History of Linseed & Flax

Linseed and flax have been used for centuries, each with its own unique role in food, textiles, and agriculture. 

While linseed is prized for its nutrient-rich seeds, flax has been essential for making strong, durable fibres. 

This page explores their fascinating history, from ancient civilizations to modern uses, uncovering how these versatile plants have shaped diets, industries, and traditions around the world.

Linseed

Linseed is a short-stemmed plant, like flax, and is a cultivar of linum usitatissimum, which in Latin means most useful.  

The key difference between linseed and flax is linseed puts all of its energy into producing linseed seeds. 

With flax, all the energy goes to produce the stem, which is pulled at harvest to produce linen.

My linseed is grown to produce oil, but the milled seed is used in an array of food products and is classed as a superfood due to its rich content of essential fats, omega-3 and omega-6,

But all the vitamins and minerals are high in fibre, low carbohydrate, gluten-free, low GI (glycemic index), and has the highest content of lignans than any other seed. 

This is why fresh linseed should be a part of everyone's diet.

The History of Linseed Oil

Linseed has been grown and used for thousands of years and can be dated back to the Neolithic times. 

The whole seeds are indigestible as, unlike birds, we do not have the means to grind them. 

They pass right through and are wasted. 

They can be soaked overnight and incorporated into your breakfast. 

However, the best way is to mill or ground the linseeds to flour and then you will find many uses for them.

Laws were passed requiring people to consume linseed for its health benefits by King Charlemagne in the 8th century. 



Linseed was one of the original medicines used by Hippocrates, the Greek physician, as a relief to intestinal abdominal pains. 

Hippocrates famously said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”
. 

Mahatma Gandhi said, "Wherever linseed becomes a popular food item amongst the people, there will health."

Click here to find out more on the Health Benefits from Linseed.   

The bi-product of linseed oil is linseed oil cake, which was given to cattle as a fattening feed.  

Where linoleum was being produced in Scotland during the 19th century, their cattle benefited greatly from this cake, and it is why Scotch Beef is so famous! 

Flax

The flax plant (not the linseed plant) is a plant grown for its stem. 

It has far fewer seeds than linseed and was pulled by hand before the seed ripened. 

People growing it would save a part of their crop, so future seed stocks were available. 

Flax is a fibre plant and, therefore, very good for making rope, string, linen, and a whole array of other uses. 

The History of Flax and its Uses

It dates back as far as the neolithic times, some 6,000 years ago. 

In ancient Egypt, the mummies would have been all wrapped in linen made from flax.

Flax and linseed are members of the same family, linum usitatissimum. 

They are both ancient plants used for thousands of years.  

Flax has been used most commonly in the linen industry.  Irish linen was world-famous but is an industry that has now pretty much disappeared, possibly due to the influx of cotton.

The five processes of making linen to flax are Pulling, Retting, Breaking, Scutching, Heckling (Hackling) and Spinning.  



The Barbour Bros Co., established in 1784 who produced the "Strongest, Smoothest and Best Linen Thread in the World", talked about the types of hands and their characteristics. 

Which is fascinating! What type of hand do you have?

Also, in 1895, to celebrate 111 years of progress, they issued a set of 12 dolls to be collected, which we have in our linseed & flax museum and thought we would share with you.  

The sails and bow ropes on Admiral Lord Nelson's fleet would have been made from the fibres of the flax plant. 

A strong connection with this is the village of Coker in Dorset, a well-known area for growing flax, which is where Nelson would have sourced flax for his entire fleet.

The fibres that are produced from the stem of the flax plant are so strong and versatile.