Guest post by Claire Zakiewicz – a healthy eating enthusiast and keen marathon runner.
Just to tell you a little about me as it’s my first review on Natasha’s blog. I’m a food obsessed long distance runner and have been an on-off vegetarian from the age of twelve. I’ve traveled with Natasha surveying the various hot dogs across Eastern Europe (during a meat-eating period of course!). I’ve also informally studied the best spring rolls in Vietnam with one of my chef friends. So when Natasha asked if I wanted to be a guest writer for vegetarian products of course I answered with a resounding YES!
The first product was from the Good Hemp Food company which makes a range of healthy hemp food products in the UK using sustainable farming. A few days ago a box of Good Seed – Shelled Hemp Seed arrived at my door. It’s a product made primarily from hemp seed kernels but with added savory, sweet or spicy flavours. Hemp seed has a pleasant taste – I wouldn’t call it delicious on it’s own but knowing that hemp seed is an excellent source of protein – great for runners as it’s quick to digest and helps to build and repair muscles – I’ve been happily snacking on it and adding it to my meals. Each pot is a bit messy to eat on it’s own, but works very well added to various dishes. It’s also very filling, far more satisfying than something processed and keeps you going for a good long time.
The first pot I finished was Hemp and Sweet Cinnamon. It’s great with plain yoghurt or added to porridge and also tastes good on it’s own. My only reservation is that it has quite a lot of added sugar, which for a healthy product doesn’t make good sense to me. I would have preferred a healthy sweetener such as honey or maple syrup instead.
I really liked Hemp and Italian Herbs, which has a lovely cheesy flavour without containing any cheese so it’s perfect for vegans. It does, however have a lot of added salt. As a runner I get salt cravings so it’s healthier than a snack such as crisps. Also, it’s great for cooking with. I added it to a pasta dish with pine nuts and mushrooms and it made a lovely meaty textured sauce.
The Hemp with Asian Spices was also tasty especially when you’re in the mood for something spicy. Again, the salt content is high but I put it in a gorgeous vegetable dish with coconut milk, lentils and rice – yum!
Good Seed is available online and independant health stores, and seed retails at £3.89.
