Hydrolife Magazine April/May 2016 (USA Edition)

Since those early days, I have easily
made and sold more than 1 million
Ginger Extra Snap Cookies, Rum-Resin
Balls, Bud-der Tarts, Weedish Meatballs,
Spinakopita Puff Pastries, Nice Cream
Cones, Quiche Your Ass Goodnights and
so much more. I love to host marijuanatasting
salons in my home a few times
each year. I cannot stress how important
it is to know about serving size and
cannabis conversion when hosting such
parties. I want everybody to have a great
time without sleeping over or freaking
out. I have some great party tricks I will
share with you in a later column, but for
starters, I want to break down my rather
simple process, step by step. When it
comes to baking edibles, there are three
steps to nail:
• Making your shake flour
• Determining your serving sizes
• Converting your cannabis
These processes can be used for
almost any recipe. I always encourage
responsible edible creations that
can be enjoyed by the average person.
Advanced edible eaters can have two
servings. For me, the easiest method
of all for making edibles is by starting
with some shake flour.
MAKING SHAKE FLOUR
Shake flour, quite simply, is finely
ground, dried cannabis flowers and/or
leaves. To make your own, pulverize cannabis
flowers and/or leaves into a fine
flour using a blender or coffee grinder,
and then sift off any fibrous material.
Store in an airtight container in the
fridge until you're ready to use it on a
recipe-by-recipe basis.
CANNABIS CONVERSION
You need to convert dried cannabis
to make it active, meaning it gets you
high when you ingest it. Scientifically
speaking, you need to knock the carbon
molecule off the cannabis so it can
bind with your cannabinoid receptors.
Cannabis molecules cannot easily
bind to your receptors with the carbon
molecule intact. This is similar to a
key that won’t fit into a lock. After you
knock the carbon molecule off, the key
fits perfectly.
You can knock carbon molecules off
using heat, alcohols or fats. This is the
process of cannabis conversion taking
place. There are many different types of
fats you can use to convert cannabis for
edibles, including butter, coconut oil and
bacon fat. There are also many different
types of alcohol you can used to convert
cannabis for edibles, including rum,
vodka and black sambuca. Another way
to covert cannabis is using dry-cooking
techniques done in an oven or a slow
cooker, and some patience.
Once you have some understanding
of these three easy steps to baking
your own edibles, we can venture
into the wonderful world of edibles in
future issues.
SERVING SIZES & PORTION
CONTROL
The most important kitchen tool you
will need for creating edibles is a
scale. My serving guidelines, which
I believe offer the perfect dose for
the average person, is 0.5-0.75 grams
per serving. So, if your recipe says
serves 10, you will weigh up enough
shake flower for 10 servings only. This
equates to 5-7.5 grams, depending on
the quality of your shake/bud. Don’t
be a hero unless you like sleepovers.
Less is always more. A little goes a
long way. As my mama says, “You can
always go back for seconds.”
You can then add your weighed shake
to the fat, oil, alcohol or whatever you
are using for your cannabis conversion.
This helps avoids any confusion on how
much to eat, or how much pre-made
canna butter to add.
myhydrolife.com grow. heal. live. enjoy. 75