Salvia columbariae of the southwestern United States and Mexico. Chia seeds are oval and grey with black and white spots, having a diameter round 2 millimetres (0.08 in). The seeds are hygroscopic, absorbing as much as 12 times their weight in liquid when soaked and creating a mucilaginous coating that provides chia-based mostly foods and drinks a distinctive gel texture. There may be proof that the crop was widely cultivated by the Aztecs in pre-Columbian instances and was a staple meals for Mesoamerican cultures. Chia seeds are cultivated on a small scale in their ancestral homeland of central Mexico and Guatemala and commercially all through Central and South America. Typically, chia seeds are small flattened ovoids measuring on common 2.1 mm × 1.3 mm × 0.8 mm (0.08 in × 0.05 in × 0.03 in), with a median weight of 1.Three mg (0.020 gr) per seed. They’re mottle-coloured with brown, grey, black, and white.
