Hemp Seed Orzo Pasta Salad Recipe

Proper nutrition is essential during the winter months when the body and mind can be compromised by cold weather and dreary darkness. Manitoba Harvest’s shelled hemp seed, hemp seed oil and hemp seed butter are invigorating, up-and-coming ingredients that have a pleasant nutty flavor and are easy to use. Their amazing nutrition profile sets them apart from other salad ingredients. Below, Manitoba Harvest (www.manitobaharvest.com) shares one of their favorite hearty winter salad recipes – Hemp Orzo Pesto Salad.

“The most popular use of shelled hemp seed is sprinkled on top of a salad or tossed inside,” says Mike Fata, President and co-founder of Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils. “These nutritional powerhouses have a soft texture, attractive sesame seed-like appearance and offer a nutty flavor similar to pine nuts,” notes Fata. “Hemp seed oil is a delicious salad dressing base for those that make their own, or is a nutritious supplement to a store-bought dressing,” add Fata. “It has a cool emerald green color due to its rich content of chlorophyll, a powerful antioxidant.” To produce hemp seed butter, hemp seeds are cracked to expose the soft inner “kernel.” This inner kernel is then ground at a low temperature until a rich, creamy texture is achieved. The butter is often used by chefs to add protein, body and a nutty flavor to dressings and sauces, such as the recipe below. More delicious hemp recipes are available at http://www.manitobaharvest.com/recipes/

Nutrition experts tout hemp due to its balanced and high concentration of Omega-3 and Omega-6 Essential Fatty Acids, strong digestible protein profile, plentiful fiber, and abundance of vitamins and minerals. Hemp foods offer the richest vegetable source of the Omega 3 & 6 Essential Fatty Acids, and hemp’s overall protein content is comparable to soy beans without containing hormone inhibitors, and is higher than that found in nuts, other seeds, meats, dairy products, fish and poultry. Hemp is also a plentiful and rare plant food source of the “super” omega-6 EFA gamma-linolenic acid (GLA).

Hemp Orzo Pasta Salad

1 cup Orzo pasta, boil in salted water

Fold in:
2 tbsp Manitoba Harvest cold-pressed hemp seed oil
1 tbspManitoba Harvest hemp seed butter
1 tbspManitoba Harvest shelled hemp seed
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp agave nectar
3 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp Bragg's amino acid, or tamari, or shoyu
1/3 tsp black pepper, or cayenne
small cucumber, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1/3 cup fresh basil, chopped
1/3 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in quarters
1 cup of black beans & pinto beans, or garbanzo beans, or shelled edamame

Established in 1998, Manitoba Harvest Hemp Foods & Oils (www.manitobaharvest.com) owns and operates a 20,000 sq. ft. state-of-the-art, kosher certified and organic certified facility in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The company is proud to be the largest farmer-owned vertically integrated hemp food manufacturer, offering the freshest and highest quality hemp food products in the world.