People who are new to the world of CBD oil may be wondering if putting CBD oil in food is safe and effective. The short answer is yes; however, when you're cooking with CBD oil, there are a few considerations you'll want to bear in mind. By following the best practices for cooking with CBD oil, you'll be able to enjoy delicious CBD-infused snacks and meals without worrying about ruining the flavor or wasting your money.
Why Cook with CBD Oil?
We're all looking for ways to boost our health and energy levels through smart choices. Adding CBD oil to your food and drink is a low-risk way to do just that.
Built around your pre-established daily rituals, this method of consuming CBD can feel less like a chore and more like a treat. Literally!
By cooking with CBD oil, you can enjoy some of the scientifically backed health benefits of CBD:
- Pain relief
- Reduced symptoms of stress
- Better skin health
- Mood boost
- Better sleep
When added to one of your favorite snacks, meals, or beverages, CBD oils can help you access these potential health benefits in an enjoyable way.
Is Cooking with CBD Oil Risky?
No. Cooking with CBD oil is no more risky than any other standard use of CBD oil. In order for this statement to put your mind at ease, however, you'll need to know the basics of how CBD oil works.
Though both CBD and THC compounds derive from the same species of plant (cannabis), THC is a totally different cannabis compound than CBD. Whether smoked or cooked or baked into food, THC use does indeed carry some risks, among which is the likelihood of getting high.
By contrast, CBD oil is not psychoactive. It does not alter a person's state of mind when they use it.
The only risks you may run into cooking with CBD oil is adding it at the wrong time and exposing it to the wrong levels of heat in the process. By ensuring that you follow special considerations when cooking or baking with CBD oil, however, you'll likely experience no issues.
Special Considerations When Baking with CBD Oil
Depending on how you use CBD oil in cooking, you may or may not see all the desired effects. This is especially true when you're baking, since exposure to heat (particularly high heat) can have an impact on the general effectiveness of most CBD oils.
"Overheating CBD can cause it to lose some of the beneficial properties, including terpenes, flavonoids, and other cannabinoids," Elaine Valenza and Kathleen Tremblay, CBD experts say. "The boiling point of CBD is between 320 degrees and 356 degrees Fahrenheit. That being said, CBD can be baked or cooked and still retain most of its nutritional benefits." (MyRecipes)
In general, CBD oils are not crafted for high-heat cooking. You'll want to be careful, consider the type of oils you're dealing with, and look for recipes that don't call for them to be exposed to extreme temperatures as part of the preparation process.
If you want to cook with CBD oil but are concerned about extreme temperatures, some common workarounds to these issues may include:
- Adding CBD oils to your favorite low-heat or no-heat dishes
- Adding CBD oils to cold drinks and smoothies
- Adding CBD oils to last-minute add-ons such as toppings and frosting
Of course, while cooking with CBD as if it were any other oil doesn't always work out the way we want, there are people who have gone out of their way to create recipes that include their favorite CBD oils.
While you could always pick up a cookbook, with a bit of perseverance, you can uncover a wealth of recipe options available for free online.
Where to Find Recipes for Cooking with CBD
The internet is a wonderful source for finding recipes for cooking with CBD oil. While not all the popular traditional recipe sites have begun to include CBD-friendly recipes, crowd-sourced social sites such as Pinterest host a wide range of CBD recipes for your perusal. In the search bar, type in the name of the dish you desire to make and add "+CBD oil" to the search term.
Here at Evn, we recommend that if you're a novice when it comes to cooking with CBD oil, you might want to start out with a delicious cold breakfast smoothie.
Fresh CBD-Infused Cold Breakfast Smoothie:
- 1 cup coconut milk
- 1/2 cup strawberries (frozen or fresh)
- 1/2 cup chopped banana (frozen or fresh)
- 1-2 handfuls fresh kale
- 1-2 handfuls fresh spinach
- 1/2 cup pineapple chunks (frozen or fresh)
- 3-4 tangerine slices
- 1 scoop of protein powder (unflavored or vanilla)
- 1 dropper of Evn CBD oil tincture
- 3-4 ice cubes (optional but recommended if fruit is fresh/not frozen)
Instructions: Drop all ingredients into a blender and blend until creamy. If desired, garnish with a strip of fresh ginger.
Once you've mastered your oil-infused breakfast smoothie, you're likely ready to move on to tasty treats such as salad dressings or peppermint-chocolate cups. And, of course, if you're handy in the kitchen, you're always free to create your own recipes.
Contact Evn
For more information on cooking with CBD oil, or to hear more about our products and services, please feel free to contact us.