Are You Cooking With Hemp Yet?

For thousands of years, hemp has been a nutritious and flavorful addition to our food. My name is Lisa, I’m an alkaline advocate on a mission to make healthy food easy and delicious. Would you like to join me for a hearty hemp meal?

In June of this year, hemp was officially decriminalized in Thailand. It was available only by prescription for the last four years, but the government delivered on its promise to return this tasty plant to its rightful legal status just a few months ago. 

Thai citizens are now encouraged to grow this cash crop for food, medicine, and economic recovery. It’s expected that other countries in Asia will follow Thailand’s lead in returning nature to the people with hemp legality.

Hemp is traditionally used in recipes throughout Asia. Not only is it highly nutritious, and anti-inflammatory, but it also adds the sophisticated ‘umami’ flavor that makes food taste savory and satisfying. Chemicals, like MSG, are added to processed food to try and replicate what the hemp plant does so well naturally.

In Cambodia, hemp-infused oil or hemp leaves are added to soups and savory dishes for flavor and healthful effects. Some high-street restaurants even offer ‘happy’ versions of your favorite meals and shakes. Hemp added vital nutrition and flavor to popular dishes during times of nutritional deprivation. It’s legal for Cambodians to grow a few hemp plants for food, and many enjoy this right to produce their own plants legally.

Hemp seeds, and their oil, have been eaten for over ten thousand years. Meanwhile, the white heart of the hemp seed has been used to make hemp milk for millennia. More recently, hemp leaves have been dried into powder that can be used like flour in baking and is gluten-free and anti-inflammatory – it’s also green, which makes for some interesting and exciting results! 

Now the world is waking up to the power of this plant, and we can put hemp back on the dinner table. There are lots of delicious ways to enjoy hemp, let’s learn why we should try it!  

Ancient physicians from Egypt, Greece, and Africa all said the same, food is medicine and Dr. Sebi firmly agreed. Hemp is both an incredibly nutritious superfood, and a powerful therapeutic compound. It’s tasty, calming, satisfying, and incredibly versatile. Prohibition took this powerful plant away, and now we can bring it back.

Over the last century, food producers and advertisers have mastered the art of artificially stimulating the brain with chemical additives and highly refined foods. They do this to cover up rancidity and missing nutrition – your tongue and brain naturally know what is nutritionally dense. Hemp is incredibly satisfying as it adds a dose of phytonutrients and cannabinoids to your food. 

Hemp Leaves: Eaten raw, these bright green leaves can be added to salads and smoothies, or cooked briefly (blanched in boiling water). They can be eaten alone or added to soups or other dishes. They are packed with minerals (specifically iron, zinc, and magnesium), and the taste is like mild arugula with earthy undertones (according to New York Chefs who are now adding them to salads for their “peppery complex kick”). 

Leaves contain the anti-inflammatory CBD-A and are rich in terpenes, which provide an earthy scent and even more anti-inflammatory goodness. In addition, the green pigment, chlorophyll, and fiber, both enhance immune functions and support healthy digestion. The leaves can also be gently dried and made into flour using a blender, then mixed with other alkaline flours in your favorite recipes. 

Hemp Flowers: These contain more of the beneficial cannabinoids, so they are used more therapeutically than as a bulk food item. Fresh or dried flowers are cooked gently in oil to enhance bioavailability and then can be added to sweet or savory dishes, or drinks, as desired. Hemp flowers are used to make CBD oil and other CBD products, or you can cook them into your favorite edibles. 

Hemp CBD: This is extracted from the hemp flowers and provides the physical and mental benefits associated with hemp, but in a more convenient form that you can add to virtually anything. Hemp-CBD drops are ideal for cooking as you can increase the nutrition and benefits of every meal with this therapeutic addition. Check out this hemp breakfast cookie recipe for a tasty way to enhance your nutrition;, now add a drop of Hemp-CBD for concentrated hemp-power! Suddenly breakfast is much more enticing and nutritious.

Hemp Seeds: Eaten raw or lightly toasted, these seeds contain healthy omega fats plus minerals (specifically manganese, magnesium, and copper). The outer shell is hard to digest, so it’s perfect for giving your bowels a gentle cleanse (like a mini hemp scourer). They also contain beneficial anti-oxidant polyphenols - the entire hemp plant is incredible for reducing inflammation.

Hemp Hearts: These are hemp seeds with the outer shell removed. They are exceptionally rich in beneficial fats and incredibly easy to use., They can be blended (into a spread, cream, or milk) or simply sprinkled into salads or added to baked goods. The heart of the hemp seed has a mild nutty taste, and the soft texture makes them easy, and enjoyable, to add to virtually any meal

Hemp Seed Oil: This is made by pressing the seeds until oil is released (like pressing olives). Cold-pressed oil (done as naturally as possible) is greenish in color and has a nutty flavor. The oil is great for your skin and perfect on salads (ideally, don’t heat it). 

Whether you want a hot drink to comfort you, like hemp and chamomile tea to reduce anxiety, or you want something to satisfy your sweet tooth, like the breakfast cookies, hemp has something to offer. The versatile seeds can be made into crackers and even turned into cream cheese to spread on them! 

You can cook up an entire gourmet meal of hemp falafels with hemp pesto and even hemp veggie nuggets. You can serve salad with hemp dressing and a hemp tabbouleh on the side. How about hemp crepes with hemp seed butter and some delicious fresh fruit? What about some hemp banana loaf or a hemp smoothie bowl for breakfast? That list of delicious dishes has made me hungry.

Fortunately, one added benefit of hemp is that it helps curb your appetite, it helps you feel fuller due to the dense nutrition, and helps your brain notice you have eaten enough. Plus, if you want to increase the therapeutic effect, you can add additional Hemp-CBD drops. 

Adding a little CBD to your hempy delights will enhance the feel-good factor and reduce inflammation, helping you concentrate more easily and balancing your mood (so you don’t fly off the handle so easily). Feel calm and clear as you thank the hemp plant for filling you up and chilling you out!

Modern life, packed with stress and toxicity, has put us out of balance: mentally, physically, emotionally, and nutritionally. Hemp helps restore this natural state of balance needed to function optimally (called homeostasis). 

The dense dose of anti-inflammatory compounds combined with minerals, terpenes, and flavonoids make it an exceptionally healthy way to ‘fuel and feed’ your body and mind. Hemp was a foundational plant in the food and medicine of many cultures until profit and politics made it illegal.  

But times have changed. 

Hemp is back. 

Hemp is tasty. 

Hemp is nutritious.

Have you tried it yet?