A new powerful whole food has hit the market with a storm and after being featured on the likes of Breakfast Television and Oprah, you’ve surely heard of it by now.

Salba, a little seed from the nutrient-dense soils of the Amazon Basin in Peru, is jam packed with more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants than many fruits and vegetables in our supermarkets.

It is one of the best sources of Omega 3 found in nature, and gram for gram contains eight times more Omega 3 than salmon, seven times more vitamin C than an orange, six times more calcium than milk, 15 times more magnesium than broccoli, and three times more iron than spinach.

Salba also contains more dietary fibre than any other food, which is so important for reducing blood pressure and cholesterol levels. It also helps in balancing blood sugars and controlling diabetes, which also affects weight management.

But let’s not forget about the importance of fibre in maintaining a healthy bowel, which really is the seat of all our health. Toxins built up in a sluggish bowel poison our systems and lead to all kinds of disease states. Providing soluble and insoluble fibre, Salba helps promote healthy bowel movements.

Thankfully, this little gem is incredibly easy to get into our everyday diet. Ground Salba can virtually be added to any food as it is tasteless and dissolves immediately. So you can hide it from that fussy child or partner who hates getting their fibre. Stir it into soup, juice, cereal, yogurt, sprinkle it onto a salad or stir-fry, add to baked goods, they’ll never know.

The Deli Lama vegetarian café at Muskoka Natural Food Market has been experimenting with adding ground Salba to cookies and muffins and other dishes and has found it remarkably easy to add to any recipe. Gone are the days of eating healthy food that’s high in fibre that tastes like you’re chewing on a bale of hay.

Keep your eyes peeled for new foods featuring Salba found on our grocery shelves at Muskoka Natural Food Market, such as delicious Salba corn chips and salsas, crackers, rice crispy treats and home baked goods made fresh daily in the deli.

Pick up a bag of Salba seeds and enjoy the crunch they add to foods; you could even sprout the whole seeds, which only increases their nutrition, or try adding ground meal to blend into foods at home. For recipe ideas visit the Salba web page at www.sourcesalba.com.