eighteen to
forty five nanometers in length, and and the and the
(11:29):
matrices that they that they build can be quite strong. UM.
So yeah, this could be useful and stuff like control
release drugs. That's so cool. Nanotechnology. You never know, you
never know where the research is going to take you.
You really don't. She affects a nanotech You're all over
(11:49):
the place. We do have some numbers for you, we do. UM.
A single seed can absorb twelve times it's weight in water.
That's amazing. Certainly more than I can absorb. I would
have to calculate. UM. Mexico is the world's largest chia producer.
(12:12):
UM Apparently sprouted chia displays are part of springtime celebrations
in parts of Mexico and throughout Central America. She has
also cultivated in Bolivia, Columbia, Guatemala, Peru, Argentina, and Australia.
The biggest importers are Japan, the United States, and Europe
UM and recently though the the US and a few
countries in the Mediterranean have also started growing it commercially. UM.
(12:36):
The global market is predicted to reach nine point three
billion dollars in value by the end of yeah yeah um.
There are a few a dozen known varieties of chia,
both wild and domestic, and according to the guy that
(12:58):
made them popular, about five of hundred thousand chia pets
are sold the year during the holiday season and yes,
more on that later sold during the holidays, and that's
pretty much the only time they market the product, which
is impressive because daying that commercial sticks with you. Um.
Their website claims that as of fifteen million chia pets
(13:22):
have been sold, which is a lot yeah for decorative
terra cotta. I'm like, okay, yeah, no, you did good.
You made it um And yeah, we're going to cover
some of that in the history section. We will and
(13:44):
we will get into that, but first we're going to
get into a quick break for a word from our sponsor,
and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. So.
Chia seeds originated in the Essential and South America's um
(14:06):
early Mesoamerican people's cultivated chia seeds, prizing them for their
perceived nutritional and medicinal benefit. I couldn't find an exact date,
or even like a general eyes date, but I'm guessing old, old,
long time ago. Yes, yes, um. They were a significant
product for the Aztec empire um, perhaps even a primary
(14:28):
food source and one of the main four components of
their diets. One of the very first known written references
of chia seed supports this fact, a three thousand BC
description of the importance of chia seeds for the Aztecs.
And yeah, they were used in all kinds of things, um,
ground up into flour, mixed with water to make a drink.
They were used in medicines, bird feed, um, pressed for oils,
(14:51):
body paint and as we'd protect paintings and religious statues. Uh. Yeah.
The the word chia in fact stems from a Nahlatl
word for oily, and the shelf life of the seeds
and the flowers one of the things that made it
popular in these times. In pre Columbian societies, it might
have been the second most important crop behind beans. It
(15:13):
was up there, up there. The records are lacking researchers
believe chia seeds were staple for the Mayan's. Historians speculate
it was a cash crops in Central Mexico from fifteen
hundred to nine hundred b C, and that it was
being cultivated in the Central Valley of Mexico from two thousand,
six hundred to two thousand BC. Yeah, I know that
(15:34):
always mixes me up that reverse. Yeah, warriors in these
civilizations may have thought that chia seeds provided stamina, which
they might not have been far off on that um
Chess seed consumption dropped precipitously in colonial Mexico, or at
least that's what the records seemed to indicate. It was
(15:55):
primarily consumed in beverage form in this region and something
called augua to chia or chia water. However, in fifteen
seventy nine, Friar Bernardino de Sahagun wrote about seeing bars
of syrup, almonds, and cheese seeds at Mexican markets. He
also wrote about the medicinal properties of chia seeds for
multiple diseases, sometimes in combination with other herbs. Yeah. Spanish
(16:19):
courtesies from the time talk about chia being used as
as widely as maize was. In his seventeen eighty work
Ancient History of Mexico, priest Francisco Javier Clavajero described the
Mexican military's use of cheese seeds in their exercises the
work wave of Farma Copia. The Mechico listed several pharmaceutical
(16:41):
uses of the chia seed, even as something that could
be introduced to the eye to get rid of extraneous
bodies and talk about some horror movie fodder. Oh yeah, yeah,
I don't know about that. I don't know how I feel. Yes,
I feel, will I also feel conflicted? Um? For centuries,
(17:04):
the chiesa seeds seemed to have all but disappeared from
written records and didn't really resurface until the mid century. Yeah,
it's certainly I think experienced date dip in popularity during
Spanish colonization. Yes, um, But okay, jumping away ahead as promised,
(17:26):
let's talk about chia pets. Okay, So for those of
you don't know, I'm imagining most of you do. But
this is yeah, clay pot the space for soil, and
it comes with chia gel that would grow chia hair
or fur. As you said, UM advertised with the catchy
jingle Chia popular during the eighties and nineties. According to
(17:53):
some sources, chia pets are partially responsible for introducing and
popularizing chia seeds in the United States after marketer Joe
pet dutt r P. Dutt Uh founded chia pet for
sale by a man named Walter Houston in the nineteen
seventies at a house wears fair Um. He was told
when he was visiting this that the items always sold out,
(18:15):
and intrigued, he did some research came to the conclusion
this could be a best seller with the right marketing campaign,
and so he purchased the company manufacturing these chia pets.
Houston had been importing them from Mexico, but the middleman
in between the factor in Houston. It sounds like cheating
everyone out of a bunch of money, because yeah, Joe
(18:38):
was like, what these should be making money? How is
this Houston guy not not rolling in the chia pet
Doe but did some digging and was like, Ah, this
is why UM and craft the successful marketing campaign he did. Uh.
Legend goes that someone pretended to or actually did, stuttered
(18:59):
the name in an alcohol fueled brainstorming session, and that's
how they landed on the jingle, which makes sense in
some ways. Uh. It was so successful that this product
became iconic and was selected to be a piece of
the New York Times time capsule to be opened in
(19:22):
the year three thousand, which I don't consider myself a cynic,
but I'm like, wow, you think of me around three Okay, okay,
all right, Yeah. It contains a tin of spam, a
Betty Crocker cookbook, and a purple heart metal and see
how cultural important food is. It's like three other four things. Yeah. Um.
(19:48):
Pet Dot donated his company's papers, tv ad tapes, and
some chia pets to the National Museum of American History.
I never had one, I know. Isn't that so great?
We can't letch she is chia pet get forgotten. We
must remember always. Um. I never had one, but my friend,
one of my best friends growing up, did and I
(20:09):
was so jealous. I was so jealous. I think it
was Scooby Doo, which double jealous. Then oh yeah, yes. Um.
Many pop culture characters have been turned into cheapet's, but
the first chia pet's old in nineteen seventy seven, was
che a guy which is kind of a cartoony, creepy
looking man head. It unsettled me. The popular ram shape
(20:33):
that a lot of people are familiar with UM was
released in nine. Over the years, all kinds of shapes
have been sold though UM Today they have arranged including
animals like like llamas, hedgehogs, puppies and kittens. Uh. Then
real world personalities like Bob Ross, Richard Simmons, Weird Al Yankovic,
(20:55):
David Hasselhoff. They have a whole emoji line going, including
the poop emoji, which is a little more confusing to
me because like emojis have very discreet edges. It's part
of their like definition anyway. Um uh and then uh,
fictional characters like Rick and Morty, penny Wise, the clown
(21:18):
if that's a thing that you want in your house,
No Gizmo from the Gremlins, Ah, all four Golden Girls
and yes, grow gou the child from the Mandalorian Um
and Chewy and Yota. Well, I I kind of want
to get one, but I gotta, I gotta say, I gotta,
(21:40):
I've got to look up this weird al one. UM.
I'm just curious, you know, it's just his head and
he's kind of got he's kind of got a little
fluff of hair anyway, So it really makes sense with
the with the chia it just makes sense. It's natural.
Maybe one day you and I will be gia pets nightmare.
(22:06):
Also a great honor, it would, it would be a
great honor. It is like pretty much the opposite of
either of our hairstyles. Um that is. But you know,
I again, anything for chia, I guess um. The company
Joseph Enterprises even claims that they're so called chia pole
(22:29):
predicts American presidential winners um for each election in recent history.
They released one for the Democrat and one for the
Republican candidates um for presidents, and they tracked the sales
of them. According to them, the sales of their Obama
and ram Need chia pets roughly amounted to the electoral
College win outcome of that election, and that the former
(22:49):
president's chia pett outsold Hillary Clinton's by about wow. She
pet poles che pet polling Okay. Researcher Wing Coats helped
expose North America to chia seeds in the nineteen eighties
as well, when he was looking into them as an
alternate crop for northern Argentine farmers. He started really researching
(23:13):
them and their health benefits in and became a big
proponent for them. One of the ways that chia seeds
gained super food status was Christopher McDougal's two thousand nine
book Born to Run, a Hidden Tribe, super Athletes and
the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, featuring a
section detailing how az Tech marathon runners snack on chia seeds.
(23:37):
From this, health marketers started really advertising the health benefits
of chia seeds, and companies in the health food space
are looking to get into that space began putting cheese
seeds and all kinds of items. Like you said, laurd,
they were everywhere from a minute, yeah yeah, yeah, by
um by certainly they were a legitimate food fad um.
(23:59):
At the time, the global market for the seeds was
still small. It was only worth some um some seventy
million dollars a year. Compare that back to what did
what did I say it was gonna be by like
nine nine point three billion? Yeah? Uh. In the decade
(24:20):
that followed that book's release, Google searches for chia seeds
rose eight Wow. Yeah, I kind of yeah, I kind
of remember that whole that whole thing of UM. I
say this as a runner, when all of a sudden
all these running books were coming out. Yeah, like everyone
(24:43):
was trying to figure out the way to run is
without shoes or the way to run like all these
different things being bombarded with these men. Yeah. Yeah, it
was such a what a what a what an odd time.
I was working actually and um in marketing for a
company whose main client was New Balance, and so uh,
(25:08):
I was wrapped up in the bleeding edge of all
of this marketing about how to how to run and
when you know, the research about the midfoot strike and
pro nation and oh my goodness, just just all of
these all and the whole barefoot running trend and the
whole minimal shoe trend. I own a pair of minimal
(25:30):
shoes because New Balance gave them to me. I will
say that they're great for UM. I don't like running
in them. I don't like running though, but I do
love wearing them to rock Jim's. Oh I bet because
they're real grippy. Yeah yeah yeah. Topic for a different
(25:52):
episode or it's different podcast, I guess I edible products.
Uh yeah, but that's about where this episode she sees
has brought us we like the runners have covered much
(26:12):
ground we have we have um, we do have some
listener mail for you. We do, but first we have
one more quipic for words from We're sponsor and we're back.
Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you, and we're back with mail.
(26:39):
Yes you see what I did there? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
I caught on like halfway through, solidly of the way in. Hey,
better than nothing halfway there? Hey, yeah, that's your wrote.
(27:01):
I was so excited to see that you made a
Fallout Foods episode. I love that game and I played
New Vegas all the time in college. An interesting food
that came to mind was Ruby's casserole. You can learn
to craft it when you bring rad Scorpion poison Glance
to an NPC in New Vegas. Then you get the
following delightful quote from Ruby. It's perfectly safe as long
as you don't have source in your mouth for the
(27:23):
venom to find your blood, because that'll kill you. Did
it made me think? Can you eat venom in real life?
Would you be able to consume real scorpion venom as
long as you didn't have cuts in your mouth? What
would it tastes like maybe this is a topic for
another episode. Yeah, that makes me want to google a
(27:44):
number of things right now. Yeah, I'm it's some of
those topics that I'm a little nervous to undertake. But
I think I am intrigued as well. Nervous and intrigued
just where I find myself and silent place. I think
that happens fairly often on this show. Oh absolutely, Oh goodness,
(28:09):
Gin wrote, I just wanted to write it and tell
you about how my family uses our fondue set at
least once a year. My parents have had a fondue
set for as long as I can remember, but as
he said in the episode, it's not something you bust
out on the regular for weeknight dinners. I can barely
remember it being used until a few years ago when
my dad hit on the idea of cheese board fond
(28:30):
My family goes hard on the cheese over Christmas, with
a lot of options being brought to the board for
the day itself and plenty to be consumed in the
days following. Of course, leftovers aren't exactly in short supply
after Christmas, so there will always be a few lumpy
bits of cheese of varying types and sizes, slowly sweating
their way into distastefulness as the days go on. My
(28:52):
dad had the idea of scraping all the leftover cheese,
plus some extra e mental and gray air um and
a healthy amount of kursh into the fond pot and
using it up that way. It was such a resounding
success the first time we tried it, we've done it
every Christmas since. I highly recommend it as a way
to use up bits of leftover cheese, especially once you've
run out of nice crackers and biscuits to go with it.
(29:15):
I love your show, especially to listen to as I cook,
and I'm now so familiar with it that I like
to speak your introductions and farewells along with you as
you say them. So I'd like to take this opportunity
to say that I hope lots of good things are
coming your way to that that is so great. I
think we've discussed it before on the show, but we
(29:37):
listened to these episodes before they publish to make sure
there are any mistakes or anything we want to take out.
And the other day I was listening to the Pimento
cheese one, and I caught myself doing this too, and
I was like, oh my god, this is weird. I
need to step back. Oh weird. Yeah, I I don't
(30:00):
think I've ever done that to our shows. I do
have a friend who who listens um to one of
the other shows that I do, American Shadows, and she
says that a um. Occasionally her roommates will be like,
is Lauren over what's going on? Why are you talking
about murder? Um? And also that when I say I'm
(30:20):
Lauren Vogel bum um, She's like, Hi, Lauren, So I
know right right, I love it. I love it. I do.
I catch myself doing that too. Um, but usually uh to,
Like when I'm watching a movie or something, I'll talk
oh yeah yeah. And I've for some reason lately, I've
(30:41):
caught myself apologizing to furniture a lot. Okay, Um, Like
if I bump into something, I'm sorry, but it's like
an inanimate it's definitely inanimate. Yeah, I will. I will,
especially in frustrating moments and television shows, whether they're meant
to be frustrated or not. If a character is doing
(31:02):
something particularly dense, I'll be like, Dean Winchester, stop that,
just for example, just off the top of your head. Um,
well this also sounds like a wonderful cheese tradition. Yes, yes, yes,
(31:25):
uh no cheese left behind this. I'm so happy to hear. Yes.
Thanks to both of those listeners were writing to us.
If you would like to try to us, you can.
Our email is Hello at savor pod dot com. You
can also find us on social media. We are on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at savor pod and we do hope to
(31:45):
hear from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts my heart Radio, you can visit the
I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots were good things are coming
your way. H
Hello, and welcome to Savor production of iHeart Radio. I'm
Annie Reese and I'm Lauren voc obaum, and today we're
talking about chia and chia seeds, yes, which a lot
of you have suggested. Um, and I couple years ago
I went on this huge like chia seeds phase. I
(00:29):
was putting them in everything. I was putting them in
baked good and smoothies, UM, yogurt. I would use them
as a substitute for eggs. But it kind of fizzled out. However, Um,
as some of you listeners know, as Laurence certainly knows,
throughout this pandemic, I have acquired more snacks than I
normally have. Yeah, like people giving me things or just
(00:53):
you know, just in case. Um. And it got to
the point where it was a health hazard when I
would open my pantry and like things would fall out,
and I kept putting it off, like I just kept thinking,
this is gonna be a miserable experience. I bet something's
broken in the back and there's cockroaches, Like I like concern,
share share, just anxiety about it. Yeah. Yeah, But a
(01:15):
couple of weekends ago, I had somebody over for the
first time in a year like that isn't like super
close to me, so I felt like I did have
to clean up. Um, and I was cleaning out. I
uncovered so many things, over a hundred couzies for sure.
(01:37):
Uh definitely something was broken and it was a tail
password I got injured. Oh I found a packet of cheas. Oh. Yes,
I also found some sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds and
(01:59):
chima okay I had Yeah, well cool, mm hmm. Yeah,
that's my recent chia experience. That is your your arrands
for a very seedy future. That sounds terrible. I I
(02:23):
have never really gotten in on the chia seed trend.
I don't think I've ever used them at home. Um,
but I don't. I mean, not for any particular reason.
I think I just kind of saw the trend happening
because it was quite intense for a few years there,
and kind of went like me, uh that that just
just total noncommittal, like I I don't care about this,
(02:45):
and people care so much about it that I care
less sort of sort of thing, which isn't a very
useful human emotion, but none. Nonetheless, it was one that
I was experiencing, but but doing this research I'm I'm inspired.
Maybe go out and find some girls home, get some
little sprouts going perhaps, Oh yeah, I've got some good ones. Okay,
(03:15):
as we shall talk about later in the episode. But
I suppose this brings us to our question. Yes, chia,
what is it? Well? Chia is an herbaceous plant that
is soft stemmed and smallish in the Salvia genus within
(03:36):
the mint family. A couple different species are referred to
as chia botanical names Salvia Hispanica and Salvia colombarre a. Yes,
we're gonna go with that. They are related to stuff
like sage and time, but are less aromatic and more
commonly used as a small green like like sprouts. Like
(03:57):
other sprouts are used or for their seeds. The plants
can grow to about a meter tall around three feet
and produce these small white and purple or or white
and blue flowers. It's a fall to winter flowering plant,
but grows in the tropics and or subtropics places with
very mild winters like no frost. The flowers will dry
(04:18):
out on the plants and then the seeds grow to
maturity in bunches of four. In those papery little flower
shells um and those seeds are very small and flat,
like like sesame seeds are smaller but a little bit
less pointy. They're technically the whole fruit of the chia
plant um. Unlike fleshy fruits like say, apples, the outer
(04:41):
layers of the chia fruit are thin and dry and
inseparable from the single inner seed of the fruit. So yeah,
that whole fruit is referred to as a seed. And
those seeds come in up neutral shades like white to brown,
to black to spotted, and you can use them as
a topping or addition to baked goods or salads, raw
or toasted. Their flavor is mild and a tiny bit nutty.
(05:05):
The seeds also produce a lot of goo when you
get them wet, like a like a tiny edible gremlin
or mob way. I guess, yeah, I got to be accurate, Yeah, yeah, sorry, sorry,
although gremlins also produce a lot of good when you
(05:26):
get them wet. But anyway, this this goo, in the
case of chia seeds, not magua um is well, actually
probably in both, is called mucilage um, which is a
stuff that gloms onto water molecules and then expands in
a in a matrix holding that water. Yeah, and this's
like slightly sticky matrix of of molecules UM. In nature,
(05:51):
this is useful because it will help like a weed
dry seed, hang onto the water that it needs to
grow UM and or help it stick to say the
of an animal that might help disperse it, and or
will help it stick to the soil that it lands in.
All of this helped chia thrive in the sort of
arid hot areas that it evolved in, namely mountainous regions
(06:14):
of what's now Mexico and Guatemala. The mucilage is also
why chia is a great seedling for small indoor decorative
planters like chia pets, because you just mix like one
part seeds to three parts of water, and within a
very short period of time the mixture will gel up
(06:34):
into this like spreadable goo yeah, that you can easily
plant onto a terra cotta pot or you know, anything
else with a permeable surface up to it, including just
like a paper towel. They do germinate quickly and will
grow sprouts within a few days to a couple of weeks,
so they're they're an easy d I y science and
or decorative project. UM and Yes, you can harvest your
(06:55):
chia pets for for your sandwiches or smoothies. We our
Food Show, despite evidence. I've never thought of it as fur,
but I guess yeah, that's technically what it's acting as.
Scenario yeah uh huh um. Back to the muselage. Culinarily,
(07:23):
the muselage is is useful because it forms a sort
of a gelled texture like like gelatin or pudding or
or egg. Um. So you can use chia seeds to
thicken or add interesting texture to any number of foods. Um.
It's both gelled and it has that little crunchy crunchy
bit from the seed. Um. Tia is used thus in
(07:45):
a in drinks like a like lemonade or other juices,
in both sweet and savory porridges and puddings, as a
vegan substitute for eggs and recipes, or um to replace
some of the oil or egg content in baked goods. Um.
The seeds are sold whole or sessed into flowers, oils,
and gels. Yeah. Um. If anyone has not used Jesus seeds,
(08:08):
I actually think it's pretty cool. Like he gets the
seeds in there and put some water in theno. It's
like a science experiment something I have a horror movie.
You now, they would be a good use for some
special effects type things. Sure? Yeah? Oh man, where I
miss our video series? Where's so gross? Right? Where is Tyler?
(08:34):
And are like time laps? Extreme close up camera? Rig?
I want it? What? What? God? Are the days? Unfortunately?
Where we just spent hours watching honey drip with that
camera focused on it, And then people would come in like,
what are you doing? Oh, we're just filming this honey drip?
All right, look at how cool it is? Okay, bestizing
(08:56):
it was? Anyway, maybe one day, maybe one day, I
got this package of cheese seeds. You can put them
to use. But all right, in the meantime, what about
the nutrition she had? Products are pretty good for you.
The greens have a good punch of fiber and vitamins.
(09:17):
The seeds are more calorie dns. They're oily, with good
fats um and with a with a good punch of
protein and fiber plus a smattering of minerals. Cheese seeds
are apparently the best known source of Omega three, fatty
acids in plants that human people eat, like even better
than flax seed um. The seeds are up to a
third oil by weight and um. They also contain more
(09:40):
protein than corn or wheat, or rice or cunua. They
also contain a number of antioxidant compounds that are being
investigated for helping reduce the risk of a number of
diseases and conditions heart disease and cancer for example. And
that mucilage can help soothe the digestive tract um, slow
your digestion rate, make you feel more full, and help
(10:00):
your body regulate blood sugar levels. So cool stuff. However,
since yes, the seeds contain this stuff that like absorbs
a whole bunch of water if you eat them, make
sure to hydrate, I mean, always make sure to hydrate. Furthermore,
(10:21):
in large amounts gia seeds can have a blood thinning effect.
There's a compound in there that can do that. And
they contain another compound um that that will reduce mineral
absorption from your digestive system into your body. UM. So
you know, a couple of tablespoons fine like a pound.
(10:42):
I don't know, I you know. As as always with
everything um uh, our bodies are complicated. More research is
necessary before ingesting a medicinal dose of anything. Consult with
a health professional who is not us, Yes, definitely not us. Oh,
(11:05):
and that that muselage is also furthermore, furthermore being investigated
UM for for other uses like in manufacturing medicine capsules
and for work in nanotechnology, because the fibers that make
up that muselage are uber tiny. They're like eighteen to
forty five nanometers in length, and and the and the
(11:29):
matrices that they that they build can be quite strong. UM.
So yeah, this could be useful and stuff like control
release drugs. That's so cool. Nanotechnology. You never know, you
never know where the research is going to take you.
You really don't. She affects a nanotech You're all over
(11:49):
the place. We do have some numbers for you, we do. UM.
A single seed can absorb twelve times it's weight in water.
That's amazing. Certainly more than I can absorb. I would
have to calculate. UM. Mexico is the world's largest chia producer.
(12:12):
UM Apparently sprouted chia displays are part of springtime celebrations
in parts of Mexico and throughout Central America. She has
also cultivated in Bolivia, Columbia, Guatemala, Peru, Argentina, and Australia.
The biggest importers are Japan, the United States, and Europe
UM and recently though the the US and a few
countries in the Mediterranean have also started growing it commercially. UM.
(12:36):
The global market is predicted to reach nine point three
billion dollars in value by the end of yeah yeah um.
There are a few a dozen known varieties of chia,
both wild and domestic, and according to the guy that
(12:58):
made them popular, about five of hundred thousand chia pets
are sold the year during the holiday season and yes,
more on that later sold during the holidays, and that's
pretty much the only time they market the product, which
is impressive because daying that commercial sticks with you. Um.
Their website claims that as of fifteen million chia pets
(13:22):
have been sold, which is a lot yeah for decorative
terra cotta. I'm like, okay, yeah, no, you did good.
You made it um And yeah, we're going to cover
some of that in the history section. We will and
(13:44):
we will get into that, but first we're going to
get into a quick break for a word from our sponsor,
and we're back. Thank you sponsor, Yes, thank you. So.
Chia seeds originated in the Essential and South America's um
(14:06):
early Mesoamerican people's cultivated chia seeds, prizing them for their
perceived nutritional and medicinal benefit. I couldn't find an exact date,
or even like a general eyes date, but I'm guessing old, old,
long time ago. Yes, yes, um. They were a significant
product for the Aztec empire um, perhaps even a primary
(14:28):
food source and one of the main four components of
their diets. One of the very first known written references
of chia seed supports this fact, a three thousand BC
description of the importance of chia seeds for the Aztecs.
And yeah, they were used in all kinds of things, um,
ground up into flour, mixed with water to make a drink.
They were used in medicines, bird feed, um, pressed for oils,
(14:51):
body paint and as we'd protect paintings and religious statues. Uh. Yeah.
The the word chia in fact stems from a Nahlatl
word for oily, and the shelf life of the seeds
and the flowers one of the things that made it
popular in these times. In pre Columbian societies, it might
have been the second most important crop behind beans. It
(15:13):
was up there, up there. The records are lacking researchers
believe chia seeds were staple for the Mayan's. Historians speculate
it was a cash crops in Central Mexico from fifteen
hundred to nine hundred b C, and that it was
being cultivated in the Central Valley of Mexico from two thousand,
six hundred to two thousand BC. Yeah, I know that
(15:34):
always mixes me up that reverse. Yeah, warriors in these
civilizations may have thought that chia seeds provided stamina, which
they might not have been far off on that um
Chess seed consumption dropped precipitously in colonial Mexico, or at
least that's what the records seemed to indicate. It was
(15:55):
primarily consumed in beverage form in this region and something
called augua to chia or chia water. However, in fifteen
seventy nine, Friar Bernardino de Sahagun wrote about seeing bars
of syrup, almonds, and cheese seeds at Mexican markets. He
also wrote about the medicinal properties of chia seeds for
multiple diseases, sometimes in combination with other herbs. Yeah. Spanish
(16:19):
courtesies from the time talk about chia being used as
as widely as maize was. In his seventeen eighty work
Ancient History of Mexico, priest Francisco Javier Clavajero described the
Mexican military's use of cheese seeds in their exercises the
work wave of Farma Copia. The Mechico listed several pharmaceutical
(16:41):
uses of the chia seed, even as something that could
be introduced to the eye to get rid of extraneous
bodies and talk about some horror movie fodder. Oh yeah, yeah,
I don't know about that. I don't know how I feel. Yes,
I feel, will I also feel conflicted? Um? For centuries,
(17:04):
the chiesa seeds seemed to have all but disappeared from
written records and didn't really resurface until the mid century. Yeah,
it's certainly I think experienced date dip in popularity during
Spanish colonization. Yes, um, But okay, jumping away ahead as promised,
(17:26):
let's talk about chia pets. Okay, So for those of
you don't know, I'm imagining most of you do. But
this is yeah, clay pot the space for soil, and
it comes with chia gel that would grow chia hair
or fur. As you said, UM advertised with the catchy
jingle Chia popular during the eighties and nineties. According to
(17:53):
some sources, chia pets are partially responsible for introducing and
popularizing chia seeds in the United States after marketer Joe
pet dutt r P. Dutt Uh founded chia pet for
sale by a man named Walter Houston in the nineteen
seventies at a house wears fair Um. He was told
when he was visiting this that the items always sold out,
(18:15):
and intrigued, he did some research came to the conclusion
this could be a best seller with the right marketing campaign,
and so he purchased the company manufacturing these chia pets.
Houston had been importing them from Mexico, but the middleman
in between the factor in Houston. It sounds like cheating
everyone out of a bunch of money, because yeah, Joe
(18:38):
was like, what these should be making money? How is
this Houston guy not not rolling in the chia pet
Doe but did some digging and was like, Ah, this
is why UM and craft the successful marketing campaign he did. Uh.
Legend goes that someone pretended to or actually did, stuttered
(18:59):
the name in an alcohol fueled brainstorming session, and that's
how they landed on the jingle, which makes sense in
some ways. Uh. It was so successful that this product
became iconic and was selected to be a piece of
the New York Times time capsule to be opened in
(19:22):
the year three thousand, which I don't consider myself a cynic,
but I'm like, wow, you think of me around three Okay, okay,
all right, Yeah. It contains a tin of spam, a
Betty Crocker cookbook, and a purple heart metal and see
how cultural important food is. It's like three other four things. Yeah. Um.
(19:48):
Pet Dot donated his company's papers, tv ad tapes, and
some chia pets to the National Museum of American History.
I never had one, I know. Isn't that so great?
We can't letch she is chia pet get forgotten. We
must remember always. Um. I never had one, but my friend,
one of my best friends growing up, did and I
(20:09):
was so jealous. I was so jealous. I think it
was Scooby Doo, which double jealous. Then oh yeah, yes. Um.
Many pop culture characters have been turned into cheapet's, but
the first chia pet's old in nineteen seventy seven, was
che a guy which is kind of a cartoony, creepy
looking man head. It unsettled me. The popular ram shape
(20:33):
that a lot of people are familiar with UM was
released in nine. Over the years, all kinds of shapes
have been sold though UM Today they have arranged including
animals like like llamas, hedgehogs, puppies and kittens. Uh. Then
real world personalities like Bob Ross, Richard Simmons, Weird Al Yankovic,
(20:55):
David Hasselhoff. They have a whole emoji line going, including
the poop emoji, which is a little more confusing to
me because like emojis have very discreet edges. It's part
of their like definition anyway. Um uh and then uh,
fictional characters like Rick and Morty, penny Wise, the clown
(21:18):
if that's a thing that you want in your house,
No Gizmo from the Gremlins, Ah, all four Golden Girls
and yes, grow gou the child from the Mandalorian Um
and Chewy and Yota. Well, I I kind of want
to get one, but I gotta, I gotta say, I gotta,
(21:40):
I've got to look up this weird al one. UM.
I'm just curious, you know, it's just his head and
he's kind of got he's kind of got a little
fluff of hair anyway, So it really makes sense with
the with the chia it just makes sense. It's natural.
Maybe one day you and I will be gia pets nightmare.
(22:06):
Also a great honor, it would, it would be a
great honor. It is like pretty much the opposite of
either of our hairstyles. Um that is. But you know,
I again, anything for chia, I guess um. The company
Joseph Enterprises even claims that they're so called chia pole
(22:29):
predicts American presidential winners um for each election in recent history.
They released one for the Democrat and one for the
Republican candidates um for presidents, and they tracked the sales
of them. According to them, the sales of their Obama
and ram Need chia pets roughly amounted to the electoral
College win outcome of that election, and that the former
(22:49):
president's chia pett outsold Hillary Clinton's by about wow. She
pet poles che pet polling Okay. Researcher Wing Coats helped
expose North America to chia seeds in the nineteen eighties
as well, when he was looking into them as an
alternate crop for northern Argentine farmers. He started really researching
(23:13):
them and their health benefits in and became a big
proponent for them. One of the ways that chia seeds
gained super food status was Christopher McDougal's two thousand nine
book Born to Run, a Hidden Tribe, super Athletes and
the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, featuring a
section detailing how az Tech marathon runners snack on chia seeds.
(23:37):
From this, health marketers started really advertising the health benefits
of chia seeds, and companies in the health food space
are looking to get into that space began putting cheese
seeds and all kinds of items. Like you said, laurd,
they were everywhere from a minute, yeah yeah, yeah, by
um by certainly they were a legitimate food fad um.
(23:59):
At the time, the global market for the seeds was
still small. It was only worth some um some seventy
million dollars a year. Compare that back to what did
what did I say it was gonna be by like
nine nine point three billion? Yeah? Uh. In the decade
(24:20):
that followed that book's release, Google searches for chia seeds
rose eight Wow. Yeah, I kind of yeah, I kind
of remember that whole that whole thing of UM. I
say this as a runner, when all of a sudden
all these running books were coming out. Yeah, like everyone
(24:43):
was trying to figure out the way to run is
without shoes or the way to run like all these
different things being bombarded with these men. Yeah. Yeah, it
was such a what a what a what an odd time.
I was working actually and um in marketing for a
company whose main client was New Balance, and so uh,
(25:08):
I was wrapped up in the bleeding edge of all
of this marketing about how to how to run and
when you know, the research about the midfoot strike and
pro nation and oh my goodness, just just all of
these all and the whole barefoot running trend and the
whole minimal shoe trend. I own a pair of minimal
(25:30):
shoes because New Balance gave them to me. I will
say that they're great for UM. I don't like running
in them. I don't like running though, but I do
love wearing them to rock Jim's. Oh I bet because
they're real grippy. Yeah yeah yeah. Topic for a different
(25:52):
episode or it's different podcast, I guess I edible products.
Uh yeah, but that's about where this episode she sees
has brought us we like the runners have covered much
(26:12):
ground we have we have um, we do have some
listener mail for you. We do, but first we have
one more quipic for words from We're sponsor and we're back.
Thank you sponsored, Yes, thank you, and we're back with mail.
(26:39):
Yes you see what I did there? Yeah? Yeah, yeah,
I caught on like halfway through, solidly of the way in. Hey,
better than nothing halfway there? Hey, yeah, that's your wrote.
(27:01):
I was so excited to see that you made a
Fallout Foods episode. I love that game and I played
New Vegas all the time in college. An interesting food
that came to mind was Ruby's casserole. You can learn
to craft it when you bring rad Scorpion poison Glance
to an NPC in New Vegas. Then you get the
following delightful quote from Ruby. It's perfectly safe as long
as you don't have source in your mouth for the
(27:23):
venom to find your blood, because that'll kill you. Did
it made me think? Can you eat venom in real life?
Would you be able to consume real scorpion venom as
long as you didn't have cuts in your mouth? What
would it tastes like maybe this is a topic for
another episode. Yeah, that makes me want to google a
(27:44):
number of things right now. Yeah, I'm it's some of
those topics that I'm a little nervous to undertake. But
I think I am intrigued as well. Nervous and intrigued
just where I find myself and silent place. I think
that happens fairly often on this show. Oh absolutely, Oh goodness,
(28:09):
Gin wrote, I just wanted to write it and tell
you about how my family uses our fondue set at
least once a year. My parents have had a fondue
set for as long as I can remember, but as
he said in the episode, it's not something you bust
out on the regular for weeknight dinners. I can barely
remember it being used until a few years ago when
my dad hit on the idea of cheese board fond
(28:30):
My family goes hard on the cheese over Christmas, with
a lot of options being brought to the board for
the day itself and plenty to be consumed in the
days following. Of course, leftovers aren't exactly in short supply
after Christmas, so there will always be a few lumpy
bits of cheese of varying types and sizes, slowly sweating
their way into distastefulness as the days go on. My
(28:52):
dad had the idea of scraping all the leftover cheese,
plus some extra e mental and gray air um and
a healthy amount of kursh into the fond pot and
using it up that way. It was such a resounding
success the first time we tried it, we've done it
every Christmas since. I highly recommend it as a way
to use up bits of leftover cheese, especially once you've
run out of nice crackers and biscuits to go with it.
(29:15):
I love your show, especially to listen to as I cook,
and I'm now so familiar with it that I like
to speak your introductions and farewells along with you as
you say them. So I'd like to take this opportunity
to say that I hope lots of good things are
coming your way to that that is so great. I
think we've discussed it before on the show, but we
(29:37):
listened to these episodes before they publish to make sure
there are any mistakes or anything we want to take out.
And the other day I was listening to the Pimento
cheese one, and I caught myself doing this too, and
I was like, oh my god, this is weird. I
need to step back. Oh weird. Yeah, I I don't
(30:00):
think I've ever done that to our shows. I do
have a friend who who listens um to one of
the other shows that I do, American Shadows, and she
says that a um. Occasionally her roommates will be like,
is Lauren over what's going on? Why are you talking
about murder? Um? And also that when I say I'm
(30:20):
Lauren Vogel bum um, She's like, Hi, Lauren, So I
know right right, I love it. I love it. I do.
I catch myself doing that too. Um, but usually uh to,
Like when I'm watching a movie or something, I'll talk
oh yeah yeah. And I've for some reason lately, I've
(30:41):
caught myself apologizing to furniture a lot. Okay, Um, Like
if I bump into something, I'm sorry, but it's like
an inanimate it's definitely inanimate. Yeah, I will. I will,
especially in frustrating moments and television shows, whether they're meant
to be frustrated or not. If a character is doing
(31:02):
something particularly dense, I'll be like, Dean Winchester, stop that,
just for example, just off the top of your head. Um,
well this also sounds like a wonderful cheese tradition. Yes, yes, yes,
(31:25):
uh no cheese left behind this. I'm so happy to hear. Yes.
Thanks to both of those listeners were writing to us.
If you would like to try to us, you can.
Our email is Hello at savor pod dot com. You
can also find us on social media. We are on Twitter, Facebook,
and Instagram at savor pod and we do hope to
(31:45):
hear from you. Savor is production of I Heart Radio.
For more podcasts my heart Radio, you can visit the
I Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen
to your favorite shows. Thanks as always to our superproducers
Dylan Fagan and Andrew Howard. Thanks to you for listening,
and we hope that lots were good things are coming
your way. H
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Hosts And Creators
Anney Reese
Lauren Vogelbaum
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