The stability and shelf life of full fat milled flax seed product is increased by selecting for the supply for milling flax seeds based upon the criterion that the flax seeds contain no more than 5% of flax seeds which are distinguished from the remainder of the seeds by visually distinguishable a darker color. The supply can be brought to the required level of the darker seeds by extracting the darker seeds using an extraction method based upon a detection of the color.
The present invention includes a high lignan concentrate (3% to 5% or greater) flax seed product, and product by process, which can be produced by 1) supplying a uniformly colored quantity of flax seeds with less than 5 percent visually darker seeds; 2) milling the selected seeds of a visually uniform color; 3) sifting the milled selected seeds into a second portion and a third portion using a preferred screen size from US# 12 up to an including US #18; 4) selecting the coarser fraction of the sifted, milled flax meal and aspirating it into a fourth lighter density portion and a fifth coarser portion, wherein the fourth lighter portion contains the valuable high lignan concentrate. As an added advantage, the high lignan flax seed meal can include approximately 40 50% insoluble dietary fiber and 50 60% soluble dietary fiber.
