Now that people can legally purchase marijuana in Canada and 33 of the US states, it seems as though an increasing number of companies work overtime to come up with newer and more exciting ways to use it. Considering that experts predict the cannabis market will only get stronger in the next few years, it’s hard to tell what other options they’ll come up with.
Along with smoking and vaping cannabis, you can buy it in topical form. Perhaps one of the most popular ways to enjoy weed is by consuming edibles. Typically, this refers to prepackaged products like brownies and gummies. However, many people also cook with marijuana.
One option is to make traditional edibles using weed purchased from a head shop or dispensary. Another option is to use this same ingredient to make smoothies, soups, chicken and beef recipes, side dishes, and more. Either way, you can whip up some yummy snacks and meals at home that contain quality cannabis.
Since some individuals consider edibles as prepackaged snacks and others as food dishes with marijuana added, this information covers both. For the most part, people make the same mistakes regardless. By correcting the things listed below, you’ll end up with amazing food.
Don’t Make These Mistakes When Cooking Edibles at Home
Buying Poor Quality Weed
When it comes to cooking, there’s no difference between bad standard ingredients and bad cannabis. For instance, if you bake a lemon cake, you want to use the freshest and juiciest lemons available. That simple decision will take the flavour up a notch.
That same rule applies when cooking with marijuana, meaning you want to buy superior quality ingredients. When creating a recipe, choose cannabis that complements it, whether you use natural-flavoured or artificially flavoured crushed bud or oil.
To ensure that you always buy excellent marijuana, go to a trusted source. Head shops and dispensaries that sell pot legally usually go out of their way to provide customers with a good variety of high-calibre products.
Getting Carried Away With Grinding
When cooking edibles as a snack or part of a meal, don’t over-grind the cannabis. For some reason, many people think that turning it into powder is the only way to cook with it, which isn’t true.
This is important since the trichomes reside on the leaves and buds rather than in them as part of the internal structure. So, if you get carried away with the grinding process, you’ll end up with a significant amount of plant material as opposed to trichome material.
For beef, chicken, and pork recipes, as well as a lot of side dishes, flaky cannabis works better than powder anyway. However, if you don’t want to see the material or bite into a chunk of it, you can always purchase quality marijuana concentrate to infuse with butter or cooking oil.
Turning the Heat up Too High
For both standard edibles and when cooking regular meals, don’t allow the cannabis to get too hot. If marijuana overheats, any concentration of THC degrades. To correct this common mistake, you have a couple of options.
First, cook the marijuana at a lower temperature for a little bit longer. Just watch it like a hawk. Second, when sauteing meats or vegetables, use marijuana-infused oil in place of standard cooking oil.
Sometimes Less Is More
Regardless if you want to make edibles for recreational or medical purposes, you don’t want to use too much cannabis. With the right percentage of terpenes and cannabinoids, you’ll get the results wanted without destroying the flavour of the food.
Just as you don’t want to add too much marijuana when making edibles or meals, you also don’t want to add too little. If you need help to determine how much weed you should cook with, you can search online or talk to an expert at the head shop or dispensary where you buy your products.
Often, this involves trial and error. So, make adjustments as you go, and in no time, you’ll have the whole cooking with cannabis process down to a fine art.
Limiting Your Creativity
The great thing about marijuana is you can infuse it with almost anything. That includes both crushed bud and oil concentrate. If you love to experiment in the kitchen, go for it. You might even come up with the next trend for cannabis edibles and cooked meals.
Failing to Decarboxylate the Weed
Whenever you cook with the cannabis flower, you want to decarboxylate it. The same goes when making marijuana-infused butter or cooking oil. For this process, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Then, spread the weed out evenly. Cook it at 220-235 degrees Fahrenheit for about 35 minutes.
The decarboxylating process activates the chemical compounds in cannabis. So, when cooking with the flower for both medical and recreational reasons, this is a crucial step. Otherwise, the marijuana won’t produce the desired effect.
Inadequate Seasoning
When making meat and vegetable dishes containing cannabis, you want to add the same amount of seasoning as the recipe calls for or what you like. Just because you add weed to a recipe doesn’t mean you shouldn’t also use spices and seasoning.
Follow whatever recipe you like, with the exception that you would include crushed marijuana, cannabutter, or cannabis-infused oil. Although marijuana doesn’t have a huge impact on the flavour of food, some people can still taste it. This is why you want to buy a product that complements the edible or dish.
Not Stirring Enough
For conventional edibles and full meals, always stir the food as it cooks. Of all the mistakes that people make, this is probably the most common. Not only will this prevent food from burning, but frequent stirring will also distribute the cannabis throughout the cooking process.
Minor Changes Make a Big Difference
The mistakes that a lot of people make when using cannabis for cooking are easy to fix. Remember, if you do something wrong, chalk it up to a learning experience and move on. Once you get the hang of making edibles and everyday food that contains marijuana at home, you’ll never want to stop.