Chia seeds

Chia seeds are small black seeds from the Salvia Hispanica plant, native to South America. They are especially appreciated for their ability to deliver energy. In fact, “chia” is an ancient Mayan word meaning “strength”. But despite their ancient history, only recently these seeds have been recognized as superfoods, generating great interest in consumers, especially because of their nutritional properties:

How we process chia seeds

Chia seeds are highly lipidic, therefore Cerealveneta uses a low temperature thermal treatment to stabilize the product. Many nutrient components such as vitamins, amino acids and omega 3 are thus bioavailable.
Through a calibrated grinding of the product, is given the opportunity to the enzymatic digestive system to assimilate these components and their benefits.
Chia seeds treated with toast type 1 retain their natural feature of creating a gelatin in contact with water. This mucilage is beneficial to the body as it helps physiological activities.

In toasted chia seeds of type 3, through a targeted thermal process, this intrinsic feature of the product to create gel is deactivated. This quality is appreciated by the food industry, as this natural mucilage may contaminate or affect the flow of the product within production plants.
In either case, the products supplied (in seed or flour) maintain the integrity and properties of the nutrients of the chia.

Where can we use chia seeds

Chia seeds can be used in different food sectors where nutrition of noble protein, dietary fiber, and functional components are required.
They can be used in a variety of productions: bakery, topping, health and energy bars both in the milled and whole versions.
Chia is the product that nowadays contains one of the highest nutrient quantity compared to similar products such as teff, amaranth, millet and quinoa. It can be used in any food industry even more in healthy sector, to provide claims for functional components of excellence.