Today we were asked an interesting question that I didn't know the answer to, so I did some research to find out.

Is Hemp Flour the same thing as Hemp Protein Powder?

Until today, I wasn't familiar with Hemp Flour, so I did some reading. The answer to the question is NO. That wasn't enough for me though, so I thought I'd do some reading to find out what the difference is.

What is hemp flour / hemp powder?

Hemp flour is made from the raw hemp seeds. They are an oily seed, approx. 30% oil. The hemp oil is stripped away and what remains is used to make the hemp flour. It's also known as hemp powder, hemp bran or hemp fibre flour. It is a completely different product than hemp protein powder and usually about 1/3 of the price of the protein powder.

One tablespoon has approx 60% of your daily fibre needs and it's a great gluten free option for thickening sauces. The fibre is a combination of both soluble and insoluble and it has a low GI index for those who have diabetes. It is also completely free from cholesterol, no saturated fat and low in sodium (salt).

We have not baked with it so we're not sure it compares to other gluten free flour options like buckwheat. Because it's high in fibre, it's not a traditional baking flour. If you want to add it to baking, do it in small quantities only as you will get quite the surprise when you attempt to bake with it.

What is hemp protein?

Hemp protein is the full ground up hemp seeds, so it still contains the oil. Hemp protein powder contains the full spectrum of essential amino acids. The hemp flour does not because much of the nutrients are stripped out when the oil is removed.

This blog post originally published in April 2015 when hemp products were not legal food in Australia. It was updated in June 2019. Now that hemp is a legal food, all food warnings have been removed. Hemp products have always been a safe & healthy food to eat. Government legislation changed last year to make this legal.