Cooking

Cooking with cannabis: why and how?

Consuming cannabis in edible form is a perfect alternative to smoking. It saves your lungs and indulges your taste. Homemade edibles are certainly the best choice since they do not contain preservatives, odorants and taste modifiers.

If you like cooking with cannabis, you often need basic marijuana-infused ingredients that are long to prepare. Ready-made cooking necessities is the best solution for those who value their time and efforts. Using them, you can create unique dishes to cover all your marijuana needs with food and drinks.

What to cook with: a review of most popular cooking necessities

If you are puzzled about how to add cannabis to your daily meals, just consider replacing some of the basic ingredients by a marijuana-infused one. The most common choices are butter, oil and honey. You can either buy the commercial cannabutter, cannabis oil and honey or try to make them at home.

Among all the infused cooking supplies represented in the market, there are a few categories that keep the top sales. Learn more about them:

1. Cannabutter. A creamy buttery substance that can be used instead of butter in ordinary recipes or simply added to a toast.

2. Cannabis cooking oil. It is usually either a coconut or olive oil infused with cannabis. It can also be used in recipes, as a frying oil or salad dressing.

3. Cannabis honey. Organic honey product with marijuana can be added to the morning tea, cereal or toast.

4. Cannasugar. The simplest way to make weed-based desserts is to use cannabis sugar. It is also good for beverages.

A range of cooking necessities infused with cannabis is not limited to the listed products. It includes more than a hundred types of products, some of which are the derivatives of the listed basic ingredients. Having some of these basic products in your fridge will make cooking with cannabis a matter of minutes.

Before you start: aspects to consider

It is important to understand what happens with your cannabis in the process of cooking to get the best results. The most valuable components of marijuana flower are the cannabinoids and terpenes. Saving these components during cooking is crucial since their amount and properties determine the potency and flavor of the final dish.

How to make cannabis-infused honey?

One of the most popular marijuana cooking recipes is the making of cannabis-infused honey. Cannabis honey can be used in a number of ways: added to recipes as a sweetener, spread on a toast, stirred into beverages. Preparing it at home is advantageous not only because of its organic nature; it is also very economic. The price of commercial cannabis honey is much greater than the sum of prices of its main ingredients.

What you will need:

• 15 g of cannabis;

• 2 cups of organic honey;

• water;

• glass jar and a lid;

• cheesecloth;

• slow cooker;

• string.

A recipe for cannabis honey:

1. After you have decarboxylated the weed, wrap it in the cheesecloth and tie with a string.

2. Put the wrapped honey into the glass jar and pour honey over it.

3. Place the jar in the slow cooker and pour water inside the cooker to make the jar surrounded by water. Make sure the water level is a little higher than the honey level.

4. Put the lid on the slow cooker and cook for 7-8 hours at low temperatures.

5. Check every few hours to control the pressure within the jar.

6. Remove the jar carefully from the cooker and let cool.

7. Get the cheesecloth out of the jar and squeeze it tightly.

Cannabis-infused honey is ready! Store it in the fridge for a short-term or freeze it if you do not need it directly.

How to dose cannabis delicacies?

If you are purchasing a ready-made edible, dosing is not a problem since all the necessary information is provided on the package. With cooking, there is always the greater risk of taking an overdose or not feeling the effects at all. That is why it is necessary to calculate the cannabinoid content for each separate portion.

Another thing worth noting is that consuming edibles results in the delayed but longer-lasting effect (because digestion takes time). It means that it might take 1-3 hours after consumption during which you will not feel any change. The worst you could do is to repeat with the same or bigger portion. Make sure a few hours passed before the second trial if you want to avoid the overdosage with all the following negative consequences.

There is a popular mistake when the amount of THC in edibles is chosen according to smoking dosage. These two ways of consumption should not be compared when it comes to dosage. Investigations prove that the effect from 1 g of THC in an edible is equal with the effect of 5-8 g of THC in smoking weed.

THC or CBD: making the choice

Most cooking necessities include either THC or CBD as the prominent cannabinoid. The difference in effects between them is not limited to high / calm distinction. Check the information below to know what benefits each cannabinoid might bring to your body:

Advantages of THC:

• it is intoxicating and psychoactive (takes you high);

• it causes the euphorical state of mind;

• it kills pain;

• it boosts your mood;

• it makes you hungry;

• it reduces nausea;

• it unbraces your muscles.

Advantages of CBD:

• it is not psychoactive;

• it kills anxiety;

• it prevents seizures;

• it helps to fight cancer;

• it has anti-inflammatory properties;

• it reduces paranoia;

• it is used as a treatment for THC overdosage.

Both cannabinoids are widely used in cooking necessities. Some products have balanced ratio of THC and CBD to minimize psychoactive effects and still combine them with health benefits. Consider this ratio when making a choice of ingredients.

Cooking with cannabis: what to start with

If you are ready to make a first try to make homemade food and drinks infused with cannabis but do not know what to start with, consider passing through the following stages:

• Select a recipe.

  There are two types of recipes you might consider. The first is special recipes for cannabis-infused dishes. There are plenty of them in the Internet. You get the full instruction and follow each step carefully. This type is good for beginners. Another sort of recipes is the ordinary culinary ones, where you can replace basic ingredients with cannabis-infused ones. There is a wide range of recipes you can experiment with, just make sure they include butter, oil or sugar. It is important because most cannabis compounds need oils and fats to become activated.

• Choose a strain and terpene content.

  Ask yourself what effect you want to get with your meal. Take Sativa for energy boost or Indica to relax. Moreover, pay attention to the terpene component: each terpene has its unique flavor and therapeutic qualities.

• Decarboxylate cannabis.

  Keep in mind that psychoactive effects reveal themselves only in decarboxylated weed. Though THCA is naturally as potent as THC, you will not feel anything.

• Make the infusion yourself or buy a commercial product.

  You need to make at least one ingredient a cannabis-infused one. Selecting a commercial product, give preference to trusted suppliers and well-known products. If you have set your sights on making the infusion on your own, note that it takes time, from few hours to some days, depending on the product type.

• Start cooking.

  The accent during cooking with cannabis must be made on accurate measurement. For newbies, it is recommended to take minimal portions of THC and increase them afterwards, if necessary.

• Take dinner.

  Select dinner time carefully: you need a good cushion time after the meal, because the effects might stay with you for the rest of the day. Consider the fact and do not plan any important things after dinner.