Food & Drink

Types of Seed & Grain

Name: Types of Seed & Grain
Creator: Community curated

Quinoa, Chia, Flax, Hemp, Amaranth — which superfood seed or ancient grain is the most nutritious powerhouse?

Types Of Seed & Grain is a structured food & drink dataset with 15 entries. Its fields include Seed / Grain, Origin, Protein (per 100g). Community voting appears as a separate signal beside eligible rows and does not replace the source values.

Every row is shown below and is also available as CSV, JSON, or Excel.

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15rows

5columns

44views

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Source:Community curated

Updated:3/7/2026

#drink #food

Dataset details

Table scope: All 15 rows
Fields: 5 columns
Source: Community curated
Data updated: Mar 7, 2026

Included fields: Seed / Grain, Origin, Protein (per 100g), Key Nutrient, Known For.

The table contains every record in this dataset; the same records are available in each download format.

Preview observations

Protein (per 100g) groups: 11 distinct values; Across 15 preview rows

Useful for

Comparing Seed / Grain, Origin, and Protein (per 100g) across food & drink entries
Building reference tables, charts, or analyses from 15 downloadable records

15/15

Seed / Grain↕	Origin↕	Protein (per 100g)↕	Key Nutrient↕	Known For↕
Quinoa	Andean region, South America	14g	Complete protein (all 9 essential amino acids)	Incan 'mother of all grains', only plant-based complete protein, 2013 was UN International Year of Quinoa, Western demand caused price spikes in Bolivia/Peru, the seed that launched the superfood era
Chia Seeds	Mexico / Central America	17g	Omega-3 fatty acids (highest plant source)	Aztec warrior fuel, absorb 12x their weight in water to form gel, chia pudding became an Instagram staple, Christopher McDougall's 'Born to Run' revived interest, tiny seeds with massive nutrition
Flaxseed (Linseed)	Mesopotamia (oldest cultivated oilseed)	18g	Lignans (phytoestrogens) + ALA omega-3	Oldest cultivated oilseed crop (9,000+ years), Charlemagne mandated his subjects eat it, must be ground to access nutrients, linseed oil used in painting and wood finishing, dual food/industrial crop
Hemp Seeds (Hemp Hearts)	Central Asia	31g	Perfect omega-6 to omega-3 ratio (3:1)	Highest protein of any seed, Cannabis sativa but with negligible THC, ideal fatty acid ratio for human health, nutty mild flavor, one of humanity's oldest cultivated plants, stigmatized by drug associations
Amaranth	Mesoamerica (Aztec Empire)	14g	Lysine (rare amino acid in grains) + iron	Aztecs used it in religious ceremonies mixed with blood, Spanish conquistadors banned its cultivation, gluten-free ancient grain, pops like tiny popcorn, Mexican alegría candy bars, NASA space crop candidate
Sesame Seeds	India / Africa (oldest oilseed crop)	18g	Calcium (975mg/100g — more than milk)	'Open Sesame' from Ali Baba, tahini paste is ground sesame, 5,000+ year cultivation history, more calcium per gram than milk, sesame oil is the foundation of Asian and Middle Eastern cooking
Pumpkin Seeds (Pepitas)	Americas (7,000+ years ago)	19g	Zinc (highest plant source) + magnesium	Mexican pepitas tradition, flat green seeds without shells, extraordinarily high in zinc and magnesium, roasted with salt as a snack worldwide, mole verde uses ground pepitas, Día de los Muertos tradition
Sunflower Seeds	North America (Native American cultivation)	21g	Vitamin E (highest of any seed)	Baseball player snack icon, Native Americans cultivated them 3,000+ years ago, Russia became world's largest producer, sunflower oil is global cooking staple, Ukraine's national flower and major export crop
Millet	Africa / Asia (10,000+ years)	11g	Iron + B vitamins	Feeds 1/3 of the world's population, most drought-resistant grain, 2023 was UN International Year of Millets, staple in African and Indian cuisine, bird seed in the West but human food for billions
Teff	Ethiopia (5,000+ years)	13g	Iron + resistant starch	World's smallest grain, foundation of Ethiopian injera flatbread, high iron content addresses Ethiopia's nutritional needs, gluten-free, Ethiopian runners attribute endurance to teff, gaining global superfood status
Buckwheat	Southeast Asia / China	13g	Rutin (bioflavonoid for cardiovascular health)	Not actually wheat — it's a seed related to rhubarb, soba noodles in Japan, blini and kasha in Russia, gluten-free despite the name, buckwheat honey is prized, grows in poor soil where wheat can't
Farro (Emmer Wheat)	Fertile Crescent (10,000+ years)	15g	Fiber (complex carbs) + zinc	Roman legionnaire rations, one of the first domesticated crops, Italian grain salad staple, nutty chewy texture, making a comeback as heirloom grain, farro risotto (farrotto) is the trendy alternative
Black Sesame Seeds	India / Southeast Asia	18g	Anthocyanins (antioxidants) + iron	Japanese black sesame ice cream, Chinese tong sui dessert soup, Ayurvedic anti-aging remedy, unhulled with more nutrients than white sesame, striking visual contrast in cooking
Sacha Inchi	Peruvian Amazon	27g	Omega-3 (highest of any nut/seed at 48%)	Inca peanut from the Amazon, star-shaped pod, highest omega-3 of any plant source, Peruvian superfood gaining global traction, mild nutty flavor, 3,000-year cultivation history in Amazon
Freekeh	Levant / Middle East	12g	Fiber (4x more than brown rice) + prebiotics	Young green wheat harvested and roasted/smoked, smoky nutty flavor, Middle Eastern staple for centuries, 4x the fiber of brown rice, Ottolenghi popularized it in Western cooking, ancient grain revival star