MORE TIPS FOR COOKING WITH CBD
Temperature matters in CBD cooking
CBD can be a bit of a fickle ingredient when it comes to temperatures. Warming the oil can increase CBD’s effectiveness, but higher temperatures can kill some of the active components. CBD will begin to evaporate at temperatures higher than 320 to 356 degrees Fahrenheit.
Do not place your CBD oil on direct heat. Heating the oil at too high temperatures can result in the loss of terpenes, which are compounds that work in conjunction with CBD to increase its overall effects. Heating CBD too high also tends to bring out more of its bitterness.
Sometimes, less is more in CBD cooking: Start with a smaller amount of cannabidiol when starting out at cooking with CBD.
Start small, don’t use too much CBD
When you first start cooking with CBD oil, it’s far too easy to add too much CBD to a recipe, which usually leads to bad flavors, wasted oil, and too much of the compound’s effects. Less is more, at least when you’re starting out.
Along with the CBD serving size, consider starting with smaller batches. If the dish turns out good, then you can prepare the recipe again with a larger batch. This will also help you get more comfortable with different CBD serving sizes, allowing you to make alterations with future recipes so that you can get the most out of your CBD edibles.
Store your CBD oil properly
When you’re not using your CBD oil, make sure you keep it in a cool, dark place. Cannabinoids are naturally sensitive to heat and light, leading to overall degradation in potency and quality. Degraded CBD oil will not be as effective and may impart more bitter, unpleasant flavors into your recipes.
Stick with more refined CBD oils
Filtered, decarboxylated, and other more refined forms of CBD oils tend to work well with all cooking applications. Less refined oils may leave an unpleasant aftertaste, especially if you are working with more herb-heavy recipes.
Less refined CBD oil pairs better with strong flavors
All that said, less-refined or lower quality oils can still be useful in recipes featuring strong flavors, like chocolate or spices. Unfiltered CBD oils also tend to contain more vitamins and helpful amino acids than their filtered counterparts.
Thorough mixing is vital to CBD cooking, because it ensures the cannabidiol is evenly distributed. Stir, stir, stir!
Stir as much as possible
From guacamole to chocolate chip cookies to soups, make sure you stir in the CBD oil as much as possible, more than you might even think. This ensures that CBD is evenly distributed throughout the batch so that every bite offers equal potency.
Cooking with CBD is better than drizzling CBD
It’s always recommended that you mix the oil into your ingredients for optimal flavors, but if you are in a rush, you can drizzle the oil directly onto your food. It won’t taste as good, but you can still get the desired effects.
Above all, have fun! As you get more familiar with using CBD oil in your cooking, you can adjust recipes and create custom dishes of your own that taste great and offer the benefits of CBD.