grinding flax seeds

F

Falco

New Member
I bought a bunch of flax seeds and I'm grinding them up to add to oatmeal, protein shakes, etc (cheaper than pills or oil).

The bag says that ground seeds need to be used within 2 days. Anyone know why this is. What is lost when the grounds sit around for a while. Is there anyway to preserve them ground up? Store it in tupperware, or in the freezer or something?

It would be much more convenient to just grind'em all up at once

Thanks.
 
The fats in flax seed oxidize very quickly. This is why flax seed oil must be refrigerated unlike olive oil for example. You should keep any ground flax refrigerated as well.
 
Like Bryan says, flax oxidizes very quickly- you can tell when this happens, as the product (seeds, meal,or oil) takes on a distinct odor- very much like linseed oil (oddly enough!)) you'd use for painting or refinishing. I buy seeds in 1lb bags, and then grind 'em up all at once, and store the meal in the freezer in Ziploc freezer bags. These things are great because you can expel any air that's in the bag before you zip up- probably not a big deal if you refrigerate or freeze the meal, but it's a peace of mind thing, I guess. BTW, I find that these really help keep walnuts fresh too- they can quickly go bad on you, just like flax.
 
[b said:
Quote[/b] (Bryan Haycock @ July 04 2005,11:47)]The fats in flax seed oxidize very quickly. This is why flax seed oil must be refrigerated unlike olive oil for example. You should keep any ground flax refrigerated as well.
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Thanks Bryan.

So if I grind them all at once, how long will they stay fresh in the fridge? Are we talking several days? a month?

Thanks.
 
Bryan didn't catch this one, so I'll step in- I've kept ground flaxseed in my freezer for over a month, without any problem. As to the fridge, I dunno- I don't keep them there!

BoSox- As long as you keep your walnuts in tightly sealed jar in a cool place, they should be OK, but it's (a very hot) summer in my part of the world, and that wreaks havoc on them- they go rancid pretty fast unless I chill them. You can tell if they've turned by the smell- it's pretty unappealing.
 
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