Store Flax -How to Store Flax Seed Meal Tips

How to Store Flax and Flax Seed Shelf life Guidelines
~When is flax is rancid?
Flax storage tips for whole seed + cold milled flax so that you can get all of the incredible benefits of Flax seed! There are many different opinions on this and it can be very confusing!

Cold Milled Flax Invention:

The recent invention of a way to deliver cold milled flax by the farmer has changed everything. This has made it more confusing for some because of all the various 'rules about flax' out there. We used to grind whole flax seed because it was the best option to know for sure we were getting all the nutritional benefits from flax seed.

Heat Denatures Fragile Omega 3:

Nutritionists told us that ground flax seed would begin to lose all its' great nutrients like Omega 3 oil within minutes because of the exposure to heat in the grinding process (like a coffee grinder or blender) and especially if it was being ground in large mills and shipped around the country or from other countries.

This is why ground or milled flax that is not COLD milled will have lost many of those nutrients and will taste bitter or rancid. So, this is why it used to be important for us to grind our own flax seed and eat it that day, or store flax in the fridge or freezer. Since we don’t know what countries flax is coming from, how flax is being ground or how it is being stored, the taste test is STILL important! And if you do grind your own flax for the economical benefits (of course there is a trade-off for the convenience and time), you still want to store the ground flax in the fridge or freezer (doesn’t matter –just so you use it!). You can store the whole flax seeds in a cool place out of direct sun light and heat.

However, now all of this has changed since the Farmer developed his one-of-a-kind proprietary mill that never exposes the flax seed to heat, so we now have cold milled flax that will not go lose its nutrients and go rancid. It is when flax is exposed to heat through the grinding process or storage, the Omega 3 oils can start to break down, denature and go rancid.

If you have cold milled flax, you do not need to refrigerate flax, just keep it out of direct sun and heat. You can keep it in the fridge if you have space; we don't have any extra room in ours, so we keep it in a easy-to-access cupboard or on the counter!

Cold milled flax is perfect for those of us who would otherwise not take the time to grind flax because we are too busy! Cold milled flax is easy to quickly add to your favorite food as well as fast to pack up and take with you to work, school or while traveling!

If you have the whole flax seed, then flax (because it is a seed) could technically last up to 7 years.
However, we recommend to use it within 2-3 years -then you KNOW you are getting all the nutritional value of the flax.

(And really if you don't eat it within that time, you probably aren't experiencing all the incredible benefits of the powerful seed!)

If you are wondering about the of cold milled flax shelf life, then that is usually ~2 years after it has been milled and packaged and it will have the 'best by date' on the container.

Background -Whole seed vs Ground vs Cold Milled