CBD oil is a wonder drug. Research continues to reveal exactly what CBD is doing inside the human body, but the many enthusiastic users of CBD will happily extoll the positive effects they have experienced from the compound, especially relief from pain, anxiety, stress and muscle tension.
According to bmmagazine, CBD oil is easy to use; all you have to do is administer the liquid under your tongue or swallow a few drops when you need relief. However, if you are getting bored of this same CBD routine, you might be happy to learn that it is possible to cook with CBD, infusing food and drink with CBD’s healing properties.
Before you start pouring your CBD oil into your frying pan, you should know that cooking with CBD takes some practice. Here are top tips for successfully integrating CBD into your favorite dishes:
Use Mid-range CBD Oils Instead of Expensive Tinctures
Because the CBD market is utterly unregulated, you can find CBD products at a remarkable range of prices. Typically, CBD experts advocate avoiding the cheapest CBD you can find; these products often don’t contain nearly as much CBD as is required for efficacy, and they could contain toxic substances that actually negatively impact your health. Because CBD is expensive to extract, and because reputable CBD manufacturers often engage in rigorous testing, better CBD often has a higher price tag.
Still, you don’t need to waste your top-shelf tinctures on your homemade CBD edibles, especially when you are first beginning as a CBD chef. Instead, mid-range CBD oils with high dosage should be sufficient. Expensive oils and tinctures are often flavored or otherwise improved with components not necessary to the cooking process. The least expensive reputable CBD oil you can find is good enough to cook with — but you might talk to a budtender at a dispensary in Tucson to find that perfect mix of high-quality and low-cost.
Apply Heat With Caution
Heat and cannabinoids have a complex relationship. On the one hand, you need to apply heat to both major cannabis compounds, THC and CBD, to ensure they undergo the decarboxylation process and become usable by the human body. On the other hand, you can’t subject cannabis compounds to too much heat, or you will cause them to degrade. CBD that has been heated to vigorously — either at temperatures that are too high or on heat for too long — isn’t as potent, meaning you won’t get as much healing from your homemade CBD edibles if you make heat-related mistakes.
The best recipes for cooking with CBD don’t involve any direct heat, like smoothies or salad dressings. However, if you do want to incorporate CBD into a dish cooked on the stove or in the oven, you should try to reduce the time that CBD spends in contact with heat. You can add CBD into the recipe toward the end of the cooking process or use indirect heating methods, like a double boiler, to maintain more control over temperature.
Recognize That Effects Might Be Less Noticeable
Even if you are careful to prevent damage to your CBD during the cooking process, it is likely that your homemade edibles won’t generate quite the same effects as dosing with CBD oil or tinctures on their own. Most people notice that the effects of edibles are somewhat diminished in comparison to other forms of CBD, and some people can’t feel any effects whatsoever from edibles.
There is a scientific reason for this phenomenon.
Unlike placing CBD oil drops under the tongue, where CBD absorbs into small capillaries, or vaping CBD, where the compound goes into the bloodstream through the lungs, ingesting CBD involves the digestive system, which takes much more time in shuttling nutrients into the blood. Because of the extra time between consumption and effect onset — as well as the subtlety of CBD’s effects — many people believe that CBD in edible form simply doesn’t work.
Unfortunately, it can be true that some people simply don’t experience any effects from edibles. The digestive system isn’t excellent at absorbing cannabinoids, and some people might have digestive tracts that allow all CBD to pass through. If you find that your DIY CBD edibles aren’t giving you the effects you expect, you might invest in a pre-made edible from a Tucson dispensary — and if that still doesn’t do anything for you, your physiology might not be right for edibles.
Anyone who can cook can cook with CBD. All it takes is the right CBD product, the right recipe and the right amount of patience to enjoy a delicious, healthful homemade CBD edible.