Benefits of Hemp and a Hemp Seed Oil Dressing

Dress your salad or marinate your roasted veggies with this great hemp seed oil dressing recipe!

Get ready to fall in love, plant-based foodies! This hearty, nutty, nutrient-dense, environmentally-friendly delight is about to light up your life. Hemp is finding its way onto store shelves everywhere as the craze for natural remedies and optimal health continues.

Hemp is of the Cannabis Sativa variety and has long been used for everything from food products and wax to rope, paper, and fuel. Hemp is often confused with marijuana, and while it is in the same family, the two are quite different. Hemp only contains close to 1% of the notable psychoactive drug THC or delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol, while marijuana contains 20% or more. Don’t worry; the only “high” you’ll get from diving into a pile of hemp seed is one of health and vitality. Almost no THC exists, and there are even better features that can fend off a host of diseases like diabetes, certain cancers, cardiovascular disorders, and heart disease.

Hemp seeds are one of the most nutrient-potent additions to any meal because they are a complete protein, meaning they contain twenty essential amino acids, including the nine that our bodies don’t naturally produce. Furthermore, the protein structure is much more digestible than from any animal source. Any food easily digested is more easily absorbed by the body and therefore utilized for its health benefits rather than simply passed through the system. Hemp seeds are also packed with vital aminos, fatty acids, antioxidants, fiber, magnesium, sulfur, copper, potassium, phosphorus, and enzymes.

Topically, hemp can be used as an antibiotic ointment in a salve or lotion for burn relief, as a treatment for eczema, psoriasis, and fungus, and for rheumatism pains. Aside from its known nutritional and medicinal properties, if you find day-to-day paper items made from hemp, chances are they are 100% biodegradable, making them better for the environment compared to plastic products. The US Department of Agriculture has said that one acre of hemp can produce four times more paper than one acre of trees, making it a clear competitor to the wood industry.

Nature’s fuel-filled offering is ready for meal time! Shelled hemp seeds are soft, chewy, and an absolute dream addition to everything from oatmeal, salads, and SunWarrior shakes to baked goods and desserts, and everything in between. You can make stand-alone treats where hemp milk or oil star in a recipe of its own like hemp seed pesto or a nutty butter. If there were any drawbacks, it would be that heating this seed on its own doesn’t produce a flavorful outcome because its unsaturated fats aren’t heat stable. Rather, try to keep hemp to cold dishes, and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator between experiments.

Hemp Seed Oil Dressing

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoon organic hemp oil
• 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon white balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
• 1 clove garlic
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Add all your ingredients, except the hemp seed oil, to a blender or food processor. Secure the lid, and turn it on.
2. Drizzle the oil into the blender as it mixes to emulsify the oil into the other ingredients.
3. Serve immediately as a dressing for salads or as a marinade for roasted vegetables like portabella mushrooms, cauliflower, and brussels sprouts. Try it out, and post your thoughts in the comments section!

Try this marinade on some great roasted vegetables!