The benefits of canary seed milk and how to make it
Are you interested in learning how to prepare canary seed milk? In case you didn’t know, canary seed milk is a low-calorie, plant-based drink that’s become popular around the world for its interesting concentration of essential nutrients and health benefits.
Although the seeds are known as an exclusive food for birds, today they’ve gained an important place in the human diet. In fact, there are those who take it on a regular basis, as it’s very light and helps maintain a feeling of satiety.
Nutritional properties of canary seed milk
According to information published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, canary seeds (Phalaris canariensis L) are composed of 61% starch, 20% protein, 8% crude fat, and 7% total dietary fiber.
Compared to other cereals, such as oats, barley, wheat, and rye, they contain much more protein. They also provide micronutrients such as potassium, magnesium, calcium, and folic acid. They also have antioxidant activity.
Also read: Top 3 Cereals and Grains for Weight Loss
How do you make canary seed milk?
Canary seed milk is one of the lowest-calorie vegetable drinks out there. Thanks to this, you can make it every day. Plus, it can be a supplement that helps you maintain a healthy weight and promote health, always within the parameters of a healthy and balanced diet. The preparation process is rather easy. However, it should be started the night before.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoon of canary seeds
- 4 cups of water
Instructions
- Place the canary seeds in a cup of water and let them soak overnight.
- The next morning, strain the soaked seeds and put them in a blender with the rest of the water.
- Blend them on high speed until you get a drink that has a pale beige color.
- Strain this drink with a cheesecloth and throw away the remains.
- Drink a cup of canary seed milk on an empty stomach and repeat 2 or 3 times over the course of the day.
Canary seed benefits
Research on the health benefits of canary seed milk is still too limited to make any claims. However, the studies that have been done in this regard have served to determine that this ingredient has potetion as a functional food and its consumption is beneficial for the body.
Now, in the first place, it’s important to deny many of the claims that have been made about its properties, which can lead consumers to have false ideas about this food. In this sense, the following clarifications should be made:
- Canary seed milk is useless for losing weight quickly. Although it’s a food that can contribute to maintaining a healthy weight, it doesn’t have any fat-burning properties by itself. It simply contributes to healthy diets by being a nutritious and satisfying food.
- This drink cannot purify or detoxify the liver. This organ has the ability to purify itself and there’s no evidence to show that this or other foods help to clean it.
- It’s not a remedy for high cholesterol, which can be caused by many factors. Because of this, high cholesterol treatment may vary from patient to patient. Although canary seed milk can help with controlling high cholesterol, it’s not a cure, much less a substitute for medical treatment.
Discover: 5 of the Absolute Best Plant-Based Milks
What does the research say?
As we can see, canary seed milk is not a super powerful food nor it has miraculous properties. It doesn’t have the ability to cure disease and it’s not a weight loss formula either. However, that doesn’t mean that it doesn’t contribute anything to our health. In fact, many of its properties are supported by some studies.
For example, recent research published in the Nutrient magazine compiles the main benefits of this food, highlighting that canary seed milk can be useful for the following:
- To promote the control of high blood sugar levels and prevent diabetes.
- Regulate high blood pressure in patients with hypertension.
- Strengthen the immune system.
- Fight inflammation.
- Inhibit the effects of free radicals.
- Inhibit the growth of some harmful bacteria.
Canary seed milk is not a cure
Preparing canary seed milk is easy and represents a good option to promote well-being. However, it should be clear that it’s not a healing food. Including it in the framework of a healthy and varied diet can help us to obtain the beneficial nutrients this milk has to offer. Consequently, it’s associated with the prevention of non-transmissible diseases.
All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.
- Abdel-Aal, E. S. M., Hucl, P. J., & Sosulski, F. W. (1997). Structural and Compositional Characteristics of Canaryseed (Phalaris canariensis L.). Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 45(8), 3049–3055. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf970100x
- Mason E, L’Hocine L, Achouri A, Karboune S. Hairless Canaryseed: A Novel Cereal with Health Promoting Potential. Nutrients. 2018;10(9):1327. Published 2018 Sep 19. doi:10.3390/nu10091327
- Abdel-Aal, E. S. M., Hucl, P., Patterson, C. A., & Gray, D. (2010). Fractionation of hairless canary seed (Phalaris canariensis) into starch, protein, and oil. Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, 58(11), 7046–7050. https://doi.org/10.1021/jf100736m
- Valverde, M. E., Orona-Tamayo, D., Nieto-Rendón, B., & Paredes-López, O. (2017). Antioxidant and Antihypertensive Potential of Protein Fractions from Flour and Milk Substitutes from Canary Seeds (Phalaris canariensis L.). Plant Foods for Human Nutrition, 72(1), 20–25. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11130-016-0584-z
