HEMP PREPERATION
Unprepared hempseed can be harmful to fish.
To prepare hempseed soak for 24 hours. As the soaking process is happening look at the level of the water every couple of hours as it will need to be topped up.
When any seed is boiled or heat treated the molecular structure and nutrition including attraction properties are denatured and damaged. So this means the less boiling time required to make hemp suitable for use the better. The longer the pre-soak, the shorter the boiling time.
Boil then bring to a rolling simmer until the kernel splits,
Allow to cool in the water,.
Do not throw away the water use it to make up ground bait.
If at certain times you have difficulty in making the seed split don’t panic.
Hemp seed that is not fully split will not damage fish, it simply won’t release the same level of natural oils as usual.
One trick that many anglers use to make a larger quantity of cooked hemp is to pour your dry hemp seed into a cool box , cover with at least 1 inch of boiling water put the lid on and place a heavy weight on top to seal it. Then next morning your cooked hempseed will be ready for use.
To improve the attraction properties leave the seed to soak and partly ferment in their naturally occurring sugars that remain in the boiling water. After several days most particles will start to form a caramelising liquid that makes the final particle much more attractive to fish.
