REVISITING TRADITIONAL CANNABIS SEED USE

Contrary to the myths prevalent in the modern stoner culture, the seed is not really useless. Dr. Vasudha Pant, PhD writes

Cannabis seeds

Humans evolved while constantly interacting with plants. This human-plant interaction bestowed upon human the knowledge base to identify and use various plant parts as food, medicine and fiber or for aesthetic. Greater dependence upon certain plants led to their domestication that in turn advanced the process of civilization and cultural development. Therefore, it’s clear that plants have been a significant part of indigenous human cultures for thousands of year. They have always been essential as they contribute important proteins, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients. This treasure trove of knowledge embedded in the each culture is unique to each region and continues to live on. This knowledge has evolved since times immemorial and continues changing, adding and adapting new discoveries and methods.

Traditional use of hemp seed in cuisine of Kumaun region is still very popular.  People purchase the seeds and store them for the entire year. These are used to enhance the taste and nutritional quality of food. It is used in many forms. Dried seeds are ground with water and hemp milk is extracted by sieving as the seed coat is hard. This milk is used for making gravy of variety of vegetables

In the last few decades have seen us make tremendous leaps in Ethnobotany. Oxford dictionary defines it as the study of a region’s plants and their practical uses for food, medicine, religion and any other purpose through traditional knowledge of local culture and people. Jain elaborates it as the ‘total natural and traditional relationship and interaction between man and his surrounding plant wealth’ whereas Wickens defines ethno botany as the study of useful plants prior to commercial exploitation and eventual domestication. In fact, ethnobotany is the first knowledge of plants which humans acquired by sheer necessity, intuition, observation and experimentation. This knowledge encompasses both wild and cultivated species and is rooted in observation, relationship, needs and traditional ways of knowing.

Cannabis seems to be one of the oldest crops that have contributed to origin and development of agriculture. Scanty archaeobotanical studies have taken back antiquity of Cannabis in India to the third millennium BC in India yet the results are inadequate to decipher its use as seed. Here the ethnobotany comes into play and cannabis seed uses can be explored focusing on specific regions. This information regarding the traditional uses of seed can easily be utilized in transforming the rural economy. 

Traditional use of hemp seed in cuisine of Kumaun region is still very popular.  People purchase the seeds and store them for the entire year. These are used to enhance the taste and nutritional quality of food. It is used in many forms. Dried seeds are ground with water and hemp milk is extracted by sieving as the seed coat is hard. This milk is used for making gravy of variety of vegetables specially gaderi (Colocasia esculenta), pinalu (Colocasia himalensis), cabbage, radish, cauliflower, lahi, urad (Vigna mungo) dal nuggets (badi), etc. Roasted and ground seeds are used to make a variety of chutneys with lemon. Roasted seeds are also eaten with roasted rice known as Khajia chawal. A popular winter delicacy and comfort food of Kumaon, Nimbu saan (lemon and radish salad with curd, recipe will be up soon!) is prepared using peeled and cut into half to one inch size bada nimbu (Citrus limon), radish, roasted and ground hemp seeds, curd, sugar, salt, green chillies and coriander leaves. The  popular winter ritual includes making, and eating this salad in groups while sitting and enjoying the balmy winter sun. It is popular among all age groups of men and women and my personal favourite. Another Kumaoni delicacy is using ground roasted hemp seed with cooked yellow pumpkin along with lemon and jaggery. Cannabis seed infused salt commonly known as ‘bhang ka namak’ is the pride of every Kumaoni kitchen and tastes almost divine.

After a long ban due to the illicit narcotic business hemp is again being recognized as a plant with multiple industrial uses as food and fiber. In India indigenous cannabis cultivation is still banned. However, China never banned industrial hemp. In 2015, France led the hemp seed production with 59 % of global share followed by China that produced approximately 44000 metric tons annually accounting for 38 percent of the total global share. Chile, South Korea, The Netherlands and Australia were some other major hemp seed producers. Since then, total area under hemp cultivation is continuously increasing. In 2020, the scenario is very different. For last many years China alone produces 70% of hemp which includes seed and other industrial products.  Most of China’s hemp seed is roasted for domestic snacks and oil, nearly 40% of it is exported to other countries. Canada, USA, France, Chile and North Korea are next in the of the leading hemp producers. Interestingly, USA entered the list with the introduction of The Farm Bill in 2018.

Hemp seed had been in use since unknown generations traditionally throughout Asia and now past two decades researchers are using modern techniques to go back to this knowledge and bring its uses as food to the masses. However we do not witness such research in India. During the last decade of 20th century hemp seed gained much attention as nutritious seed in Canada and USA resulting in hempseed and hempseed food products that have become available to the general public in these countries. In China, roasted hempseed is still sold as snacks by street vendors. Over the past few years, modern science has finally begun to catch up with this ancient knowledge through its own methodologies. Unlike soybean hempseed and egg white have been shown lacking the anti-nutritional trypsin-inhibiting factor. This means that, like egg white, a greater proportion of the protein found in hempseed is digestible and available for absorption. Authenticating the hemp seed use in traditional systems, modern research shows that hemp seed is a rich source of valuable oil with unique nutritional properties that make it a natural superfood, one of the most nutritionally complete food. The seeds are a rich source of calcium, magnesium, potassium, vitamins and unsaturated fats easily digestible by our body. Hemp seed is rich in vitamin E comprising of alpha tocopherol and gamma tocopherol. With its antihypertensive property hemp protein hydrolysates may be used as active ingredients to formulate antihypertensive functional foods and nutraceuticals. Hemp seed protein could have the ability of antifatigue and improve the immunomodulation effect. Significance of hempseed protein increases due to its exceptional content of sulfur-containing amino acids i.e., methionine and cystine. They are part of essential amino acids that can not be synthesized by body. Both methionine and cysteine play critical roles in cell metabolism.  They play critical roles in protein synthesis, structure, and function and vital for many critical functions in body.

Doubts have been raised regarding the presence of THC in hemp seeds, however the seeds do not contain any THC whatsoever. This character does not express in seeds. In some cases small quantity of THC might be found in the seeds. That may be because of remnants of flowering as the seed is enclosed in brackets that are the source of THC. This can be removed by simply washing the seeds.

 Ethnobotany thus has relevance with problems of nutrition, health care, social customs, mythological association, cottage industries, economic upliftment, conservation of biodiversity and sustainable use of plant resources. We need to take a lesson from China that has a zero tolerance approach to marijuana (along with numerous other drugs), yet surprisingly it is the world’s largest producer of hemp, and also the world’s largest exporter of hemp products.

References:

1. https://hightimes.com/grow/top-5-world-hemp-producers/
2. https://ministryofhemp.com/blog/hemp-growing-countries/
3. Callaway_and_Pate_Hempseed_AOCS_Review_2009
4. Malomo, A.S.,  Onuh, O.J., Girgih,A.T.,and Aluko, E.R. 2015. Structural and Antihypertensive Properties of Enzymatic Hemp Seed Protein Hydrolysates. Nutrients, 7, 7616-7632.
5. Girgih, A.T., Udenigwe, C.C., Li, H. et al. Kinetics of Enzyme Inhibition and Antihypertensive Effects of Hemp Seed (Cannabis sativa L.) Protein Hydrolysates. J Am Oil Chem Soc (2011) 88: 1767