Hemp

Appears in

Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America

Published 2004

About

Hemp is a member of genus Cannabis. One of the first cultivated plants, consumption by ancient Chinese, Egyptians, and Romans ranged from peasants’ hemp porridge to fried sweet desserts. The female cannabis flower, which contains the psychotropic substance tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is not used in producing food. The seed, or nut, is the source of hemp oil and flour.

The 1954Alice B. Toklas cookbook recipe for “Haschich Fudge” promised “euphoria and brilliant storms of laughter” and cemented the marriage of hemp and marijuana in the American psyche. The trend toward whole grain consumption that began in the 1960s continued in the 1970s and 1980s, as did the quest for more healthful diets. Early 1990s advocates promoted hemp as ecologically sustainable and a nutritional powerhouse based on its profile of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids that rivaled flaxseed and tasted far better than fish oils.

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