Abstract
After a long period defined by prohibition of hemp production, this crop has been recently re-evaluated in various industrial sectors. Until now, inflorescences have been considered a processing by-product, not useful for the food industry, and their disposal also represents an economic problem for farmers. The objects of the present work are coffee blends enriched with shredded inflorescences of different cultivars of industrial hemp that underwent solid/liquid extraction into the Italian “moka” coffee maker. The obtained coffee drinks were analyzed by Ultra-High-Performance Liquid Chromatography-High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (UHPLC-HRMS) tools for their quali-quantitative phytocannabinoid profiles. The results showed that they are minor constituents compared to chlorogenic acids and caffeine in all samples. In particular, cannabidiolic acid was the most abundant among phytocannabinoids, followed by tetrahydrocannabinolic acid. Neither Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) nor cannabinol, its main oxidation product, were detected. The percentage of total THC never exceeded 0.04%, corresponding to 0.4 mg/kg, far below the current maximum limits imposed by the Italian Ministry of Health. This study opens up a new concrete possibility to exploit hemp processing by-products in order to obtain drinks with high added value and paves the way for further in vitro and in vivo investigations aimed at promoting their benefits for human health.
Highlights
The long coexistence between mankind and Cannabis sativa L. led to its early domestication, with the plant soon showing a plethora of possible uses, making it an emblematic example of polyvalent culture [1]
The results showed that they are minor constituents compared to chlorogenic acids and caffeine in all samples
The work reported is focused on three moka coffee drinks obtained from ground coffee blends, enriched with shredded inflorescences from three different dioecious genotypes of C. sativa L
Summary
The long coexistence between mankind and Cannabis sativa L. led to its early domestication, with the plant soon showing a plethora of possible uses, making it an emblematic example of polyvalent culture [1] Over the centuries, this plant has gone from robust and durable textile fibers to recreational drugs used by artists and writers in the 19th century [2], until the beginning of a long period defined by the prohibition of its production, which continued until recent years. The contemporary re-evaluation of this crop has been stimulated by a number of studies that highlighted its agricultural features, together with its beneficial properties due to its undervalued richness in phytochemicals, in addition to fiber.
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