The composition and calorie content of flaxseed oil. Useful properties, alleged harm and contraindications. How to prepare it and in what dishes should it be used? Flax oil is good for everyone! It is recommended to be taken by women every day to improve hormonal levels, relieve pain during menstruation, and stabilize the condition during menopause. It also needs to be consumed by pregnant women, because useful elements contribute to the proper development of the brain of the unborn child, facilitate the course of pregnancy and childbirth. The product increases male potency due to its rich composition. In addition, it can be put on a par with fish oil, which is recommended to be consumed by babies in order to avoid rickets.
Contraindications and harm of flaxseed oil
Flaxseed oil is one of those products that, even if abused, will not bring harm, for the reason that its excess is always excreted from the body unchanged. Flaxseed oil can be harmful if we are dealing with a spoiled product that has a characteristic bitter taste and unpleasant odor, as well as a carcinogenic effect. Symptoms of poisoning with spoiled linseed oil: pain in the epigastric region, nausea and vomiting, dyskinesia, decreased blood clotting and bleeding. Before consuming it, you should definitely consult your doctor, especially if it concerns pregnant women and children under 3 years of age.
It is not recommended to thermally process linseed oil, because heating will lead to the loss of useful properties, oxidation.
Who should refrain from consuming flaxseed oil:
- Patients with acute cholecystitis … This is a disease in which you need to remove excess fats from the body, and linseed oil contains a large amount of them in its composition, therefore this product cannot be included in the diet.
- Patients with gallstone disease, pancreatitis, exacerbation of gastric and duodenal ulcers, in the absence of a gallbladder, i.e. after deleting it … Flaxseed oil contains a large amount of various fatty acids, therefore, it can lead to an exacerbation of the disease.
- People with diarrhea and volvulus … Since this product is taken for the treatment of constipation, therefore, with the aforementioned diseases, it will only bring harm.
Important to remember! Antivirals and antidepressants cannot be combined with flaxseed oil.
How to make flaxseed oil?
It is recommended to make oil exclusively from plant seeds that were grown without fertilizers and pesticides. There are many different ways to manufacture this product. We will tell you about the fastest and most convenient. To do this, you need a Piteba oil press. Within 1 hour, you can get 250-400 ml of oil from 1 kg of flax, it depends on the type of plant.
First, ripe seeds must be freed from foreign impurities. Then they should be frozen to a temperature of 15 degrees below zero for 2 days. This is done to ensure the full release of the oil.
The product should be transparent, but the color is allowed from golden to brown. You need to store linseed oil in dark bottles, where the sun's rays will not fall.
It's important to know! A month after production, the homemade product will already taste bitter.
Linseed Oil Recipes
Flaxseed oil has a specific aroma, which makes it an indispensable ingredient in many dishes. It is not advised to subject it to heat treatment, because at the same time its healing properties are lost. Salads, sauces made from fresh ingredients, cereals seasoned with this oil before serving, boiled potatoes are what you can cook with it.
Recipes with flaxseed oil for healthy dishes:
- French dressing … Ingredients: 4 tablespoons cold pressed flaxseed oil, 1 tsp. maple syrup, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, 1, 5 tbsp. soy sauce and sesame oil to taste. Beat everything well with a fork, and the sauce is ready. They can be poured over salads, it will give them an unusual taste and aroma.
- Whole Grain Oatmeal … Pour 2 tablespoons of oatmeal into 1 glass of boiling water and boil for 1-2 minutes. Insist half an hour. Drizzle with 1 teaspoon of flaxseed oil before serving. Bon Appetit!
- Green Bean and Hazelnut Salad … Fry 30 g of hazelnuts in the oven (160 degrees) until golden brown. Let the component cool down and chop it with a knife. We wash 350 g of green beans, boil them for 5-10 minutes. Drain the water and cool this ingredient. Take a bowl and mix in it a pinch of salt, 1, 5 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar and 2 teaspoons of granular mustard. Add 4 teaspoons of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of cold pressed flaxseed oil and 1 teaspoon of hazelnut oil. Beat everything well and put the beans, nuts and 60 g of chopped red onions into this mass. Pepper and salt to taste, and you can enjoy a wonderful and healthy salad.
- Salad with beets, cherries, cheese and nuts … First, wash, peel and boil 1 red beet. We leave in a glass 100 ml of ready-made beetroot juice. Cool the vegetable and cut into slices. Then we wash 150 g of leaves of any green salad and cut them into strips. Then we rinse 1 young zucchini, peel it and cut it into long and thin strips, like noodles, and put it on the chopped leaves. Cut 120 g of Adyghe cheese into cubes, cut 100 g of Brazil nuts into 3-4 pieces and add to the prepared ingredients. Put beets on top. Now you need to cook the cherries. Remove the seeds from the washed (120 g) berries, put them in a saucepan, pour 50 ml of balsamic vinegar and 100 ml of beetroot juice and simmer over low heat for 10 minutes. 1/3 of the liquid remains - the cherries are ready. We put them in a salad. Pour the resulting sauce and 50 ml of cold-pressed flaxseed oil and mix everything well. At first glance, the ingredients do not seem to fit together, but with these wonderful seasonings, a salad with an excellent taste is obtained, which will decorate the festive table.
- Salad with cherry tomatoes, radish and pea sprouts … We wash with 250 g of cherry tomatoes, 10 pieces of radish and 1 bunch of cilantro. We start grinding them: we cut the tomatoes into halves, the radishes into thin slices, and chop the leaves of the greenery coarsely. We connect all the components. Cooking sauce for salad dressing. To do this, mix 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 tablespoon of cold-pressed flaxseed oil and 2 teaspoons of raspberry vinegar. We fill our dish with this mixture and decorate on top with 1 bunch of green pea sprouts.
- Summer salad with flaxseed oil … The first step is to rinse the vegetables and herbs. Then we start grinding them: 4 cucumbers - in thin slices or circles, 2 tomatoes - in large slices, 1 bunch of radishes - in thin circles, 1 bunch of fresh cilantro and 0.5 bunch of dill - finely cut. Mix all the products and fill with 2 tablespoons of linseed oil and the same amount of unrefined sunflower oil. Add 1 tablespoon of flax seeds and mix well. Salt to taste and top with 0.5 tablespoon of flax seeds.
- Salad "Mister Wolfe" … First, prepare flaxseed chips in this way: pour 100 g of flax seeds into a bowl, pour 100 ml of water and add chopped 50 g of tomatoes and 5 g of red onions. We infuse the mixture for 30 minutes. Dry the chips on edible paper in a dehydrator for 6 hours at low temperature. Then rinse with 50 g of broccoli, the same amount of cauliflower and 10 g of spinach. We grind these components. Mix them, add ready-made chips and fill with 10 ml of linseed oil.
- Cucumber salad with feta cheese … We wash the cucumbers (2 pieces) and cut into strips, and the cheese (80 g) into cubes. Put these ingredients on a flat plate, add 2 tablespoons of pine nuts, salt and pepper to taste. We fill with 2 tablespoons of linseed oil, preferably cold pressed.
- Fried beans with cucumbers and zucchini … Pour 1 tablespoon of turmeric into a frying pan with sunflower oil and stir (over low heat) for 30 seconds. Add 400 g of washed green beans and simmer for 10 minutes under the lid. We wash 2 zucchini and 3 cucumbers and chop them. We shred 1 bunch of greens, of course, washed. Cut olives (1 can) in half. Mix all the ingredients in a salad bowl and fill with 3 tablespoons of linseed oil.
- Delicious salad … Take 2 onions, 1 bunch of radishes, 1 lemon, 4 slices of red fish, 2 tablespoons of linseed oil, salt, pepper and fresh herbs to taste. We wash the onions and herbs, chop and fill with oil, 2 tablespoons of lemon juice, salt and pepper. Mix everything well. Add the sliced radishes to this onion mixture. Put the fish on a plate, and on top of it - our sauce. This dish is very nutritious, healthy and delicious.
- Homemade mayonnaise … Mix 3 egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of mustard, salt and sugar to taste. Beat all the ingredients until smooth. Carefully pour in 1/3 cup of linseed oil and the same amount of sunflower oil. Mix everything well again. Add 2 tablespoons of lemon juice and 0.5 cups of sour cream. The mayonnaise is ready. It is both tasty and healthier from a store product.
- Curd snack … This dish is tasty, healthy, and its preparation will not take much time. We take the components for this appetizer to taste and at our discretion. We need cottage cheese, herbs (it needs to be finely chopped) and linseed oil. Mix all products well. The resulting mass can be spread on bread, loaf, lettuce or pieces of red fish.
Interesting facts about flaxseed oil
Avicenna and Hippocrates mentioned in their works the beneficial properties of flaxseed oil. And the Bible says that the people of Israel used it as an ingredient for baking bread.
Nestor the chronicler wrote that monks in the time of Theodosius of the Caves used flax oil instead of wood oil in their icon lamps.
In the 8th century AD, King Charlemagne ordered his subjects to use this product for medicinal purposes.
Flax came to Russia from Asia at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC, as evidenced by excavations on the Modlon River in the Vologda region. For the 9th and 10th centuries, the seeds of this plant were used as a bargaining chip, they were paid taxes and rent. In Kievan Rus it was cultivated for fiber and oil. The seeds were eaten during the fast. The trade in flax and oil began in the 13th century.
In Soviet times, the production of flaxseed products was minimized, because this business was considered unprofitable. Nowadays, the most famous flax producers are Canada, Kazakhstan, China and Russia, more than 77% of the world's total.
Why linseed oil is useful - watch the video:
So, flaxseed oil is what any housewife should always have at hand. It will help in the treatment and prevention of many ailments. As a component in the preparation of salads, sauces, cereals and other dishes, it diversifies our menu, as well as gives food an unusual taste and aroma. You can buy flaxseed oil, but for those who are very worried about their health, we recommend preparing it at home.
