Few feelings can compare to going home after a long day and sitting down for a delicious meal. A healthy and balanced dinner will not be complete without a side dish of fresh vegetables seasoned with a tasty salad dressing. What could be better? How about a dressing that, besides bringing out all the flavor of your salad, also improves your mood and takes away your tiredness, anxiety, and pain? We do not need to go too far to find the answer. Let’s enhance our salads with this CBD Salad Dressing Recipe.
CBD Salad Dressing Benefits
The secret of a healthy salad lies in its ingredients. The freshest and juiciest vegetables can suffer from a dressing without spirit. Make sure to get the most aromatic herbs and spices to bring you all their vitamins and minerals.
For instance, choose oils with high Omega acids content to help lower your LDL cholesterol levels. Your vinegar choice is also important. Try to pair the taste with your vegetables, and check that it is low in sodium and has plenty of antioxidants.
Another healthy ingredient for your salad dressing is CBD. For the last few years, more people are talking about the health benefits of CBD. Cannabidiol, the long name of CBD, is one of the active molecules inside hemp and cannabis plants. It is legal in most states and does not have any psychotropic effects as THC.
CBD interacts with the endocannabinoid system, helping the body recover from different conditions. Many patients use it to tamp down inflammation and chronic pain, while others report promising results against endometriosis. CBD is also effective in treating neurological ailments like anxiety, seizures, depression, sleep, and eating disorders.
CBD Salad Dressing Effects
The multiple cannabinoids inside the cannabis plant have different effects on the body. The most known is THC, which has psychotropic effects and is responsible for the “high” feeling of marijuana. CBD, on the other hand, is relaxing, soothing, and has no psychotropic effects. You can’t get “high” by consuming CBD.
THC, CBD, terpenes, and all the other compounds inside cannabis work together in what we call the Entourage Effect. This phenomenon enhances their specific health benefits, bringing us a well-balanced mix. For this same reason, we prefer using the whole hemp flower to infuse the oil for your dressing.
While commercial CBD-infused oils are not bad, they lack the rest of the components, and their effects might not be as effective or beneficial as a naturally infused oil.
How to Make CBD Salad Dressing
The basic ingredients for a vinaigrette or salad dressing are a fatty, neutral oil and vinegar’s acidic, sweet taste. Besides the basics, you can add salt, pepper, mustard, garlic, mashed fruit, or any herbs you like. And, of course, our CBD.
There are many ways to consume CBD: you can inhale the vapor from the ground flowers, rub a topical ointment, take a few drops of a tincture under your tongue, or add CBD-infused oil or butter to your cooking. While CBD oil is not easily absorbed, edibles are undoubtedly the most fun way of taking your daily dose of it.
CBD oil salad dressing is simply a tower of stacked healthiness. For this CBD Salad Dressing Recipe, we will infuse high-quality vegetable oil with decarbed CBD hemp flowers. Olive oil is one of the best options for your dressing. It is soft, good for your heart health, and will bring a delicate taste to your salads.
You can also infuse it with herbs like rosemary or thyme for extra flavor. Moreover, Medium-Chain Triglycerides oil, or MCT, is an extraction from coconut or palm kernel. It barely has a flavor, and your body processes it easily. Avocado oil brings a tasty flavor to your salad, is rich in vitamin E, and reduces your LDL cholesterol levels.
Vinegar is also a crucial choice to guarantee a healthy and tasty dressing. From the humble white vinegar to the popular balsamic, you can choose from various tastes for vinegar, including apple cider, red wine, or natural rice vinegar. Guide your vinegar selection according to the vegetables (and fruits) of your salad, your preferences, and your health needs.
White vinegar goes well with delicate flavors and fresh greens, and it is better for weight loss and blood sugar regulation. Balsamic vinegar has a stronger taste, enhances the taste of fruits like apples or strawberries, and lowers your risk of developing heart disease and cancer. Red wine vinegar goes best with cheese and brightly colored vegetables like tomatoes, peppers, and olives, and it is also rich in antioxidants.
Decarbing Hemp Flower to Make CBD Oil
The first step in making a CBD Salad Dressing is to decarb the hemp flowers. Inside the raw flowers, we find CBDA (cannabidiolic acid). This substance is hard to assimilate by our bodies, so we decarb the hemp to make it more accessible to the endocannabinoid system receptors. The decarboxylation process turns the CBDA from the flowers into CBD using heat.
You might want to infuse a larger quantity of oil to keep some of it stored and use it in other recipes. We recommend you to decarb ½ of an ounce of high CBD hemp flowers for every cup of oil to infuse. Use this proportion to calculate the weight of hemp flowers according to the oil volume you desire.
Our strains Sour Lifter and Cat’s Meow will bring your oil a spicy taste, while Hot Blonde and Sour Special Sauce will leave sweet and fruity undertones in your infused oil, perfect for your fruit-based salads or sweet recipes.
Decarbing your hemp flowers is relatively easy. Grind them and spread them over an oven tray lined with parchment paper. Put the tray in the oven at 240°F (115°C) for 20 minutes or until the ground flowers turn a greenish-brown color. Let it cool down before infusing the oil.
Serving size: 1 to 2 tbsp. Makes 2 cups. Estimated cost: $ 110 Preparation time: 15 minutes if you already infused your CBD oil Total time: 15 minutes Nutrition: 170 cal per serving Cuisine type: French
Equipment Needed
- Double boiler/crockpot/slow cooker
- Cooking thermometer
- Cheesecloth
- Glass jar or bottle to store your CBD infused oil
- Medium-sized bowl
- Immersion blender with a tall container. If you do not have one, a classic blender will do the job.
- Lidded glass jar for the finished vinaigrette
Ingredients
- ½ oz decarbed CBD hemp flower
- 1 cup extra virgin olive, MCT, hemp seed, avocado, or your choice salad oil.
- ¾ cup vinegar of your choice.
- 3 tbsp honey. You can replace it with mashed strawberries or sweet fruits.
- 3 tbsp dijon mustard. Soy sauce is a good replacement if you prefer.
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ½ to 1 tsp ground black pepper, to taste
- 1 tbsp finely minced fresh herbs. You can use parsley, basil, oregano, rosemary, or thyme in your desired proportions.
Step by Step
- Put your selected oil and the decarbed hemp flower in the top pan of the double boiler and fill the bottom pan with water. You can also use a crockpot or a slow cooker to infuse your oil. Our purpose is to put the oil to low heat for a long time.
- Heat the oil to a temperature of around 140°F (60°C) and keep it as stable as you can for at least two hours. The infusion process is lengthy, so you might want to do it the day before or have a batch of already infused oil in storage. If you have the time, you can leave the flower/oil mix on the heat for a couple of hours more. Some people do not even put the mix to heat, but leave it untouched for at least two weeks in a dark and warm cupboard and shake it once a day to keep the mixture uniform.
- Line the glass jar or bottle with cheesecloth and pour the infused oil to strain into it. Do not push the oil through the cheesecloth, let it flow naturally. Store it in a cool, dark place with no direct sunlight.
- Oil and vinegar do not mix easily. You will have to coerce them into it. Put all your ingredients except the CBD-infused oil inside the blender container and start blending them.
- Slowly drizzle the CBD oil into the container while the blender is still running.
- Taste your salad dressing and adjust the flavor. Add bits of oil, salt, or vinegar according to your findings.
- Serve immediately.
Store the leftover CBD Salad Dressing in a lidded jar and keep it in the refrigerator. It will keep fresh for 7 to 10 days. Let it rest to room temperature and whisk it before using it again.
Once you start making your CBD-infused vinaigrettes, you will not want to buy them already made. Dust up your inner scientist and experiment away! Play with the ingredients’ proportions, try different oils and kinds of vinegar, sprinkle some herbs, spices, and fruits to go with your selection.
