Canary Seed

Canary seed comes from an annual grass that grows about a metre tall and carries compact, egg-shaped seed heads. The grains are small, smooth, spindle-shaped and straw yellow, with a glossy hull. Ordinary varieties carry tiny silica-containing hairs on the hull that can irritate skin and the digestive tract, so they are mainly sold as bird feed.

Newer hairless, or glabrous, varieties were developed for human consumption. These are sold as dehulled groats, ground into flour, or processed into a protein-rich plant milk. The groats are pale and cook up like other small grains, with a mild, slightly nutty flavour similar to millet or oat.

Annual canarygrass is native to the western Mediterranean region and parts of North Africa. It was named after the Canary Islands, from where the Spanish exported it in the sixteenth century, and the seed in turn gave its name to the canary songbird's staple diet. Linnaeus described the species formally.

The genus name Phalaris comes from a Greek term for shiny or white, referring to the glossy seeds. Although it grew wild around the Mediterranean, canarygrass appears to have been taken into cultivation mainly as feed for caged birds rather than as a human grain, and it is now cultivated on a commercial scale in cool temperate regions.

Canary seed has a short but interesting commercial history. When Spanish colonists settled the Canary Islands in the fifteenth century, canaries and the local grass were already known, and by the sixteenth century caged canaries were fashionable across Europe. Their seed was exported from the islands and later cultivated in Spain, Italy and other parts of Europe to meet the demand.

In the twentieth century production shifted to cooler areas with dry harvest weather. Canada, particularly Saskatchewan, became the largest exporter, supplying the world pet-food industry. Other growers include Argentina, Australia, Hungary and Turkey.

The human-food story is recent. Plant breeders in Canada developed hairless varieties in the early 2000s, and food regulators in Canada, and later in other jurisdictions, accepted dehulled hairless canary seed as safe for human consumption. It has since appeared in gluten-free products and in plant-based drinks, marketed as a novel ancient grain. Because it is a very young food crop, the research on its health effects is limited, and traditional culinary uses are few.

As a human food, only the hairless, dehulled seed should be used. The groats can be simmered like rice or millet, ground into flour for gluten-free baking, or milled into a protein-rich plant milk. Whole hairless seed can be sprinkled over salads and breads or added to granola.

The main traditional use of the crop has been as bird feed, alone or in seed mixes with millet and niger seed. The plant is also grown as an ornamental grass, and in some Mediterranean folk medicine the seed was used in teas and poultices, though the evidence is weak. Do not confuse it with the common weedy canary grass relatives found in ditches.

Dehulled canary seed is naturally gluten free and relatively high in protein, with a good share of the amino acid tryptophan, and it supplies starch, fat and some minerals. These qualities have attracted interest as an alternative grain for people avoiding wheat.

However, human studies are scarce. Claims on social media about weight loss, diabetes or kidney benefits are based mainly on laboratory work or traditional use and should be treated cautiously. It can be a useful variety in the diet but is not a medicine.