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Cannabis in Culinary Arts concerns the preparation and cooking of foods with the drug cannabis in herbal or resin form as an alternate way to experience the effects of the drug without smoking it. Commonly it is cooked into a cake, cookie, brownie, or other baked product to be distributed socially. There are many different names and slang terms for these recipes. Most are based on standard recipes for brownies, cakes or cookies. Often times, prefixes such as hash, cannabis, weed, pot, space, magic, adult, special, enhanced are added to the name of the food that they are prepared with: "hash cakes," "special brownies" etc.
Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), the active substance in cannabis, and other cannabinoids are hydrophobic oils, which are insoluble in water but soluble in lipids (oil/fat) and alcohol. Thus, using either one of these to extract THC from cannabis is required to have the cooked product be psychoactive.[1] Furthermore, during preparation, the cannabis or its extract must be sufficiently heated or dehydrated to cause decarboxylation of its most abundant cannabinoid, tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, into psychoactive THC.[2]
The oil-solubility of cannabis extracts has been known since ancient times, when Sanskrit recipes from India required that the cannabis (ganja) be sautéed in ghee before mixing it with other ingredients.[1][3] Making a tea by boiling cannabis in water is a highly inefficient way to extract cannabinoids, although if the cannabis is of good quality and has plenty of resin on the outside, a portion of resin can be softened by the heat and float out into the water.
Some authors claim that oral consumption of cannabis, when properly cooked, is a more efficient way to absorb cannabinoids than smoking it.[4]
Butter
"Cannabutter" or "marijuana butter" is a butter-based emulsion which has been infused with cannabinoids. This is achieved by heating the raw cannabis along with butter and allowing the cannabinoids to be extracted by the fat. The equipment necessary for the manufacture of cannabutter can be as simple as a sauce pan and spatula or as complicated as a double-boiler, or crock pot, cheese cloth or tea strainer and funnel.[5]
Liqueurs
Because cannabis resins are soluble in alcohol, an effective way of adding them into dishes is through cooking brandy or rum infused with cannabinoids.
Creme de Gras is a flavored liqueur made from cannabis.[6] It can be added to coffee and other beverages.
Hash cookie
Hash cookies, also known as space cookies, hash cakes or space cakes are relatively common in regions with liberal drug policies, including parts of Europe (particularly the Netherlands). They are bakery products made using one of the forms of cannabis, including hashish.
Hash cookies are essentially the same as marijuana cookies but are more potent. They can be seen in cake, ball, and brownie form as well. To make them, large amounts of hash (typically half a gram to as much as a gram a cookie) are baked into the product in careful steps, so that the user is able to achieve a high without smoking. Some users report that the high is different from smoking, it is usually more powerful and much longer lasting but more subtle. The high produced by hash products are generally associated with a feeling of lightness, commonly referred to as a "body high". The main benefits to preparing these cookies is that they do not cause the respiratory system harm that smoke does and can be used in many places where smoking is not convenient, as they can easily be brought to parties, cafes, and work. One is not usually able to tell the difference between regular baked goods and those containing drugs before consumption, but they tend to have a slight greenish tinge with marijuana, and they often emit a faint odor. A mild flavor can be detectable if sufficient quantities are used. Many resources for recipes, preparation, and dosage are available online, though they vary greatly in effectiveness and quality.
The writer Alice B. Toklas's inclusion of her friend Brion Gysin's recipe for "Haschich Fudge" in her 1954 literary memoir The Alice B. Toklas Cookbook caused a sensation at the time, and led to her name becoming associated with cannabis food with the use of the phrase "Alice B. Toklas brownies" for many years afterwards.
Psychoactive effects
Eating such a food can result in a similar psychoactive effect or "high" as smoking marijuana, although it may be delayed or mitigated due to slower absorption of the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) through the digestive tract. Some believe it imparts a smoother "high". However there are accounts of stronger, longer lasting highs resulting from eating cannabis.[citation needed] Whereas the effects from smoking cannabis are usually felt within a few minutes, it can take up to two hours to get high from ingesting it.
Several possible reasons causing a different high when eating cannabis can be:
- Absorbtion of a different ratio of cannabinoids, since easily metabolised cannabinoids will not reach the brain, or reach it in lower concentration.
- Slow plasma increase in THC means that receptors and pathways in the brain which are particularly likely to downregulate will before the cannabinoids reach a high plasma concentration.
- Different cannabinoids are released and/or created due to the pyrolysis of the plant material when smoking.
Contrary to smoking, where one can feel the high coming gradually; the way the THC is digested can result in a lighter high that can last for hours. Products containing cannabis are widely available in cannabis coffee shops in the Netherlands (and various European cities), where the consumption of marijuana is effectively legal. Such products have been known to cause the user to become psychologically affected for as long as 24 hours, especially in larger doses.
Cultural influence
The brownie was used in the 1968 film I Love You, Alice B. Toklas, in which a character portrayed by Peter Sellers becomes disillusioned with his mainstream life after falling in love with a free spirit, only to become just as disillusioned with the hippie subculture. Marijuana-spiked brownies are a key plot element.
It has featured as a plot device in numerous TV shows, including That '70s Show ("Garage Sale"), Grounded for Life ("Henry's Working for the Drug Squad"), Arrested Development ("Afternoon Delight"), Taxi, Laverne and Shirley, Family Guy, Desperate Housewives, The L Word, My Name is Earl, Swingtown and Frasier ("High Holidays"), as well as in movies such as Eurotrip, Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo and Grandma's Boy.
See also
Various cannabis foods on display in Amsterdam
Notes and references
- ^ a b Gottlieb, Adam (1993). Cooking with Cannabis: The Most Effective Methods of Preparing Food and Drink with Marijuana, Hashish, and Hash Oil. Ronin Publishing, p. 7. ISBN 0914171550.
- ^ "Does marijuana have to be heated to become psychoactive?"
- ^ Drake, Bill (2002). The Marijuana Food Handbook. Ronin Publishing, p. 18. ISBN 0914171992.
- ^ Gottlieb, Adam (1993). Cooking with Cannabis: The Most Effective Methods of Preparing Food and Drink with Marijuana, Hashish, and Hash Oil. Ronin Publishing, p. 8. ISBN 0914171550.
- ^ Pilcher, Tim. The Cannabis Cookbook. Running Press. ISBN 9780762430901.
- ^ Gottlieb, Adam (1993). Cooking with Cannabis: The Most Effective Methods of Preparing Food and Drink with Marijuana, Hashish, and Hash Oil. Ronin Publishing, p. 31. ISBN 0914171550.
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