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Soy's New Competition: Hemp
Posted by CN Staff on May 11, 2007 at 17:04:37 PT
By Janet Cromley, Times Staff Writer
Source: Los Angeles Times
hemp California -- Like a bloodhound, Gira Balistreri is racing through the palatial Whole Foods Market in El Segundo, sniffing out some of her favorite foods.
A new employee at the 65,000-square-foot flagship store, she goes directly to several shelves of hemp shakes and snacks, then trots over to tidy rows of hemp butter and oil, then rushes down an aisle and snaps up a fresh package of hemp tortillas on her way to the hemp bars, hemp bread and hemp bagels.
"Hemp," she says excitedly, "is just an awesome seed."
Balistreri isn't alone in her devotion. In the last two years, sales of hemp food products in markets and grocery stores rose by more than 50%, propelling the unassuming seed to an $8.6-million industry, according to SPINS, a market research and consulting firm for the natural products industry.
Hemp foods began filtering into grocery stores about five years ago, after the 1998 legalization of industrial hemp farming in Canada. The U.S. currently prohibits commercial cultivation of industrial hemp, but allows the import of seeds, oil, flour and other byproducts to be manufactured into ready-to-eat foods in the U.S.
The plant's shelled seed, or nut, can be added to baked goods and nutritional supplements and bars, sprinkled onto other foods such as salads and yogurt, or eaten alone as a snack. The seed can also be milled into flour, which can be used for baked goods, and pressed to make oil, which can be used in salad dressings, dips, spreads and sauces.
(Due to its high unsaturated fat content, hemp oil must be refrigerated and is unsuitable for frying.)
There are hundreds of hemp foods now available online and on supermarket shelves, says Robin Rogosin, a certified nutritionist and buyer for Whole Foods Market. Rogosin estimates that the chain's selection has tripled in the last year. Hemp milk, the newest addition, is flying off the shelves, she says.
"We're shipping truckloads — 60,000 liters of it so far," confirms Mike Fata, president and co-founder of Canada's Manitoba Harvest, which introduced Hemp Bliss milk in March.
Snipped:
Complete Article: http://tinyurl.com/2xt3py
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Author: Janet Cromley, Times Staff Writer
Published: May 14, 2007
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
CannabisNews Hemp Archives
Posted by CN Staff on May 11, 2007 at 17:04:37 PT
By Janet Cromley, Times Staff Writer
Source: Los Angeles Times
hemp California -- Like a bloodhound, Gira Balistreri is racing through the palatial Whole Foods Market in El Segundo, sniffing out some of her favorite foods.
A new employee at the 65,000-square-foot flagship store, she goes directly to several shelves of hemp shakes and snacks, then trots over to tidy rows of hemp butter and oil, then rushes down an aisle and snaps up a fresh package of hemp tortillas on her way to the hemp bars, hemp bread and hemp bagels.
"Hemp," she says excitedly, "is just an awesome seed."
Balistreri isn't alone in her devotion. In the last two years, sales of hemp food products in markets and grocery stores rose by more than 50%, propelling the unassuming seed to an $8.6-million industry, according to SPINS, a market research and consulting firm for the natural products industry.
Hemp foods began filtering into grocery stores about five years ago, after the 1998 legalization of industrial hemp farming in Canada. The U.S. currently prohibits commercial cultivation of industrial hemp, but allows the import of seeds, oil, flour and other byproducts to be manufactured into ready-to-eat foods in the U.S.
The plant's shelled seed, or nut, can be added to baked goods and nutritional supplements and bars, sprinkled onto other foods such as salads and yogurt, or eaten alone as a snack. The seed can also be milled into flour, which can be used for baked goods, and pressed to make oil, which can be used in salad dressings, dips, spreads and sauces.
(Due to its high unsaturated fat content, hemp oil must be refrigerated and is unsuitable for frying.)
There are hundreds of hemp foods now available online and on supermarket shelves, says Robin Rogosin, a certified nutritionist and buyer for Whole Foods Market. Rogosin estimates that the chain's selection has tripled in the last year. Hemp milk, the newest addition, is flying off the shelves, she says.
"We're shipping truckloads — 60,000 liters of it so far," confirms Mike Fata, president and co-founder of Canada's Manitoba Harvest, which introduced Hemp Bliss milk in March.
Snipped:
Complete Article: http://tinyurl.com/2xt3py
Source: Los Angeles Times (CA)
Author: Janet Cromley, Times Staff Writer
Published: May 14, 2007
Copyright: 2007 Los Angeles Times
Contact: [email protected]
Website: http://www.latimes.com/
CannabisNews Hemp Archives
