Should flax seed never be heated?
Well this is a greatly debated subject. It all hangs around the fact that flax seeds are a great source of essential fatty acids principally omega 3 oil (a.k.a. linolenic acid). This fatty acid is unstable and if heated can cause it to mix with oxygen and so oxidize; essentially goes rancid and so no longer will benefit your body. So if you go out and buy flax seed meal you obviously don’t want to waste your money and so the safest way of using flax seeds is to scatter it on salads, cereals etc. But this can become a little boring and so it would be nice to maybe put it into soups or include it as an ingredient when you are baking. Well it seems that flax seed meal will tolerate being cooked to temperatures equivalent to cooking breads and muffins which is obviously great news.