5 Tips for Cooking With Cannabis

Picking the Strain

A basic principle in cooking is to choose the right ingredients, and the same holds true for cooking with cannabis. Before you begin, you'll want to make sure you select the right strain for your recipe. A good way to do this is to lean on your sense of smell. Cannabis comes in a wide assortment of tastes and aromas, and taking some time to find the scent you want can help you create the ideal flavor profile. Are you looking for something with a fruity taste? What about an earthy quality?

Beyond taste, you should also familiarize yourself with the effects of different strains. Be sure you understand the basics, such as how indica make you feel versus sativa. And even more important, the THC to CBD ratio will truly determine the effects, so really get to know what's in your strain before making your final selection. After all, taste is important, but you're primarily adding cannabis for its effects. With this in mind, you want to ensure you find something that offers exactly what you're looking for. And finally, don't use multiple strains in a single recipe, and only use quality products.

Decarboxylate Your Cannabis

A very important step is to decarboxylate your cannabis before adding it in. Basically, you want to dry and cure the plant to stimulate the cannabinoids. Skipping this step will result in a meal that lacks potency, as your strain will essentially behave like a typical veggie. If you're purchasing from a dispensary, the plant should already be good to go, but if you grow your own flower, you'll have to decarboxylate.

THC becomes active at 240 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas CBD needs 295 degrees Fahrenheit. Once you've selected your temperature, place your products in the oven and let bake for a half-hour to an hour.

3. Grind Your Flower

Just like smoking cannabis, when you're preparing flower for a recipe, you'll want to grind the strain up into tiny bits. This step should always happen after you've decarboxylated your product. What this does is it allows the solvent to diffuse more trichomes, releasing a greater amount of cannabinoids. This, in turn, will add even more potency to the meal you prepare.

Choose a Recipe

Sure, you know your way around a kitchen, but you probably don't want to improvise when making a cannabis-infused meal. Why? This plant is known to have a pronounced flavor that you can't mask entirely, though that's not necessarily a bad thing. If you can find a strain and a recipe that complement each other well, your tastebuds will be in for a real treat!

There's such an abundance of recipes available that you should not have any trouble finding exactly what you're craving. Simply figure out the general flavor you're looking for (i.e. savory, sweet, sour, etc.), then go from there. When in doubt, you could always start with the classics, like baked goods. Brownies are always a tried-and-true favorite because chocolate is effective for balancing the strong cannabis flavor.

Infused Butter and Oil

Using cannabis-infused butter or oil is a simple way to add the good stuff to your dish. When working with cannaoil or cannabutter, portion control is as easy as measuring and mixing as you would with any other recipe. The butter/oil will act as a solvent that will kickstart those cannabinoids, so your meal will have even more potency. You can also purchase pre-made cannabutter or cannaoil to make things even easier!

Follow these tips and you'll be on your way to a tasty meal bundled with the added joys that come with cannabis. But before you go all in, you should keep in mind that there's a big difference between smoking and ingesting flower. While the former affects you quickly and only lasts a short while, the latter method takes a lot longer to kick in and stays with you for a greater duration. As such, you should definitely pace yourself. If you're newer to the practice and less familiar with your tolerance level, we recommend that you only eat a small portion and wait about three hours before you go for another bite. 

When you are first dabbling in cannabis cooking, start simple. As you gain a little more experience, you can begin experimenting with more complex recipes. Now get in that kitchen and start infusing your meals with flower. Before you know it, you'll be a cannabis chef extraordinaire!