Who says your favorite strains are only good for smoking? The increase in popularity of the Netflix TV show ‘Cooked with Cannabis’ has prompted users to explore the delights of cannabis cuisine and consequently, many people have started cooking weed-infused dinners, lunches and desserts in their kitchen. If you are planning a high time with your friends on the coming weekend then cooking a cannabis-infused dessert can be a great idea.  In this post, we are going to provide you with a step by step guide to cooking with cannabis and also touch upon some of the most common mistakes made by rookie cannabis chefs.

A step-by-step guide to cooking with cannabis

• Select your recipe

Choosing an appropriate recipe for cooking with cannabis consists of the very first step. Ideally you need to find several recipes where butter, olive oil, or coconut oil is used. The fat in these oils helps to activate the THC and other cannabinoids in your strain.

• Select the right strain

Once you have decided on the recipe, you need to keep in mind the kind of flavor you’re after before selecting the strain for cooking. Identifying the dominant flavor in the platter and then matching that flavor with the terpene profile of the strain can be helpful. Weed with fruity terpene profiles such as Blueberry, Mango Haze, Strawberry Cream is generally good for cooking. If you’re planning to cook with indica then try cooking with kushy strains like Purple Kush, Diesel, Pink Kush or OG Kush. However steer clear of strains with pungent aromas such as Sour Diesel, Cheese or Cat Piss.

• Decarboxylate your cannabis

Cooking with raw cannabis is not advisable since the decarboxylating your weed will make your cannabis-infused dish more potent. This is because the heat applied to the marijuana activates the THCA and converts it into THC thus enabling you to obtain all the benefits of the cannabinoids in your medical marijuana while ensuring a better high. All you have to do is put your buds in the over for around half an hour at 245 degrees F. Nevertheless, if your buds are moist then it might take longer while if they are dry then it will take around 15 min.

• Make the infusion

Always remember that the better your butter or oil the tastier and the better will be your infusion. Go for a creamy butter, and virgin coconut/olive oil to ensure a scrumptious experience. While olive oil takes around 4 to 6 hours to get infused Cannabutter requires a full day to cool and solidify so make sure to create a big batch of the infusion for later use.

• Decide on the party/meal time

Since it takes a minimum of 2 hours for the full effects of the weed infused meal to set in, you need to make sure that there’s enough time for cooking, eating, getting high and enjoying the effects.  Microdosing with a 1-5 mg of THC and CBD in your food can be a very wise option especially if you are planning on multiple courses.

• Time to cook with cannabis

All that’s left to do is start cooking with cannabis with your infusion as the main ingredient. It needs to be noted that one teaspoon of CannaButter or CannaOil gives you a serving of 5-10 mg depending on the strain you choose. Rookie users should ideally have ½ of the serving size.

Most common mistakes you need to avoid while cooking with marijuana

• No need to overspend on buds

Instead of using half an ounce of weed for making a cup of CannaButter what you need to do is remember the following ratio-1:1- a cup of cannabis to a cup of butter/oil. If you want to save more then consider infusing the butter/oil with the stems and trimmings.

• Decarb your weed

Often first-time cannabis chefs tend to skip the process of decarboxylation of the weed before cooking. As we already discussed above, decarboxylating cannabis is imperative for a potent CannaOil or CannaButter.

• No need to grind the weed to a powder

Grinding the marijuana to fine dust before cooking can result in a strong grass-like flavor. Using finely pulverized cannabis turns the butter/oil green in color, gives it a strong leafy taste and makes it difficult to get rid of the unwanted plant parts. This is why you should grind your cannabis into a coarse powder using your hands or a hand grinder.

• Add water to your CannaButter

First-time cannabis cooks more often than not forget to add some water to the CannaButter. Adding a dash of water ensures that your butter or oil doesn’t burn. Although some cooks don’t like adding water to their butter, if done properly it prevents the cannabinoids from degrading.

• Strain the oil in the right way

Once your butter or oil is infused you need to strain it to separate the unwanted plant material. Use cheesecloth for the process of straining since it lets the oil to pass through easily while blocking all the plant parts. Do not squeeze the cheesecloth too hard to obtain every drop of oil since it would also push out lots of ground plant material.

• Test the potency of the butter before you start cooking

This can be easily done by adding one fourth or half teaspoon of oil to your food and then wait and see what the effect is like. This way you will easily be able to determine the right dose per person. Once you know how much butter/oil is required to produce the desired effect, you need to multiply that dose per serving. However, if you are cooking individual platters then just use the perfect dose and add it to your pasta, bread or tea.

Lastly, before concluding, it needs to be said that cannabis edibles are way more potent than the buds you smoke. This is why you need to be very careful about the amount you’re consuming. Ideally, you should eat moderately and then wait for an hour and a half to feel the effects before consuming a second dose. When done rightly nothing can beat the glorious high of well-cooked cannabis dishes!