Wilderness Poets' Oregon Hazelnut Hempspread

October 10, 2012

There are certain foods in the world with names that work against them. Ugly fruit sounds like Mother Nature’s reject, gravlax sounds like an evil creature from Lord of the Rings, and hemp sounds about as tasty as an old burlap sack.

My mother-in-law drinks hemp milk and even though I’ve been to her house many times with the ability to take just a little taste without having to buy and potentially chuck a whole container of it, I still haven’t brought myself to go for it. Hemp milk. It just sounds wrong- and I’ve tried (and liked) plenty of other non-dairy milks like soy, almond, hazelnut and rice. Hemp just takes it a teensy step too far.

Or so I thought - until I saw these Wilderness Poets Nut Butters. It’s possible that hemp in nut butter form was just a more comfortable platform for me, but I went for it. Despite the leap, I fully expected to detest the hemp butter and anticipated washing its offensive flavor down with the pecan butter. Considering the small size of the container and little risk of food waste, it was worth knowing for sure.

Turned out, I was wonderfully surprised: the hemp butter was great. Not good, it was actually great! I devoured it. It has a pleasantly seedy texture that gives the sandwich a little body. I’ve had peanut butter with flax seeds in it and wasn’t wild about that extremely seedy texture, but these seeds mesh a bit more with the peanut butter. Or maybe they just grind em down or something… whatever the case, it worked for me. The roasted hemp gives it really nice, deep body, which is great on its own or with a little banana and honey.

According to their site, there are some benefits of eating hemp (note: not acquired by eating burlap sacks) including that it’s a living plant energy, it has the perfect balance of Omega 3&6 EFA’s, it has the most potent protein of any plant source (good for us vegetarians), and it contains all 10 essential amino acids as well as other important vitamins & minerals. Not to mention that this particular hemp butter is vegan and free of sugar, soy, gluten, trans fats, GMO and cholesterol.

Wilderness Poets’ mission statement declares, “We strive to inspire mindfulness and good health through energizing, life giving foods. We believe that sharing delicious, wholesome foods, grown on small organic family farms, can help heal people, our communities, and planet.”

Their efforts are ex-hemp-lary if you ask me. (Sorry. Please come back to the blog.)

Pick up some Oregon Hazelnut Hempspread Butter from Seattle-area based Wilderness Poets. They have a lot of unique flavors and you can try a few with their handy sample pack.