Gluten-Free Tabouli

The bulgur in regular tabouli is cooked and made of wheat. This one’s gluten-free, wheat-free and enzyme rich, of course.

Tabouli

1 cup hempseed
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh spearmint
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
Juice of 1 lemon juice
1 cup hempseed
1/4 cup hempseed oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
Put them all together in a big bowl and mix them all about! Chill before serving for 1/2 hour. (Serves 4-6)

Tabouli Salad is a great way to use colorful antioxidant rich fresh produce. Sunripened tomatoes, cool cukes, sensuous spearmint, and hip hempseed as an alternative to the gluten containing bulgur wheat, which is traditionally used. Hemp can provide omega 3s, protein and vitamin E. The hempseed oil adds a lovely richness that might even win over olive oil aficionados. There is no THC in the hempseed or oil. Try this Mediterranean treat that can be a meal in itself!

For those of you that have never tried Hempseed (Cannabis sativa), it is a member of the Cannabaceae (Hemp) Family and one of the oldest cultivated plants on the planet. Hempseed is really akin to a nutrient dense grain, though it contains no gluten and is not in the Poaceae (Grass) Family that grains like wheat, rye, barley, spelt and kamut fall into. Hempseeds can be useful in special diets where people have intolerances to dairy, soy, corn and gluten, as it is easily tolerated and digestible.

Hempseed’s flavor is sweet and mild and somewhere between a sunflower seed and pine nut. Hempseed is the highest source of vegetable protein, next to soy, yet easier to digest and unlikely to cause allergic reactions and is not from genetically modified plants, which is common with soy and corn. Hempseed, unlike soybeans are free of the anti-nutrient factor trypsin inhibitors, which impair protein assimilation and oligosaccharides, and can cause gas.

(For more delicious recipes please visit Nutivakitchen.com or check out my book The HempNut Health and Cookbook, co-authored with Richard Rose and Christina Pirello.)