Desert Mag. Oct.. 1963 (Chia Seeds)

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Desert Mag. Oct.. 1963 (Chia Seeds)

Post by Desert Cruiser »

Chia Seeds, what are they?

This article by Harrison Doyle is of special interest to me, could be to you too! Don't discount the old medicines that
the Native Americans used. Some like the Chia Seeds were found to really be beneficial! Need an energy boost --
read on --- Sorry about the narrow format!

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I found Chia so easy to domesticate
that I was not a bit surprised
to find, when researching it, that
the plant had been cultivated and
used for a staple food for hundreds
of years by the aboriginees of Ancient
Mexico.
In addition, I raised and harvested
it so easily, obtaining such amounts
of the tiny seeds, that I believe it can
become a boon to agriculturists today,
especially those who dry farm
in the winter rain areas of Southern
California, or even irrigate in the
desert valleys. I believe the day will
come when all health food stores and
even community markets will carry it.
I have been interested in Chia for
many years, and in what certain old
limers had claimed for it. As a boy
in Needles around the turn of the
century (See DESERT Nov. '59, fan.
'60, and Nov. '60) . I played with 'Mohave
Indians of my own age — ran
long distances, rode colorful Indian
ponies bareback, and whacked a tin
ran around the yellow Silt Flats back
of the old Santa Fe Roundhouse with
a gnarled cottonwood or willow club,
in the ancient game of "Shinny."
One of the Indian boys with whom
I played was named Pete Homer. I've
been told he still lives at Parker. I
remember Pete telling me when we
were youngsters that Indian runners
sometimes went all the way in to the
Coast on trading expeditions. "They
run most of the time," he said, "eat
seeds and carry water gourd shells to
keep themselves going."

I haven't seen Pete since that day
in Needles sixty years ago, but that
"eat seeds . . . to keep themselves
going," has always stuck with me.
There are few screwbean mesquites
out on the open desert. I have
thought many times that possibly it
was Chia that Pete spoke of.
Anyway, I had seen the Chia plant
on many prospecting trips with my
Dad out of Needles. These plants
were especially profuse up near
Granite Well, in the Mid-Hills area
between the Providence and New
York mountains.

When I read the article on Adolph
Bulla and Chia in the April, 1958
DESERT, and resulting publicity in
the Los Angeles Times, I went out
to Randsburg and interviewed Bulla.
As stated in Eugene Conrotto's
DESERT article, it was indeed astonishing
to find a hard rock miner
in his 70s drilling, blasting, mucking,
hauling and putting in a full day's
work six days a week. Besides that,
Bulla looked and acted a good 20
years younger.
Crediting his remarkable physical
stamina to Chia, which grows up and
down the sandy hills of his desert
home, he generously presented me
with some of his seeds and explained
how he mixes a teaspoonful into
hot cake batter, sometimes a little
more for an especially hard day, and
this fortifies him all day without
another meal.

Impressed, but not entirely convinced,
I determined to conduct some
experiments of my own. Back home
in Vista, I planted his seeds in a plot
of our garden. The plants grew and
thrived and that June I harvested a
nice little batch of seeds, putting
them away for the next year's planting.
Meanwhile, I began researching
the plant. I found it to be Salvia
Columbariae, with its distinctive
stems carrying from one to three
equally spaced seed "buttons."

Mary Elizabeth Parsons, in WILD
FLOWERS OF CALIFORNIA,
(Payot, Upham Co., San Francisco,
1900, wrote of Chia: "Its small
bright blue-white flowers are borne
in an interrupted spike, consisting of
from one to four button-like heads
. . . After the blossoms have passed
away, the dried stems and heads remain
standing all over the hills,
shaking out little grey seed in abundance.
These seeds have been for
centuries an article of economic importance
to the aboriginees and their
descendents."

Dr. Rothrock writes that among
the Nahua races of ancient Mexico
the plant was cultivated as regularly
as corn, and was one of their most
important cereals. Quantities of the
seeds have been found buried beneath
graves which must be at least
several hundred years old. It was
in use among the Indians of California
before the occupation of the country
by the Whites, being known to
them as "Chia."

Dr. Bard writes of these seeds: "They
are roasted, ground, and used for
food by being mixed with water.
Thus prepared, it soon develops into
a mucilaginous mass, larger than its
original bulk. Its taste is somewhat
like that of linseed meal. It is exceedingly
nutritious, and was readily
borne by the stomach when that organ
refused to tolerate other aliment.
An atole, or gruel, of this was one of
the peace offerings to the first visiting
sailors. One tablespoonful of
these seeds was sufficient to sustain
for twenty-four hours an Indian on
a forced march. Chia was no less
prized by the Native Californian, and
at this late date (the 1890s?) it fre-
quently commands six or eight dollars
a pound.

"When added to water, the seeds
make a cooling drink, which has the
effect of assuaging burning thirst—
a very valuable quality on the
desert."

Dr. Edmund C. Jaeger, in DESERT
WILD FLOWERS, (Stanford
University Press, 1940), says: "The
seeds once formed a staple diet
among the Indians." He too, identifies
the Chia as Salvia Columbariae.
In A MANUAL OF FLOWERING
PLANTS OF CALIFORNIA,
(U. of C. Press, 1951), Willis Linn
Jepson says about Chia: "An infusion
of the seeds was valued by the Mission
Fathers as a remedy for fevers;
the seeds also furnished 'the finest
poultice for gunshot wounds . . .'
The Pomos roasted the seeds and
ground them into meal for food . . .
There was a lesser variety called Bernardino,."
All of which brings us to my
humble experiments. Last year I
again put in a planting of the Bulla
stock. Again, I got good results, and
now had enough on hand to make a
food test with them.
I put a teaspoonful of the Bulla
stock seeds into each of three unmarked
envelopes, with slips inside
identifying them. Using three other
envelopes, I then did the same with
some seeds I had purchased which
closely resemble Chia and are, indeed,
a distant relation, but still a
different plant. Then I shuffled the
six envelopes so I couldn't tell them
apart.
Each night I took one of the envelopes
at random, soaked the seeds

Image
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The author grew the plants above in his garden.

As we get more info on this interesting desert plant we'll let you know.

Don....
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Re: "NEW" Old Desert Magazines Oct.. 1963

Post by Plays In The Dirt »

A Google search leads to a plethora of information and Chia seed availability. I'd never heard of them before.
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Re: "NEW" Old Desert Magazines Oct.. 1963

Post by Desert Cruiser »

Gregg: I have a few links to the seeds for sale, but hesitated to put them in here for a couple of reasons. I'm still looking into this. Also they may soon be available here on this site.

One other thing --- and I know you've heard of this -- The PET CHIA rock that grows with one watering. They were popular years ago, even advertised on TV. This is the same seeds! More info coming, I hope!

Don....
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Re: "NEW" Desert Mag. Oct.. 1963 (Chia Seeds)

Post by Space Cowboy »

Don,

I don't know if the Chia pets were ever actually popular, but you can still buy them, at least here in San Diego County. The character-shaped ceramic thingies, the most recent incarnation is Scooby-Doo, are manufactured in Tecate.
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Re: "NEW" Desert Mag. Oct.. 1963 (Chia Seeds)

Post by Desert Cruiser »

Now here's something of interest that a friend just told me about concerning the Chia Seeds. In Mexico several older people died from what they thought was Chia Seeds. Just a little word of warning here if you go looking for this plant in the desert.

In Mexico (don't know if this grows here or not) there is a plant that looks very similar to the Chia Seed plant and in Mexico it's called Tolbache. Weed of the Devil. When used to make a drink it's after affects cause enormous swelling of the face and sometimes death. Guess it's like hunting mushrooms, you need to know what your eating or picking out there. Be careful!

Don....
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Re: "NEW" Desert Mag. Oct.. 1963 (Chia Seeds)

Post by Desert Cruiser »

Thanks Space Cowboy: I'll post later on the two scientific names of the two common plants that are harvested for Chia Seeds. One is sold commercially and the other one is not. We just ordered the commercial ones so when we have something to say about it we'll let everyone know.

Don...
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Re: "NEW" Desert Mag. Oct.. 1963 (Chia Seeds)

Post by Jim Hatt »

Space Cowboy wrote:Don,

I don't know if the Chia pets were ever actually popular, but you can still buy them, at least here in San Diego County. The character-shaped ceramic thingies, the most recent incarnation is Scooby-Doo, are manufactured in Tecate.

I never had a Chi Pet, but my sister did so I do know what they look like. I never had to by one myself to own one. When I was single, everything in my refrigerator looked like a Chi Pet. :D
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Re: "NEW" Desert Mag. Oct.. 1963 (Chia Seeds)

Post by Desert Cruiser »

Jim I'm familiar with the Chia Pet in the refrigerator. When your working a lot of hours those things can sneak up on you and grow behind a jar or something.

Back to the Chia Seeds: There are two main varieties as far as I now know. Here they are:

Salvia Columbariae These are the ones the Native Americans along the Colorado River and Southwest used. Not available for sale (that I know of).

Salvia Hispanica L This is the variety that is commonly sold for seeds and comes in either black or white seeds.

The Black seeds have more Omega 3 and Omega 6.

The white seeds have more protein.

Want to read more: http://www.living-foods.com/articles/chia.html

This link above has some interesting information about it use, what it's good for, and how to mix it with water, pancakes, etc.

Don....
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Re: "NEW" Desert Mag. Oct.. 1963 (Chia Seeds)

Post by Desert Cruiser »

OK so what does being a forum moderator get you? You become a guinea pig!

We just got our first trial 1# packet of Chia Seeds -- and no I didn't run out and cut the grass (I don't have any). We'll see what happens. But before we tell everyone the pluses and minuses of this -- be forewarned -- there is not much real scientific info on them so your trying them at your own peril. We did not tell you to get some and feel great, and individuals experiences may vary. Linda and I will try these for a few days and let you know what we think before putting a link in here to where we bought them.

Second part of the trial is to get some Salvia Columbariea the ones the Indians here in the Southwest used? And then try them, and then try using the two different ones on every other day basis and see if maybe one is better than the other.

Next would be to go to an area where they still grow wild and pick enough to give them a trial also; as soil, and temperature conditions that vary can change the outcome of the seeds potency and in fact could render them useless. So this may be an ongoing test and if's not scientific, but may prove interesting to some. Especially if your interested in what the desert explorers of old did. Stayed tuned! Took our first drink with lunch!

If Linda and I aren't on the forum by 8:00 this evening -- call 911! Never mind this we're still alive this evening!

Don...
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Re: "NEW" Desert Mag. Oct.. 1963 (Chia Seeds)

Post by Desert Cruiser »

In a continuing effort to research the Chia Seeds we've come across information that's kind of unsettling.

We thought about this and one of our thoughts was that the Native Americans didn't use this as an everyday cure
all for an energy booster. They only used it when needed. Of course now everyone would probably want to use it
on a daily basis. This may not be a good idea. We found this and still more research on this but it needs to be read now before you run out and buy them:

Chia seeds are recommended for alternative treatment of cancer. It boosts your energy level and provides essential nutrients in your body which help in cancer treatments. Chia seeds are good but at the same time there are some side effects of these seeds. It can lower the blood pressure in your body, especially, if you are someone in upper age group, be careful as Chia seeds are capable of lowering the pressure of the blood to the dangerous level. This seed is a great source of vitamin B-17. If you are from a regimen of B-17, then you should be cautious before taking the seeds. You may overload your body system with phytonutrients. If you have reactions when you eat Chia seeds or any product which contains Chia seeds, then you must avoid Chia seeds completely. People who are suffering with heart problems must avoid these seeds as it has addictive effects on its users. People who take blood thinners like warfarin should exclude this from their diet as Chia seeds increases the risk for bleeding. It may be allergic and the reason behind this is that it is the member of the salvia genus. Overdose of Chia should be avoided as it can be harmful for you.

Don....
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