In this guide
Quick answer
Alsi is the item people are most surprised by when they see the figure, and the surprise runs the other way from usual. It costs very little. A kilo of flax seed is a fraction of a kilo of almonds, and that low rate is exactly why most of what is bought ends up being wasted.
What does alsi cost per kilo?
At our counter alsi works out to at today's shop rate today, read off the shop as this page loads rather than typed in and left to age. The pack most households take is at today's shop rate, which for most kitchens is a couple of months of use.
It is a field crop grown at scale across several states, harvested by machine and stored easily, and none of the things that make a nut expensive apply to it. There is no hand picking, no shelling, no grading by count, and no imported leg of the journey.
Why does such a cheap seed get wasted?
| What people do | What happens |
|---|---|
| Buy a kilo because it is cheap | Half of it turns before it is used |
| Grind the whole packet at once | Ground alsi goes rancid in weeks, not months |
| Eat the seeds whole | Most pass through without being digested |
| Keep the jar by the stove | Warmth turns the oil faster than time does |
The second row is the one that costs the most. Whole alsi keeps for months in a jar. The moment it is ground, the oil inside is exposed and it starts turning, and a ground batch that sits for six weeks tastes faintly bitter and of old paint. Grinding a week at a time is the single habit that makes the difference.
How should alsi be bought and kept?
- Buy a quarter kilo at a time, not a kilo, however tempting the rate is.
- Buy it whole. Pre-ground flax has been exposed to air for however long it sat on a shelf.
- Grind a week’s worth in a dry grinder and keep that lot in the fridge.
- Keep the whole seed in a sealed jar away from the stove and out of the light.
- Smell it before using. Fresh alsi smells faintly nutty; turned alsi smells of oil paint.
That last check takes two seconds and is the only reliable one. Flax does not change colour much as it turns, so the nose is the test, not the eye.
Is brown or golden alsi better?
They are two varieties of the same plant and, for kitchen purposes, interchangeable. Brown is the commoner and usually the cheaper of the two; golden is milder and slightly sweeter, which some people prefer in a smoothie or sprinkled over curd. Nothing about one makes it a better buy than the other, and a shop charging a premium for golden is charging for scarcity rather than quality.
What does make a difference is cleanliness. Alsi is a field crop, so poorly cleaned stock carries chaff, dust and the occasional small stone. Tip a spoonful onto a white plate before you buy from anywhere new; what you want is seed and nothing else.
What else sits at this end of the shelf?
Alsi, chia, magaj and sunflower sit together as the cheap, useful part of a dry fruit order — the things that go into a jar on the counter rather than a gift box. They are worth ordering with the rest rather than making a trip for, because our orders start at ₹1,000 and every order ships free, and a few hundred grams of seeds on their own would never reach that on their own.
If you are building a month’s order around nuts and adding seeds to it, the seeds shelf has the whole set with today’s figures, and the shop page shows how the rest of it prices up. There is more on how alsi is actually eaten in the alsi guide.
Questions people ask
What is the price of 1 kg alsi?
Considerably less than any nut on the shelf, and the live figure is printed above. We would still suggest buying a quarter kilo at a time, because ground flax does not keep.
Should alsi be eaten raw or roasted?
Lightly roasted and then ground is what most households here do, as it smells better and grinds more cleanly. Roasting the whole packet at once is the same mistake as grinding it at once.
How long does ground alsi keep?
Two to three weeks in the fridge, and rather less at room temperature. Whole seed keeps for months, which is the reason to grind in small lots.
Is golden alsi worth more than brown?
Not nutritionally in any way that matters to a kitchen. It is milder in taste and scarcer, which is what the price difference reflects. Both shelves are on the dry fruits page with today’s rates.
Written at our counter, where these questions get asked every week.
