The Best CBD Brands to Try, From Gummies to Olive Oils – The Wall Street Journal

BY NOW were used to seeing CBD at the drugstore, in tinctures, capsules, creams and balms. But a growing number of products promise to excite the palate even as they (purportedly) calm the nerves.

Some of the CBD-infused foods and drinks on the market today are exquisite from a gastronomic perspective. Infusion technology has improved, chefs are getting into the game and raising culinary standards, and some makers are leaning into the distinctive piney flavor of the plant instead of trying to mask it. For those curious about CBD as well as experienced consumers wanting to supplement a tincture theyre already taking, there are delicious ways to experiment. I know because I tasted my way through about 50 CBD-infused food and drink items to find the ones worth savoring.

If youre new to CBD, the first thing to know is that it wont get you high. Or, its not likely to. Cannabidiol (CBD for short) is nonintoxicating. But even with CBD extracted from hemp, the variety of the cannabis plant used in all the products listed here, your infused chocolate might, entirely legally, contain up to 0.3% tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the principal intoxicating compound in cannabis. If you happen to be sensitive, that might just produce a mild psychoactive effect. Plus, both the THC and CBD can add up if youre consuming in quantity. Jamie Evans, author of The Ultimate Guide to CBD, offered this advice: Start low, around 5-10 milligrams [of CBD], and go slow. In other words: This is not Hersheys. Dont eat the entire chocolate bar in one sitting.

The second thing to know about CBD is that nobody knows everything. The limited research currently available can be inconclusive and contradictory. But theres certainly been progress in this space when it comes to flavor.

There are a number of excellent CBD-infused olive oils on the market, for instance, and that makes sense: CBD is extracted from hemp as a thick oil that can be incorporated into another carrier oil relatively easily. Infusing water or a water-based food or drink requires sophisticated and expensive technologya reason some producers prefer to first isolate the CBD in crystalline form. And that can impact efficacy: Its been found that the hundreds of cannabinoid compounds in hempCBD among themwork better in concert with other compounds in the plant known as terpenes, in what some experts term the entourage effect. Or, as Ms. Evans put it: The whole plant is greater than the sum of its parts.

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The Best CBD Brands to Try, From Gummies to Olive Oils - The Wall Street Journal