Cannabis Cooking with Kim

Image Courtesy of nugmag.com

Editors Note: Canna Chef Kim will be teaching cannabis cooking at the next SD ASA meeting on March 13th, 2012 from 7-9pm at the La Jolla Brew House. Stop by and check it out!

Written by Canna Chef Kim, Executive Director of Mother Earth Co-op, Serving San Diego MMJ Patients Since 2005

Civilizations throughout the world have realized the benefits of cannabis since the inception of time and are actually documented in the bible.  The Holy Anointing Oil that Jesus used is referenced in Exodus 30:22 and Mark 6:13.  The medicinal benefits are practiced in several cultures including Native American, Indian, South American and Asian.  Cannabis has been used for centuries as a staple crop, source of fiber and food.

For centuries cannabis and food have been paired together just as cannabis and smoking have. Cannabis can have a strongly distinctive and spicy taste that lends itself well to certain type of foods.  However, cooking with cannabis is undoubtedly an art and not like other kinds of cooking.  Medicinal cannabis cooking requires specific knowledge of cannabis and its active ingredient. READ MORE.

Thankfully for the recognition of medical marijuana and its place in herbal healing and alternative medicines, we are striving to move forward with the multi purpose herb.  The mere idea that someone can deny another person access to a plant is absurd!  Cannabis, also known as marijuana or hemp was not illegal in the United States until 1937.

The intention of this column/article is to reveal alternatives that exist and numerous ways of optimistically reaching a more natural cure of certain ailments and making some medical treatments further humane and tolerable.  Mother Earth Co-op’s purpose and intent of our cookbook is to support patients to find hope and alternatives to ease the pain of their illness and to help improve the quality of life.  For optimal outcome medical marijuana should be used in context with a natural nutritious diet, exercise and rest with a balanced lifestyle.

Ingesting marijuana or its active ingredient THC, is different than smoking and it has diverse effects.  Smoking produces a fairly immediate and controllable medicinal effect that possibly will last a couple of hours.  When the medicinal effect declines, it only takes a couple more tokes or inhalations to get back to the desired medical state. When individual capacity is reached in smoking, the patient will undoubtedly know almost immediately.

The medicinal effect from consumption of cannabis eatables is not instantaneous, even on an empty stomach.  The process of digestion can signify a wait of an hour or more before an appreciable high or medicinal effect is experienced. When the stomach has other food it is digesting, the wait can be up to four hours or longer. The high will take at least an hour or possible two hours to develop fully and will last between four and eight hours, or longer.

Patients need to be very attentive and wait at least one hour before trying to ingest more.  It is best to start with an undersized portion and wait an hour and try more if the desired effect is not felt.  Taken in sensible amounts is much safer than trying too much and wishing you had not.  Even for an experienced smoker, the wait for the medical relief can seem forever, especially for those used to an instant hit from a water pipe or vaporizer. It is imperative to wait patiently for at least an hour for the medication to take effect.

The tendency of a possible cannabis overdose is virtually unheard of in the smoking world, however when it is eaten it comes down to the way the substance is absorbed into the system. Even though overdoses are unheard of people have reportedly gone to the hospital thinking they were overdosing after eating too much cannabis.  To date in the history of the world no one has ever overdosed or died as a result of marijuana. Compared to medical legally prescribed pharmaceutical drugs experience 250 death daily.

There are different types and strains of marijuana with each strain or plant type having their individual effects.   The two main types are indica and sativa.  There are numerous combinations of both indica and sativa in many percentages making these hybrids.  Indica flowers or the buds are typically more dense and tight.  The aroma is generally intense and range from acrid, musky, pungent or skunky.  Indica is frequently lung expanding and cough inducing, with a heavy body lethargic pain reliever.  Sativa characteristically grow with longer slimmer leaves and are lighter green than the indica variety.  The flowers or buds are commonly airier and lighter with the smoke that has a sweet fruity, spicy taste inducing a soaring, uplifting feeling. 

The methods described will detail preparation of edibles with cannabis.  We must stress the methods described are optimized for medical with purity and potency in mind.  Medical grade cannabis is always organic and clean.

Traditionally cooking with cannabis involves sautéing the cannabis in butter, oil or milk.  The simple rule here is too much heat can destroy THC potency while normal temperatures can increase it.

Cooking cannabis in an oily medium is not only for the conversion of acids. It is also a big aid to the assimilation of the active ingredients. THC is always much more easily assimilated if it is dissolved in fats or alcohol first. When fats or alcohol are taken into the digestive tract, the digestive processes are naturally stimulated. Without that stimulation there may not be enough digestive fluids in the stomach to break down the substance containing the THC.  The use of cannabis for medical purposes has spurred innovation and variety in cannabis products.

Numerous patients are looking for alternative to smoking. Mother Earth Co-op has been making butter from cannabis for quite an extensive time now and has tried several methods.   There are several ways to make cannabutter or cannaoil and we have compiled in our cookbook and the easiest way to make the butter or oil which is the key ingredient for most medicinal cannabis recipes.  We will be featuring a few special recipes that you can try in each month. All recipes involve slow and low cooking of dairy butter or organic coconut oil and cannabis chopped bud (in roughly equal proportions) to produce a deep green butter  Always use high quality products for great results.

The following recipes are taken from:

“Special Medicinal Recipes Shared from Mother Earth Co-op – A Medical Cannabis Cookbook” … http://www.motherearthcoop.com/private/product1.htm

Special Medicinal Recipes Cookbook

Making Cannabutter / Cannaoil:

1 oz cannabis (medical high grade)     1 lb butter or coconut oil

Use portions of one to four ounces of cannabis bud trim to one pound of dairy butter or organic coconut oil (vegetarian).  This will produce tremendously powerful butter.  We recommend using bud and trim not the whole leaves of the cannabis plant.  The whole leaf includes too much chlorophyll from the plant, giving the butter or oil an unpleasant taste. The higher grade the butter or coconut oil is the greater the application

Melt the unsalted organic dairy butter or organic coconut oil in a crock pot set on low. 

Manicure and dry flowers and/or bud trimmings.

Grind slightly for a few seconds to separate buds with an electric coffee grinder. 

Gradually add the trim or flower with constant stirring.

Cook in crock pot covered on the lowest setting with frequent stirring for two to four hours.

Before the dark green butter cools, pour through a cheese cloth or French press and squeeze into containers.

Once the butter cools cover containers and place in refrigerator to finish cooling.

Store cannbutter/oil in refrigerator or freezer in airtight containers for a few months.

Space Blaster Cookies

1 cup     honey                                                1 cup   nuts (almonds, walnuts)

1 cup     brown sugar (packed)                       1 cup   chocolate or peanut chips

1 cup     cannabutter or cannaoil                     2  pkgs chocolate (Hershey’s kisses)

1 cup     peanut butter                         2  large            eggs

2 tsp      vanilla extract                                    ¼ cup  milk

3 ½ cups flour                                     2  tsp   baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 F (18   0 C). 

Blend honey, brown sugar, cannaoil or cannabutter (see recipe above) and peanut butter together well. 

In a separate bowl; beat eggs, milk and vanilla, mixing well together. 

Sift in flour, baking soda and stir into milk mixture. 

Blend in the chocolate chips, peanut chips and nuts. 

Mix all ingredients together. 

Make dough into small golf ball shapes. 

Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and gently flatten cookie with the back of a spoon. 

Bake for approximately 10 to 13 minutes. 

As soon as cookies come out of the oven, immediately place a Hershey’s chocolate candy on top of cookie.   

Serve warm and enjoy!

Wishing you a happy journey to a healthier you

Peace & Love

Kim