Hemp Flour: Uses and Health Benefits (Everything You Need to Know)

Are you looking to quit junk food and find alternatives to improve your health?

Or maybe you’re having second thoughts about adding hemp flour to your pantry and don’t know how to use it?

Whatever the case may be, allow us to be the first to congratulate you for making the effort to be intentional about what goes into your body.

Hemp flour is without a doubt a superfood that can help you reach your recommended daily intake of fiber, vitamins, minerals, and other essential nutrients. Like all superfoods, it should be used with care and awareness.

To help you to make a more informed decision, this article will share everything you need to know about hemp flour, from its most exciting uses to its numerous health benefits.

Let’s get right to it with a simple exploration of hemp flour and why you should care.

What Is Hemp Flour?

Like hemp protein powder, hemp oil, CBD, and marijuana, hemp flour is derived from the Cannabis Sativa L. plant. Hemp flour, however, does not have the same stimulating effects of marijuana, so if you are worried about becoming intoxicated, there is no need for concern. 

Hemp flour is essentially the processed by-product of extracting hemp oil from hemp seeds. The hemp seed is cold-pressed and crushed to extract the oil. This leaves a dense, cake-like seed material once the oil has been removed. The hemp seed cake is further milled and sifted to produce hemp flour (which still contains trace amounts of oil).

The resulting flour can be used as a replacement for home recipes that call for wheat flour, all while offering a host of nutritional and health benefits that puts other flours to shame. 

Why Should You Care?

According to a 2021 study comparing hemp flour to wheat flour, hemp flour was shown to be just as healthy for human consumption as wheat flour. In fact, hemp flour was proven to be superior to wheat flour in terms of delivering a higher nutritional value.

For starters, hemp flour has higher protein content than wheat. It is free from lactose, sugar, dairy, yeast, gluten, and grain, and is fit for keto, vegan, and paleo diets.

The characterizations from the study showed that hemp flour’s protein content is 35% higher than wheat flour (comparable to the protein content in soy flour). It has a fiber content of over  26% (compared to 0.61% of the dietary fiber in wheat). Hemp also contains multiple beneficial nutrients – essential amino acids and fatty acids – that are absent in wheat flour.

Magnesium, Manganese, Zinc, Iron, Potassium, and Calcium were all recorded in higher amounts than what you would find in wheat flour. All the more reason to try hemp flour in your favorite meals, like sauces or baked goods. You can also use it to fortify wheat flour to turn it into a superfood.

Can You Trip on Hemp Flour?

Contrary to popular belief that hemp will trigger hallucinations and make you “high”, hemp flour is specifically grown as an ingredient for food and will not make your trip.

Hemp flour has very low amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). THC is the psychoactive component of the cannabis plant responsible for inducing the “high” effect achieved from vaping or smoking marijuana.

Although both hemp and marijuana come from the same species of plant, there are slight differences between the two strains, mainly the presence of THC. Hemp contains less than 0.3% THC and is safe to use even in large quantities without any worries about the psychoactive effect.

Is Hemp Flour Legal?

In 1993, the UK passed the legalization of hemp into law, so it is not illegal to grow and use hemp. Nevertheless, many people still consider hemp to be in the same category as marijuana and refuse to touch or use hemp flour. However the law is clear and the facts are indisputable, hemp is not illegal and will not get you high.

8 Best Uses of Hemp Flour

Hemp can be used in a variety of ways, from fortifying baked goods and making smoothies to sprinkling on foods or using it in a juice cleanse – with this versatile flour you won’t run out of ideas on how to add it to your diet!

Is Hemp Flour Good for Baking?

While hemp flour is a nutritionally superior flour, it is not the most attractive-looking and is a bit of an acquired taste. This flour has an earthy and nutty flavor and is very dense. 

Also, hemp flour does not contain gluten, so it doesn’t rise and does not make for a good kneading flour on its own. However, when used to fortify traditional wheat flour, it makes a healthy and rich snack that can meet a good portion of your daily nutritional needs. 

Hemp flour can be used to make chewy, granola snacks and flatbreads without adding wheat flour if you so desire. Simply add hemp flour in the desired proportion to whatever you are baking for best results. So, what are the best uses of hemp flour at home?

1. Low Carb Bread with Hemp Flour

Bread fortified with hemp is the obvious choice for many people – it is easy to make, contains low carbs, and is rich in protein and fiber. 

You can either make hemp-infused bread with a heaping amount of hemp flour – roughly seven parts hemp, and one part wheat. Or, for a less dense bread, you can use three parts traditional flour and one part hemp flour. 

The first option offers more nutrition in every bite and will please people looking to improve their diet without making a dramatic change.

2. Hemp Veggie Burgers

If you like to make your burgers at home, you will love this idea. You can add hemp flour to any veggie burger mix. Whether you are using sweet potatoes, beetroot, rice, black beans, or bananas as the base, the hemp flour will hold the patty together and add additional flavor to your favorite recipes.

3. Chewy Hemp Snack Bars

Instead of snacking on unhealthy chocolate bars or sugar-filled snacks throughout the day, adding hemp to homemade snack bars can completely transform this part of your diet. 

Skip the butter, syrup, and sugar. Using only hemp flour, hemp seeds, oats, toasted granola, sunflower seeds, and any other natural nut and seed, you can make a tasty snack for family and friends.

4. Gluten-Free Hemp Pizza

Adding hemp to pizza is a quick way to turn this greasy food into a healthy snack filled with all the nutritional goodness that a bowl of vegetables would provide. You get all the extra protein, essential fatty acids, fiber, vitamins, and minerals – all with an unbelievably good taste. 

Simply add hemp flour to your favorite gluten-free pizza mix and make the dough using your own home recipe. Add veggie toppings to get the most out of this healthy alternative to this cheesy meal.

5. Hemp Brownies

Hemp brownies are a delicious, fudgy, and indulgent snack you can make at home with perfect nutritional goodness, all without sacrificing much taste. 

Typically, brownies are filled with sugar and carbs. If you are watching your health, consider using a recipe that calls for a reduced amount of sugar or a sugar alternative.

The best hemp brownies feature the hemp plant’s ideal trifecta: hemp protein powder, hemp oil, and hemp flour. Add black beans, maple syrup, cocoa powder, chocolate chip, and vanilla extract, and you’ve got one heck of a brownie recipe right there.

6. Crunchy Hemp Cookies

This list would be incomplete without including this delicious recipe for crunchy quinoa hemp cookies. This recipe is already perfect without hemp flour, but the addition can really make this recipe stand out.

All you need to create this indulgent cookie is hemp flour and quinoa (one cup each) cocoa powder, peanut butter, date syrup, and hemp seeds (a quarter cup each). Add one banana and a tablespoon of vanilla extract to complete the confection. 

For best results, mix the dry and wet ingredients separately and then add them all together until a consistent thick paste is formed. Then add the quinoa and mix in last before shaping the cookies into your desired shape to bake at 180 °F for 13 – 15 minutes.

7. Chocolate Chip Hemp Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are a classic favorite, but they get even better when you fortify them with hemp flour. To make this at home, add one part of hemp flour to three-part dry ingredients to make a consistent and rich chocolate chip cookie that no one can resist.

8. Super Hemp Smoothies

Word of advice, hemp flour elevates any homemade smoothie to superfood status just by adding in a few tablespoons. 

The best part is trying different combinations until you find the perfect mix of fruit and veggies to make your taste buds cry with joy and energize your body throughout the day.

The Centerpiece: Does Hemp Flour Have Health Benefits?

Apart from its numerous nutritional benefits, hemp flour also has positive health benefits synonymous with hemp seeds. This includes boosting heart health and improving brain function. Some other health benefits are:

Hemp Flour Is Good for Your Heart

Hemp flour contains omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids that are beneficial to the heart’s natural functioning and reduce the risk of heart disease along with other heart issues. 

Arginine – a vital amino acid – is also found in high amounts in hemp flour (2.5 g of arginine for every 100 g of flour). This amino acid is a major building block for vascular nitric oxide, compound which helps your blood vessels to dilate correctly.

It Reduces Inflammation

One of the reasons CBD is being widely adopted as a health supplement is because of research that indicates it reduces inflammation in the body. 

Although medically, the high concentrations of CBD needed to bring about noticeable results are nowhere close to the concentrations found in hemp flour, using hemp flour can still work to enhance the effects of other health supplements.

The presence of essential fatty acids in hemp flour also produces the same effect of reduced inflammation.

It Aids Digestion

Do you suffer from constipation or struggle with indigestion? Hemp flour is a high fiber food that naturally helps you to feel fuller faster and keep your colon clear. 

The fiber in hemp flour helps to reduce the hardness of your stool (or decrease the softness), ensuring you have easier and more consistent bowel movements.

It Is Improves Skin Health

The anti-inflammatory compounds present in hemp may help with skin inflammation and acne. Also, hemp contains gamma-linolenic acid, a compound that can also aid in rectifying skin disorders.

So, Should I Use Hemp Flour?

Hemp flour is a nutritious superfood with a lot of health benefits.

Although research indicates that the nutritional benefits outweigh the general health benefits, its potential as a health supplement should not be discounted.

Hemp flour is a welcome addition to the diet of anyone looking to eat less junk food. It is an excellent alternative you can add to your diet without making any drastic changes.

The best part is that hemp flour does not have to be the be-all-end-all of your diet plan, you can easily combine it with your regular meals to help increase the variety in your diet.

Get started today with any of the uses and recipes illustrated above and even try your own exciting recipes.

And if you ever run out of ideas, remember that you can always mix hemp flour into almost any food to increase your daily nutritional intake. Enjoy!