Chia Seeds

Salvia hispanica is the scientific name for Chia seeds, and is commonly known as China, and it is a flowering plant from the mint family, Lamiaceae, which is native to central and southern Mexico and Guatemala. It is considered a pseudocereal, mainly cultivated for its edible, hydrophilic Chia seed, grown and commonly used as food in several countries of western South America, western Mexico, and the southwestern United States.

Chia seeds are one of the nutrition and healthy food items nowadays. Chia seeds are edible in several ways. There are a lot of Chia recipes you can discover yourself. There are many more recipes that you can experiment yourself. Chia grows well in tropical and subtropical regions; it is optimally established from 400 to 2500 m a.s.l., but the areas below 200 m elevation are not good for Chia cultivation). Chia crop is intolerant to freezing at the early stages of growth.

It can grow it successfully at altitudes up to 3200 ft. It thrives light soil, and benefits from good nutrition. It is a hardy plant, which makes organic farming a great success. Yields of Chia seeds are around 2880 kg per acre are common. Harvesting and processing depend on the location and the size of the farm, but the commercial farms would harvest with a combine harvester and then process it similar to quinoa, wild rice etc.

Chia seeds vary in size, the sizes of the seeds depend on the moisture available there and its range. Chia plants grow up to 3 cm to 4 cm under dry environmental conditions and up to 60 cm, if grown in optimal growth conditions.

The leaves of the plant are thick and wrinkled and are dark green in color. The leaves are deeply lobed with a thin cover of fine, soft, grayish hairs are available on its upper surface. The plants have many stems which emerge from the base of the plant. The flowers of the plants have with two lips in pale blue to deep blue. Each flower has 13 tiny flat seeds which is 1.5-2 mm in length and is gray to light brown in colors.