Psyllium is from the plant Plantago ovata, which flourishes in the Middle East. Psyllium is an excellent way of increasing your dietry fibre intake. Use as an additive for breakfast cereals and smoothies. Also good in gluten-free baking where psyllium binds moisture and makes bread less crumbly.
Psyllium is available in either husks or powder and quite frankly, they are almost the same thing... well almost. The powder is simply the husks finely ground down, so it comes as no surprise that they both offer up the same health benefits. The two key differences are as follows:
- The finer texture and greater surface area of the psyllium powder, means that when it is added to liquids it expands and clumps into a gel-like consistency. Whole husks on the other hand, tend not to bulk up quite as much and instead give the liquid a bit of a grainy texture. If grainy or clumpy is not your thing, you can minimise this by just popping your drink or smoothie through the blender.
- Husks and powder both comprise around 80% fibre (i.e. 80g/100g). However, the ground down powder is considerably more dense than the lighter and somewhat fluffy whole husks. Consequently, tablespoon for tablespoon the powder provides around twice the amount of fibre as the husks - meaning you need to consume less powder than you do husks.