Cannabis Cooking Comes of Age

Mary Lou Smart www.medicalcannabisart.com

Perhaps nowhere is the fuzzy line between medicinal benefit and recreational usage so apparent as in whole-plant cooking.

No matter if you’re looking for relief, pleasure or an entertaining read, cannabis cook-books offer something for everyone.

Those seeking medical benefit from cannabis learn early on that cooked products play an important role.

A patient wanting to sleep through the night often chooses an edible for at least four to six hours of relief. Smoking is well loved for bringing immediate results; however, its effects don’t last as long as other delivery methods. If the aim is discretion, avoid cannabis smoke, which is a dead giveaway. Cookies and can-dies, on the other hand, can be carried around and ingested without raising attention.

Titration is the medical term for gradually finding optimum dosage. In cannabis cir-cles, where needs vary and every strain is unique, titration might or might not be for medical reasons. Many searching for the optimum buzz simply want to kick back and relax.

Prior to the rebirth of medical cannabis, cooking literature was a hodgepodge. In the preface to his 1973 book, The Art and Science of Cooking with Cannabis, author Adam Gottlieb revealed that his inspiration was the lack of thought going into typical cannabis recipes that called for ½ cup of grass to be tossed into each and every con-coction without regard to the science of cooking or the importance of taste.

He complained that the recipes of his contemporaries were a foolish waste of precious cannabis, most of it destined to end up in the “city sewer system” after only partial digestion alongside too many other ingredients. Meals he considered foolish included marijuana spaghetti and hashish stroganoff.

Still on the market and helpful to beginners, the slim paperback offers a wide assortment of tidbits such as the importance of protecting the THC; recipes, such as Indian bhang and ghee, touching on the global scope of cannabis; soothing teas for the hash-parched throat; and a look at digestion and the metabolism of cooked cannabis. Alas, the no-frills, barebones basic con-tains no pretty pictures.

During the 2011 Treating Yourself EXPO, foot traffic was strong at Green Candy Press’s booth. Known for grow books, and in par-ticular The Cannabis Grow Bible, the publisher is putting more emphasis on cookbooks these days.

“Patients want to know how to cook and do other things besides smoke it,” said Heather Parry, editor. “No matter what the medical condition is, everyone wants to learn about the different extraction methods, and cooking is useful.”