Have you ever tried cooking with cannabis? You will find that many recipes are as simple as cooking anything else! Moreover, such recipes are great for those who wish to quit smoking or find store-bought edibles strong.
However, today we will not be talking about cannabis recipes, but how to cook with it the right way. So, keep reading if you want to learn the basics of preparing edibles at home.
Also Read: How to Consume Marijuana Edibles Safely?
Preparations
Similar to following any recipe, you’ll need to prepare a few things before starting, so let’s look at what these things are.
Choosing a Strain
The first step here may be the most crucial one, as the strain you choose will have a major impact on the recipe. Therefore, you should choose to cook with the marijuana strain that you find suitable.
If you have never consumed it before, it would be best to learn about strains with low amounts of THC and get the dispensary staff’s help. If you have some experience with the strains, you can also experience and come up with unique and fun recipes!
Finding a Recipe You Like
Although marijuana may be the main ingredient, it’s not the only one. So, you need to select a recipe first in order to procure the other materials you’ll be cooking with.
You can either take the easy route by simply adding cannabis to a recipe you’ve attempted many times, or a recipe you love. The options are endless and you can choose just about anything.
Basics For the Kitchen
Of course, you’ll require the necessary utensils for cooking. However, time is just as important, as cooking with weed needs patience. Also, before you start following a recipe, you will need to measure your marijuana carefully, so you can experience the desirable effects.
How to Measure the Cannabis Dose
Understanding dosage is important to calculate how much cannabis you should use in different recipes. You can easily find edible calculators online, where you will have to input the following:
- Quantity of Cannabis
- Quantity of butter/ oil in the recipe
- CBD and THC content of the strain
The results should tell you how much mg cannabis should be used per serving of the dish.
Remember, you should take this amount seriously, especially as a newcomer. Edibles are already much stronger than other methods of consumption, so you might over consume if you increase the dosage. That would lead to some unpleasant side effects, such as vomiting, headache, etc.
This is also valid for experienced users, because a cookie with the same amount of THC may not be as potent as another dish. So, it is necessary to take the recommended cannabis dosage seriously.
On the other hand, some people may not find the dosage to be low, instead they may feel it is too high. You can opt for one of the following solutions, in such a situation:
- Consume smaller portions at a time.
- Decrease the quantity when infusing cannabis
- If you’re using infused butter/ oil with a marijuana strain, swap it out for ingredients that are non-infused. Now that you are aware of how to select a suitable strain and the dosing, let’s head over to the kitchen!
Let’s Start Cooking With Cannabis!
When you bring cannabis to the kitchen, it is important to remember that you cannot just add it to your food. You must make sure to decarboxylate it first. This is a crucial step because the chemical compounds in the strain flower are present in their acid forms. For instance the acid form of THC is THCA, and for CBD it is CBDA.
Our bodies cannot do much with these acid forms, meaning that simply adding a cannabis flower to a recipe won’t have potent effects. You may even waste most of your marijuana by not allowing it to reach its full potency.
Follow these steps to decarboxylate marijuana:
- Preheat your oven to 230°F
- Break the flower into smaller pieces by hand. Avoid using a grinder/ blender.
- Cover your baking tray with parchment paper and place the pieces on it. Do not let them overlap.
- Place the tray in the oven for about 40-50 minutes.
- Retrieve the plate and allow it to cool.
- Store in a sealed container until you are ready to use it.
What to Do and Not Do
Now that you have your marijuana ready, we can finally get to the cooking process! If you plan on using cannabis butter/ oil, make sure to adjust the quantity with how much flower you plan on using. Also, you should remember the do’s and don’ts of cooking edibles.
- You may be used to cooking on high flame, and you may also think that heating marijuana flowers is the norm, since people do it while smoking too. However, that is not the case, and cooking a flower at very high temperatures can be detrimental to its quality. You have to keep the temperature below 360°F at all times.
- When using canna butter/ canna oil, it is best to use them at the test. You may be tempted to use it at the beginning like normal oil but that will affect its potency. It is better to infuse the cannabis when the recipe is almost done. You can remove your pan from the cooking station, and add the oil/ butter.
- Do not rush mixing the butter/ oil into the recipe. If you are not through with it, the THC distribution will be uneven. As a result, some portions will have a much stronger potency than others. If you are making something like chocolate, which settles cool, the THC may also settle at the bottom. You can combat this problem by using a container with a flat base. Read below for more tips on storing your edibles.
How to Store Edibles Properly?
An easy way to remember how to store edibles is doing exactly what you would with normal food. For instance, cookies go in the pantry, brownies and savory items go in the fridge, etc. However, there are a few particular things to keep in mind, such as:
- Make sure you use a sealed container.
- Label your edibles, so others in the house won’t consume it by mistake.
- Always keep out of reach of children. The effect of the edible depends on the BMI of the consumer, and since children are much smaller in size, they have a high chance of suffering from acute cannabis intoxication. If you have children in the house, it would be best to get a child-proof container.
What to Do If You Consume Too Much Cannabis?
This is a common occurrence amongst people having edibles for the first time. Edibles are much stronger than other methods of consumption, but they also take a long time to act. So, you may think they’re not working and consume too much.
If you consumed just a little more than you can handle, try drinking lemon water. This will help you stay hydrated and neutralize the terpenes as well as the dehydration caused by THC.
If you consumed a lot more than you should have, you can either wait for it to pass if the side effects aren’t unbearable. Or, you could visit the emergency room if the situation is tough to get under control.
Conclusion
You are now all set to go and try as many cannabis recipes as you want! However, we would suggest you apply for a NJ medical marijuana card to save big on your cannabis bills. MD Ganja is an amazing online platform to get your card within minutes!
You can also learn more about the benefits of getting the card in New Jersey in detail here.