How do I use them?

The light nutty flavour and buttery undertones of hemp hearts makes them the perfect addition to a range of dishes, savoury and sweet. Add them to your smoothies, salads, stews, soups, sammies and even to your sweet treats to enhance your favourite meals.

Uses are limited only by your imagination.    

So, how do we make them?

Nestled amongst the rolling hills and wild coastlines of the North Island a collective of kiwi farmers cultivate hemp. After the annual harvest, the whole hemp seed enters a process of cleaning and grading. Our highest-grade hemp seed then enters a de-hulling process, to crack and remove the outer shell. There are many ways to retrieve the hemp hearts, but at Hemp Connect we love impact hulling. Hemp Connect’s impact hulling is done by gently throwing the seed against a hard surface to crack it. What remains is the treasure; hemp hearts. Nothing more, nothing less making a beautiful unrefined raw product.

This process is why we sometimes see Hemp hearts referred to, or sold as hulled hemp seed, it is just a more technical name for the beautiful hemp heart!

Why is it called a hemp heart?

Dehulled hemp seed, hulled hemp seed, or hemp hearts? They are all the same product.

Inside any seed are the first signs of life, when sprouting a seed all you need to do is add water. With hemp it is no different, the seed itself is loaded with nutrients ready to give it a great start to life. Further detail here. The inside of the seed is separated in two halves divided by what will become the root system. When the shell is removed slowly and delicately the interior resembles a heart, hence why we call it a hemp heart!

As the contents of a hemp seed will always be divided by the beginnings of the root system it would be more accurate to call it a split heart. This is why some hemp distributors come up with alternative names such as hemp flakes or de-hulled hemp seed to give the product a more technical name!

Fun fact: Hemp seeds are technically a nut, think of a pistachio or a peanut. This gives some insight as to why we remove the outer shell. Once this outer shell is removed, we have hemp hearts. Similar to a sesame seed Hemp Connect hemp hearts are small, white, and look great as a garnish as well as in any meal.