Cooking with cannabis has come a long way since the days of dumping your leftover shake into a box of Betty Crocker brownie mix. Many forms of edibles have emerged from the cannabis community, including cookies, hard candies, and even gummies (just to name a few). With all that good stuff out there, I thought you might want to try making something yourself.
They are a great consumption method for someone who cannot, or chooses not to, smoke or vaporize. Your lungs will thank you. They’re also nice to have when spending the evening home having a mellow night (potcorn and a movie, anyone?).
Additionally, the effects generally last longer, are more physical (“body high“), and the onset is gradual. The key to the evolution of edibles is that the cannabis is now incorporated into the butter, oil, or tincture.
There are lots of other options which involve concentrates, but not everyone has access to those. So we’ll be keeping it old school for this round. Before you start anything, make sure to decarb your flower. Click here for more info.
Here’s what you’ll need to begin your culinary cannabis masterpiece:
Coffee Grinder
Frying pan
Cheesecloth
Thermometer
Bottle of Grain Alcohol Mason Jar
BUTTER
Butter has a great foundation for edibles; its high fat content allows for the active components found in the cannabis plant to bind to it. For best results, use 1⁄4 oz. cannabis per stick of butter (I’ll use 8 grams total, this way there is 1 gram of cannabis per tablespoon of butter making it easier to keep track of the dosage so you know exactly how much is in each portion – add’s a little potency as well). Start by putting your flowers into a coffee grinder and mince it until it is a fine consistency (You might want to consider getting a grinder just for creating edibles to avoid cannabis in your coffee or coffee in your cannabis).
Next you’ll put your frying pan on the stove and set it to a low heat in order to avoid burning any of your materials. Add your desired amount of butter and allow it to melt in its entirety within the pan. Once the butter is in a liquid state, the cannabis is added to your butter. Stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until the cannabis turns brown and the butter is green. Once you have your color changes, remove it from the heated surface. It’s important, so we’ll say it again: Use Low Heat!
Take some Cheesecloth, fold it over a couple of times and cover the top of a container with the cloth (Use Mason Jars to store it for future use). Next, take the butter/cannabis mixture and pour it through the cheesecloth and into the container. The cheesecloth will catch all unusable cannabis and the container catches all usable butter for your future cooking projects. Now, anything you cook or bake using butter will be a Medicated Edible.
Some of our favorites: pancakes (wake n’ bake in style!), pasta sauce, mashed pot-atoes (see what I did there?), and brownies.
OIL
Oil, like butter, has a high fat content. In this case we will be referring to Canola oil. Oil is great for cannabis extraction and can be use in a variety of recipes to be used in your edible delights. You’ll want to use your thermometer with this one because you will have to pay attention to temperature so it doesn’t burn.
It’s common to use 1⁄4 oz of cannabis per cup of oil. But once the cannabis has been ground up, you’ll find that you can add more flowers if desired. So you will once again grind up your cannabis in a grinder and add it to your oil in a pan or pot and put on the stove top.
Next you’ll get your Breaking Bad on. Use a medium high setting and stir your mixture fre‐ quently. You’ll want to have that thermometer handy soon after turning up the heat. Canola oil burns at 327 degree and cannabis begins to burn at 300 degrees. Once your oil reaches 290 degrees it should then be removed from the heat and placed to the side. (Yeah, Science!)
Just like with the butter, use the cheesecloth to filter out unwanted material, leaving you with silky smooth canna-oil.
Some of our favorites: guacamole, butternut squash soup, salad dressing.
TINCTURE
For those who might be unfamiliar with tinctures, some are oil based and some are alcohol based. In this case we will be preparing an alcohol-based tincture. Tinctures can be used as a stand alone or used in hard candies.
First grab your mason jar and add your desired amount of ground up cannabis. You’ll need that grain alcohol (Graves, Everclear, just to give a few examples) that was listed above and pour it into the jar to the top of the cannabis line. Place the lid on the jar and shake it like crazy. Shake the jar for 3-5 minutes (put some elbow grease into it). During this shacking process the alcohol is removing all of the active components from the cannabis and will remain contained in the alcohol.
Once your shaking is completed, use the folded-up cheesecloth to filter the mixture. Your tincture is complete. Enjoy!
Bonus medicated buffalo sauce recipe:
Things you’ll need:
Pot (the one you cook with)
Whisk
2/3 cup hot pepper sauce (example: RedHot or Frank’s) 1/2 cup cold medicated butter
1 1/2 tablespoons white vinegar
1/4 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
Salt
Grab a pot (the one you cook with), add your butter and place on stovetop at a medium temperature. Once the butter has melted, throw everything else in and stir it with a whisk. Stir until you see the liquid on the sides of the pan begin bubbling then remove from heat. Your buffalo sauce is now ready for some hot wings. Enjoy…
