Cooking and Extractions

This may seem like a curious combination for a page but it makes perfect sense, in a functional perspective.  Solvent extractions of hydrophobic (hydro: water; phobic: hating) materials is a common practice in laboratories and manufacturing facilities worldwide.  There is essentially no difference, except for solvent toxicity issues, between them. 

In cooking with cannabis, there are some general rules and considerations to keep in mind for any type of dish being prepared.  Many of these considerations are also in play with general essential oil extractions.  These are a few, in a nutshell:

• Grind the cannabis to a fine powder before extracting.
• Use a solvent that is compatible with the recipe being made.  Examples are margarine, butter, alcohols, fats, etc.  High water content is to be avoided.
• Keep temperature minimized whenever possible (or minimize the time at high temperature).
• Get temperature above 115F.  This is more than adequate for extracting the THC.
• Extract for approximately 30 minutes, but not above 150F (115-150F).
•   Strain the vegetable matter from the extracting medium through several layers of cheesecloth, wring it all out good.  The solvent is the stuff you want.
• If possible, add the extracted THC to a dish already cooked or baked.  Temperature is not a friend to extracted botanical materials, in general.
• One of my personal favorites is to put butter with THC on popcorn for a nice long movie.  I call it potcorn.  I have put people to sleep during a Led Zeppelin concert with it, so I know it can kick ass!!

Future additions to this page will explore specific recipes, types of foods, specific strains for specific dishes etc.  Being an ex-chef, I have a general aversion to preparing a dish with the expectation that it will taste bad and so therefore my endeavors are directed towards masking the bad taste not so noticeable.  That isn't culinary expertise.  If you have any personal favorites, please send them in.  I would like to get a repositiory of some really good, diverse recipes.  Any submissions will whatever acknowledgements the submitter approves.  Hope to see you all visit here often and Bon Apetit!