What is hemp?
What is hemp? Its a question we are asked more frequently than you would believe!
We thought we would explain a little further, and dispel any myths / bad press this amazing plant has.
Firstly let us just confirm that the hemp we use in all our products, CANNOT make you high/stoned, you wont fail a drug test either... (phew)
So.. Hemp is a strain of cannabis which has been bred to have none of the narcotic (THC) compounds & effects. We now use the word 'hemp' for food (seeds, oil, protein powder), fibre for clothing, paper, textiles & even a building material (hempcrete). Cannabis is now used as the name for the flowers and leaves used for medicine & recreational purposes.
Hemp is perfectly legal throughout the UK, Europe, Asia and the Americas whereas Cannabis (with THC) is illegal under UK law, most countries in Europe & also some states in the US & Canada.
Humans have been utilising the cannabis plant for millennia, and where we now have hemp and cannabis, our ancestors would have used different strains of the same plant for different uses - taller more fibrous strains for rope, paper & clothing, high seed yielding strains for food or a high THC potency strain for medicine.
We all have cannabinoid receptors in our brains... the only other source of cannabinoids in nature is breast milk!
We have evidence of hemp fibre used for clothing & paper from:
Ancient China - graves dating to 6000bc had humans wrapped in hemp fabrics.
The ancient Scythians used hemp seeds & flowers for food and medicine, with an amazing treasure trove of artefacts that have been found through the Russian Steppe such as gold smoking pipes or 'bongs' with chemical analysis showing it was used for smoking the buds and leaves.
Herodotus, the 'father of history' writing in 440bc talks of whole tribes in the east whose whole existence was based on hemp.
In Pompeii, the Roman town buried under ash & rubble from Mount Vesuvius, archaeologists have found hemp seeds preserved in cooking pots showing they were using hemp seeds for food.
We do love our hemp history! To sum it all up, hemp is amazing! There are over 10,000 known uses for the plant, its one of the most precious commodities nature has given us.
Hope that helps you all!
xxx
