What exactly does “whole plant” mean?
Hemp is a form of the Cannabis Sativa L. plant species that is very low in THC content. This plant is made up of leaves, bud/flower, stems, and stalks – known as “plant biomass”. Science has established that there are hundreds of medically beneficial compounds in the whole Cannabis plant. Lab tests show us that any processing of the whole plant into an oil destroys terpenes, delicate Cannabinoids, and many other valuable compounds.
Watch our Happy Hemp video for more details on that.
When these compounds react together, it’s called the “entourage effect”. If any are missing, they cannot react with each other and create the synergistic entourage effect in the body. When the entourage effect is achieved, there is a medically beneficial reaction in the body. Again, this can only occur when the whole plant is intact and minimally processed. That’s why the whole Cannabis plant is far superior and more effective than chemically processed CBD oil.
I’ll link to another one of our videos to explain the importance of the entourage effect.
From drying, grinding, and – the most damaging – extracting the plant, every step of additional processing degrades the medicinal value. That's why Hemp Paste is the world’s only whole-plant product. We take NOTHING out. Each jar contains all the Cannabinoids, terpenes, and other compounds of the plant to ensure you experience the highest medicinal benefit. That being said, there are two completely different worlds we live in when it comes to wellness – pharmaceutical products and natural products.
Pharmaceutical vs. Natural
Pharmaceutical products are not naturally occurring. They may have chemicals that are also found in nature, but the natural elements of the medicine are stripped down and made into a pill, powder, or liquid. By stripping down the product, you take away the resemblance to the plant, which contains way more medicine than people realize! CBD oil companies take the plant biomass away from their product in an effort to compete in the pharmaceutical world. This is a HUGE MISTAKE.
Natural products, like Hemp Paste, contain all – or most – of the plant matter because we know how lucrative it is! Open a jar of Hemp Paste and you will smell the natural strong fragrance of the Cannabis plant. There’s no doubt that the product is natural and whole.
When taking a natural product such as Hemp Paste, there are a couple of things you need to take note of. One, the plant biomass affects the end product, and two, It’s not uncommon to have variations from one jar to the next.
The plant biomass affects the end product.
To show you what goes into the finished product, take a look at this image of the Cannabis plant.
Photo courtesy of Visual Capitalist
As you can see, there are stalks, stems, bud/flower, leaves, and more. When making Hemp Paste, we use the entire plant EXCEPT for the stalk, which is the large “stem” in the center of the plant. It's important to note, the stalk and the stems on the leaves and bud, are not the same. Although both are very tough. To make Hemp Paste, we take the entire bud – including the bud stem – and grind it before we put it in the jar with the carrier oil.
Every inch of this bud is medicinal. However, about 25% of the whole bud is the stem. The stem is also valuable, but it is very tough. As you might know, strong textiles are made from hemp stems, such as rope and clothing so it’s safe to say hemp stems and stalks are not soft or unnoticeable.
Now, if we grind the bud in a machine, we can turn the bud and stems into a fine powder. The problem with that is, that it destroys the Terpenes and removes natural compounds. The more you grind the bud the more you damage the medicine.
If you are accustomed to highly processed pharmaceutical-type products, then you will definitely notice the small particles or stems in Hemp Paste. Customers who are not used to the whole plant might be taken off guard and think the paste is extra gritty. We could grind the stems more, but as I said earlier, that would destroy the medicinal value. We do sift out the larger pieces of stem, even though they contain medicine because otherwise, the paste would be hard to swallow.
In the world we live in, our food and our medicine are highly processed. We throw out food if we see a seed or a small speck because we think it is contaminated. This mindset needs to change if you’re taking completely natural minimally processed products like Hemp Paste.
Every harvest of the hemp crop is different and complete consistency isn’t attainable. Each batch of hemp can contain more resin (oil) or larger buds (which means) larger stems than other batches.
This brings me to the second thing you have to keep in mind when consuming natural products…
It’s not uncommon to have variations from one jar to the next
The difference in crops and plant biomass may affect the texture, consistency, taste, and smell of the product.
We are dealing with mother nature so it’s near impossible to have zero variations between one batch and the next, despite how closely we follow our production process.
One thing that affects the variation of each jar of Hemp Paste is maintaining the correct cannabinoid percentages. We are very fortunate to be able to stay accurate with our dosage by simply adjusting the number of stems and leaves left in the product.
For example, in a 40-acre field of Hemp, the CBD levels of each plant will vary from one acre to the next. This happens because soil fertility, sun exposure, and water all affect crop yield and cannabinoid content.
When we get our hemp, the farmer has removed the large stalks and gives us the rest of the plant biomass.
Before we grind the plant, we test the biomass. The leaves, buds, and stems are tested together and usually average around 10% CBD. If the biomass is a bit high in CBD then we don’t sift out all the stems. Stems are medicinal but are very low in CBD, so if we keep most of them in, it will balance the dose and maintain 20 mg of CBD per gram. Which is our standard dose size.
There are many factors to consider when making and taking a natural medically beneficial product. But the main thing to remember is that no matter how it looks or tastes, IT’S SO GOOD FOR YOU!
Kindly give mother nature grace and don’t expect perfection. Maybe a little bit of grit, fiber, and diversity is just what you need.
Happy Hemp Paste!