Smoking cannabis is much easier than cooking with it, which is probably why most people opt for this method to achieve their high. However, when you enter the world of edibles, you find limitless possibilities to enjoy cannabis. Cooking with CBD can be a little complicated for beginners, but the end product is well worth the effort. If you have ever tried edibles before, then you know how enjoyable the experience is. Some people even prefer it to smoking cannabis.
Edibles are usually readily available in places where cannabis is legal. However, if you are the experimental types, you might be trying to make them at home. If you are new to cooking with cannabis, you are prone to making some rookie mistakes. When trying to make edibles for the first time, it is good to stick to a recipe or an easy dish. If you are a fan of cannabis, it is more than likely that you have tried to experiment with or fantasized about experimenting with edibles.
But, as a bit of Google search and talking to fellow users will inform you, it is not very simple. Accidents like eating too many edibles, or not getting abuzz are quite common when it comes to improperly cooked edibles. So, it’s essential to know the common mistakes one can make when cooking with cannabis. Here are five mistakes that you should avoid to get the best experience with your edibles.
1. Using cannabis raw
When using any other ingredient for cooking, you add them raw, so the same must hold for cannabis too, right? Wrong! This is the most common mistake people make when trying to make edibles. They think of cannabis as adding some spice and add the crushed up raw cannabis into their creation. However, not only will this give an earthy and grassy taste to your food, it will not help you achieve the buzz that you want. Hence, it will be a complete waste of cannabis.
So, when you plan on cooking with cannabis, you need to ‘activate’ it through the process of decarboxylation. This process helps the THC present in cannabis to get activated. This is a simple process; all you need to do is crush up your bud and place it on a baking sheet and heat it in your oven for an hour at a temperature ranging from 200-250 Fahrenheit. Once the process is complete, the cannabis can bind to fats in your recipe easily.
2. Using too much or too little of cannabis
Good quality cannabis strains can be pricey ingredients to cook with. Hence, most people turn to be as miserly as possible when it comes to adding it to their food. However, it is essential to add the right amount of cannabis to your food. Hence, you should follow your recipe correctly. Adding too little can mean that you may not end up getting a buzz at all, and your hard work will go to waste. Adding too much means that you may run the risk of blacking out or not having a good experience. Hence, be careful about the quantity when you are working with cannabis.
3. Grinding your cannabis into a fine powder
Edibles need to taste good for you to have the best experience. But sometimes your edibles can seem to have an earthy or grassy taste to them. The reason for this may be that you have turned your cannabis into a finely ground powder. While people may think that adding finely ground up cannabis will ensure that it is incorporated well into the recipe, in reality, this will compromise the flavor of your dish.
If you do not want to have a grassy flavor to your dish, it is better to grind your bud coarsely. You can use a hand grinder to get a coarser texture for your bud, or you can also try other methods if you do not have a grinder on hand. This will get the job done and also ensure that your recipe tastes great.
4. Not testing the potency of your cannaoil
With edibles, you do not have to mix in the ingredients and hope for the best. When it is your first time, you should ensure that every aspect of the dish is as perfect as it can be. Usually, with edibles, most recipes require cannaoil, although some may not use it at all. When using cannaoil for your dish, ensure that you test its potency.
To do so, you can take a quarter or half a teaspoon of oil into your food, drink or take it as a dose, and wait for an hour to see how you feel. This helps determine the effects of a single dose. Now, you can add the desired dose to your dish, or multiply it when you are sharing it with friends.
5. Cooking at high temperatures
When you are cooking with cannabis, it is crucial to remember that cannabinoids present in it are sensitive to temperature. Therefore, it’s important to stick within the limits of the cooking temperatures. If you are thinking of experimenting with adding cannabis to a new recipe, it is better to stick to those recipes which have a lower cooking temperature.
Generally, to ensure that the THC and CBD present in the cannabis you chose to cook with does not get degraded, it is recommended to keep the cooking temperature at 375 Fahrenheit. When you are using a recipe from a reliable source, you do not have to worry about varying temperatures as the authors of the recipe should be aware of the ideal temperature for cooking cannabis.
Conclusion
Keeping these mistakes in mind will make cooking with cannabis a breeze. Edibles change the game when it comes to enjoying cannabis. Get started with your edible experimentation, and remember that practice makes perfect. So, try out new dishes often to enhance your cannabis cooking skills!
