With celebrities like Kim Kardashian and Gwyneth Paltrow singing its praises, CBD is now trendier than ever. Take a quick look around the internet and you’ll see people are now cooking with it, too. Recent studies have shown CBD to have possible health benefits like pain relief, anxiety suppression, and mood elevation, among others. And because it’s non-psychoactive, and CBD won’t make you feel high, incorporating it into your meals just makes sense!

Why cook with CBD?

People are using CBD in many ways: applying it topically with beauty products, vaping it with e-liquids, administering it to their pets for a variety of ailments, and ingesting it sublingually (under your tongue) with oils and tinctures. If you prefer the sublingual method but aren’t a fan of the slightly earthy taste of unflavoured oils and tinctures, cooking with CBD is a great option. Likewise, if you love a certain flavour of CBD-infused oil, cooking provides an enticing opportunity to add it to your favourite recipe. Ingesting CBD in your food makes ensuring proper dosing easier, and gives you a break from counting each drop you put in your mouth. As Chris Yang from Pop Cultivate puts it, “For people who are curious about what cannabis, and CBD in particular, is all about, but are hesitant to smoke it or vape it or anything like that, a food experience is a great start.” So, whether it’s sweet baked goods or savoury meals or snacks, adding CBD to your food clearly has many benefits.

What can I make?

The possibilities are endless: from healthy vegan and gluten-free energy bites to greasy burgers; from minty fresh cocktails to deliciously spicy guacamole! CBD is easily added to many recipes—it’s just a matter of knowing what you want to eat, and how much CBD you want to add. Before you whip out the pots and pans, there are a few key things you need to know to ensure the CBD you’re cooking with doesn’t break down and become less effective.

Tips for Cooking with CBD

Because of CBD’s fat-solubility, it’s easily dissolved in fats and oils while cooking, which can cause its potency to be vastly reduced. To avoid this, a full-spectrum CBD infused with another fat source—like coconut oil or butter—is necessary to preserve its strength. It’s also important to consider that CBD can evaporate under high temperatures, which may cause the oils to break down and vital terpenes to be lost. To preserve potency, the maximum heat you should cook with is about 340℉, though make sure to test this as it can vary. If you’d rather not take the risk, just add raw CBD oil to a finished recipe: drizzle over a salad, blend into a smoothie, beef up your favourite pasta sauce, or use as a finishing touch in your cocktails!

Recipes

Let’s stop talking and start tasting! Create your own culinary cannabis experience with one of the following tasty recipes:

• If you’re craving a stiff drink at the end of the day, but want an added chill-out boost, try this CBD Gin & Tonic cocktail from Goop.
• Feeling fancy? These sculpted CBD Turmeric Ginger Sweets are a fun challenge from Nest & Glow.
• Now that you’re an expert, adding CBD into any recipe will be easy! For this Curried Lentil, Tomato & Coconut Soup from Epicurious, simply add your desired dose into the coconut milk and stir.