Before our ancestors began to keep livestock and grow grain, they gathered oilseeds. They cooked soups or porridges from them, even before they started preparing porridges from grain. In our lands, this ancient custom of gatherers persisted through the Middle Ages and lasted until the 19th century, by which time porridges were already being made from pulses or grain. The most common was hemp seed porridge, found not only in poor cottages but also in castles and monasteries. It was cooked with beer, enhanced with nuts and elderflower or nutmeg, and sweetened with honey. They cooked žufeň – a soup made from hemp seeds with vinegar, or jíšel – a soup made from wine and poppy seeds, which was thickened with flour and heavily spiced. All these dishes were considered fasting meals or were always cooked on Fridays. Moumelich – an infusion of poppy seeds, or poppy seed milk if you will, is also one of the typically ancient Czech dishes.

However, oilseeds did not serve only as food, but primarily as a source of oil. In our country, mainly hemp or linseed oil. It was used for lighting or for dressing fasting meals. Besides these two seeds, oil was also provided by rapeseed, especially in the times of Maria Theresa. Another very high-quality oil in the Czech lands was oil from beechnuts or plum stones.

Seeds generally replenish, warm, and support the production of fluids and bowel function. It is good to eat them in small quantities, rotate them, and add them to main meals.

It is good to cook nuts with porridge; they will be more digestible. If we dry-roast them, we increase their thermal effect and they will be more warming. We can also soak them in water overnight, which also improves their digestibility.