Somehow I missed the latest posts over here. These things are just plain odd. Chia FAQs? Can't wait to read those. Just got home from the grocery store. There were a couple of Chia Shreks in the discount cart with all the other stuff left over from Christmas. I was going to check the price, but there was another person looking through the stuff. I didn't want anyone to think I was actually thinking of buying one. You know, my reputation and all that.

I don't really want a chia 'pet', I am more interested in growing the full sized plant for the seeds, they have been grown since the Aztecs as a food source and are very nutritious. But out of curiosity, how do you grow the the pets, if not from seeds? Here is a link that might be useful: salvia hispanica l. (chia)

ilovetn- Your kitchen is sooooooo lovely and I'm tickled to see the bread lessons and recipe is working so well for you!!! Are your cabinets cherry? I've been using chia seeds for many years now. They are my #1 emergency food item if I could only grab one thing.... Look for a copy of the book "The Magic of Chia" by James F. Scheer. I've purchased them through several vendors and look for best price. The first place I ordered them from was the Dancing Algae Company (http://www.dancingalgae.com/) - and several times since. Bill Cooper at the Dancing Algae was very patient with all my questions for him and was very helpful. The last time I ordered I found a better price through The Raw Food World (http://www.therawfoodworld.com/). Unlike flax, chia seeds do NOT need to be ground to get the health benefits. Our bodies can easily digest chia seeds - grinding doesn't make them more bioavailable. There's no reason to pay more for white chia seeds because there's no significant difference between white and black. You'll find both b/w in a bag of chia seeds. We had a discussion recently over at the Cooking Forum on chia seeds (see link below). Vitamin C powder (aka ascorbic acid) is available at most health food stores. I like iHerb.com and VitaCost.com for online sources. If you are using it in yeast bread recipes that use whole wheat flour, you can use Fruit Fresh (found with the canning things). Fruit Fresh is a mix of ascorbic acid (Vitamin C) and citric acid. -Grainlady Here is a link that might be useful: Cooking Forum - Chia Seeds

Oh! I get it now. I wasn't trying to put you on the spot. Just trying to answer. My favorite place to buy them in smaller quantities (no more than a pound or two at a time) is whichever local grocery store I'm in, for the sake of convenience. Most often, that's Whole Foods. If there's only white in the bulk bins and I want red, I'll buy it in the package on the shelf, and usually check the verbiage for where it was grown and processed. I like the least handled stuff. OTOH, if I have to drive any distance and search it out, I'd just as soon try Amazon (again, for convenience), and if I don't like what's there, I'll branch out farther online. I'd rather spend five minutes hanging with you guys, and more actually cooking the stuff, than save a dubious dollar (including my gas, depreciation, and time) looking for it cheaper elsewhere. With the kinds of whole grains and seeds you asked about, I don't see a real quality difference between the brands that I've deigned to buy in the first place. With wheat, there is a protein difference, but I still persevere in making bread from the locally available bulk wheat. I have ordered large bags of the high protein wheatberries which I reserve for pizza. That's not so much a quality difference, though, as a crop difference.