Whether you’re a seasoned pro or a newbie in the kitchen, cooking with cannabis is an exciting way to create unique and potent dishes. However, as with any cooking, there are some mistakes that you should avoid to create a successful dish. In this blog post, we’ll share some of the most common mistakes people make when cooking with cannabis, so you can avoid them in your kitchen adventures. Read on to learn more!
Not Decarbing Cannabis
The first biggest mistake that many people make when cooking with cannabis is just tossing freshly cut cannabis into a dish. Unfortunately, that isn’t the way to do it and you don’t receive any benefits from the CBD or THC that way. What you need to do is heat the cannabis for a certain amount of time, since this changes the raw cannabinoids into active compounds. The easiest way to do this is in the oven, but you can research to find out if there are better ways.
Grinding Cannabis Too Much
Are you having an unpleasant flavor that is almost bitter or grassy after cooking your edibles? This could be caused by grinding your cannabis way too much, which is a common mistake that people make. While it is true that you should get a cannabis grinder to grind cannabis into powder when you are decarbing, you shouldn’t do this after decarbing. To prevent over-grinding, you should use a regular grinder, such as the one you would use when rolling a joint.
Cooking Too Hot
Another very common mistake that many people who are new to using cannabis whilst cooking make is cooking way too hot. Why is this a mistake? Because when cannabis is cooked, or burned, at too high temperatures, the THC, as well as terpenes, degrade, which not only leads to a loss of flavor but also a loss of benefits and effects. It’s far better to cook with cannabis at lower temperatures. There are many guides online that show the exact temperatures at which various cannabinoids degrade.
Not Straining Oil
Something that many beginners forget to do when cooking with cannabis is to strain the oil or to strain the oil improperly. The primary reason why you should do this is that you don’t want bits of flowers to make their way into your oil. The best way to strain cannabis oil is by using a cheesecloth since it allows oil to pass through and prevents the harder materials from doing so.
Using Fat-Free Food
There is a craze at the moment to be healthy, and part of that craze is eating fat-free food. Unfortunately, using fat-free food when cooking with cannabis isn’t the best idea. For some reason, cannabis doesn’t bind very well to fat-free foods and binds much better to fat. Many people have reported that eating edibles that have been made with fat-free ingredients leaves them with a headache, as well as having a very short duration of effects.
Overbuying
One mistake that many people make, in general when it relates to cooking, but even more so when it relates to cooking with cannabis, is buying way too many ingredients. The primary reason for this is most likely because a lot of people don’t know the serving sizes, how much cannabis to be used, or how much food will be made from the ingredients.
Not Knowing How Much Cannabis to Use
As mentioned above, a common mistake that you should avoid is not knowing how much cannabis to use. You need to accurately measure how much cannabis you will need so that you can accurately determine the potency. The last thing you want is to have a mellow high, only to be met with paranoia and anxiety due to the potency being way too high. You also need to measure serving sizes so you can calculate the amount of cannabis to use.
Not Using Spices Properly
Finally, there is no reason to be shy with spices and herbs when cooking with cannabis. Many people don’t like the overpowering taste of cannabis shining through the taste of everything else. To mitigate this, you should experiment to find out the right balance of spices. You don’t want the taste of the spices to be too strong, or too weak.
