Cooking with Cannabis for Beginners

Cooking with cannabis has come such a long way over the years now and its only getting more and more exciting with all the new techniques and ways to make it. You might have tried edibles before, but you want to give cooking a go to see if you can make a tasty treat. Perhaps you are hosting a party, or attending one, and want to impress your friends, who also enjoy edibles. Now before we get into all the fun details, something you should always practice is never giving people cannabis treats without their knowledge or consent. You should always have your edibles labeled and make sure its visible in case someone does not want to partake. If you fail to warn people attending this event, it could result in them making a fool out of themselves, hurting themselves or worse an unexpected trip to the hospital.

Some consumers may not know that you can get very high after ingesting too much THC. This is due to the fact that its baked in something and you either are enjoying it too much to realize how much you have ingested or you do not really know how much you are supposed to consume. A lot of people will not enjoy the taste of cooked cannabis, being that many people use it as a medicine and do not think of it as a flavorful to consume. Each and every strain will contain different taste profiles, you would most likely want to cook with something sweet opposed to one that may be more earthy or pine-y. To insure a positive outcome you should focus on your intentions of what you are looking to get out of this. Since you most likely be sharing these edibles you will want to consider the potency levels, ingredients, and the overall effect it will have.

Now when your goal is to make tasty treats that are enjoyable to consume, here are some things you can do to minimize the unwanted taste of cannabis in your edibles:

Try using cannabutter instead of concentrates or hash oil. Now cannabutter is made with butter, and butter is one of the best

ingredients in most baked goods which makes everything very tender and delicious. This is why cannabutter is the best option overall.

Use a good weed and good butter product. High quality ingredients matter, it will be that thing that takes your edibles from good to great! It is definitely more expensive but will give you the results you are looking for when trying to minimize the cannabis favor.

First you should make sure you are making your cannabutter correctly, since poorly made butter can taste pretty awful. You should brown your cannabutter before using in your recipes. Do you know browning your butter is a very popular method to add a lot of flavor to your dish, in this case will mellow out the cannabis flavor. You should use this method when making cannabutter. Start with your cannabutter over low heat until it starts to turn darker in color, and then cool it down and use it as normal butter in your recipes. Also it is a great idea if you are the type to get the urge to bake, you could make extra cannabutter and freeze it for your future baking needs. This way you do not have to spend all that time making a batch of cannabutter each time you are craving edibles or crammed for time. A thing you may want to remember is that fats lose a lot of their taste notes when infused with cannabis. If you cannot taste that warm, creamy butter they lose some of the attributes of a baked good. Try using a ratio of ⅔ quality butter to ⅓ infused butter in all baking recipes, it is a fool proof way of making sure your edibles do not taste like the stem of a bud. Another tip would be trying coconut oil too for all the lactose intolerant, vegans or just prefer coconut oil. It is a great alternative to butter and goes well with the aroma of cannabis.

Try concentrates, they are usually a foolproof way of adding THC to your food with watching the potency. There are many different kinds of concentrates providing you with an array of strengths and effects with a such less pungent scent than compared to making cannabutter. Concentrates can still add a potent flavor to your baked goods due to it's terpene content, so I would recommend to limit how much you actually put in your recipe.

Try to think about your all your favorite recipes, then try to think of the ones that would actually be a good flavor pairing with cannabis. Remember cannabis has a herbal flavor so something such as baked goods with spices or herbal flavors, as it will work harmoniously with the cannabis. For an example ginger molasses cookies would pretty much completely take away the unwanted weed taste, or try cinnamon they are both warming spices and can help balance the taste. A lot of people tend to completely forget about savory dishes when it comes to cooking with cannabis. I think its because they feel its a bit over their head, and I would have to disagree. I think going with the savory option has a lot more room to play with recipes, cannabis has such a herbal flavor so why not place them in recipes where the flavor of the cannabis would play off of the other ingredients. When going the savory route same rules still apply, stick with the oil and fatty dishes like dips, mashed potatoes, sauces, even stir fry's. Buttery things like hollandaise sauce and butter chicken also make really delicious choices for cannabis food, they do not change the original recipe and it would enhance the flavors. Try figuring out ways to help compliment the flavors instead of always trying to mask them, It could be a fun experiment and could lead you to some amazing recipes.

Candy is another great option for cooking with cannabis. Take a whirl at making soft or hard caramels with concentrate stirred right in, its a great way to get your right dose in. If you are hesitant on the whole candy making process, try using cannabutter. The butter will be a great addition to your candies and will add creaminess and you will hardly taste the cannabis in them. Another tasty option is homemade cannabis lollipops. These are more on the sweet side but the sugars in the lollipops will help mask the flavor of the cannabis and are great since they are made as a single serving so you do not need to consume more than one to feel the effects as long as you make them potent enough.

Now chocolate is a winner in my books as it can pretty much cover any super potent strain up with its amazing taste. It is a really good option for making bite sized portions and storing away in the freezer for later. When using chocolate its bitterness and intricate flavors helps you to surround the unwanted cannabis flavor with chocolate. Cannabis chocolates is an all time favorite with everyone, so your sure to impress if your choosing to make these for a get together. The best part about cannabis chocolates is that its super easy and there are so many recipes and flavors you can add to them.

Now going back to past experiences, when trying to take out the strong taste of cannabis or improve the flavor without taking away from it's potency, try doing a post-extraction wash. It can be a good use of time and will really help with the flavor profile. Try making your cannabutter as strong as possible in order to use less of them in your recipes. If you make your infusions using double the amount of cannabis, you would use half the amount in your recipes and get the same strength. You can make up any of the differences with regular oil or butter. This will help tremendously with the unwanted cannabis flavor. Remember you always want to use quality cannabis, take your time when making your cannabutter, concentrates, or hash oils.

When you do this you will always have better results and make some of the tastiest dishes.