LSA: Linseed, sunflower seed and almond meal

LSA, or ground linseed (flaxseed), sunflower seeds and almonds, is amazingly good for you and so easy to make at home.

I first heard of LSA more than 10 years ago, when a friend was reading a popular liver detox book and following its diet recommendations. I can’t say I ever read the book, but I liked the idea of the LSA it touted as a healthy addition to your diet, a way to support your liver and an excellent source of omega fatty acids.

Since then I’ve usually had a bag of LSA tucked away in my fridge, and regularly add it to porridge, smoothies and baking. It’s nutty, sweet, and easy to add to your diet without feeling like you’re eating birdseed.

And why would you want to add it to your diet? LSA is a mixture of ground raw linseed (also known as flaxseed), sunflower seeds and almonds. Altogether, this mixture is a good source of omega fatty acids, dietary fibre, vitamin E (alpha tocopherol), thiamin, magnesium, phosphorus and copper, and a very good source of manganese.

The proportions in commercial LSA blends are three parts linseed, two parts sunflower seeds, and one part almonds. There’s nothing else to it, so I’m not sure why it’s taken me so long to get around to making it at home.

If you have a high speed blender there’s absolutely no excuse, but you can still make it with a decent food processor or even a coffee grinder. Using my Optimum 9400, it took about 20 seconds to make. The final result is soft, finely ground and most importantly – fresh. Much as I like LSA, I don’t use it every day, so I’m really happy about being able to make smaller quantities, with fresher ingredients, more often.

If you buy LSA already, I encourage you to try making it yourself, and if you’ve never tried it, give it a go! Now that I have a fresh batch made, I’ll have a few recipes with LSA coming up soon.

DIY LSA: Linseed, sunflower seed and almond meal

LSA, or ground linseed (flaxseed), sunflower seeds and almonds, is amazingly good for you and so easy to make at home.

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Course: Basics

Cuisine: Vegan

Prep Time: 5 mins

Total Time: 5 mins

Servings: 12

Calories: 43

Author: Quite Good Food

Ingredients

• 3 parts linseed, (flaxseed)
• 2 parts sunflower seeds
• 1 part almonds

Instructions

• Put linseed, sunflower seeds and almonds into your blender or food processor. Blend at a high speed for 10-20 seconds, or until finely ground. You may need to stop and stir it around a bit to ensure you don't have any chunky bits.
• If you're using a coffee grinder, do it one ingredient at a time and in small quantities, then mix ground ingredients together.
• Store in a sealed jar in the refrigerator.

Notes

I made my batch of LSA with 3 tbsp linseed, 2 tbsp sunflower seeds and 1 tbsp almonds. Once ground, this made approximately 2/3 cup of LSA meal (more than the sum of its parts, gotta love that!).

Nutrition information is approximate, per tablespoon.

Nutrition information

Calories: 43kcal | Carbohydrates: 0.8g | Protein: 1.8g | Fat: 3.5g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Fiber: 1.7g

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