Well being a chef this caught my eye. It is funny, b/c I was thinking about new edibles to take to my patients. These guys seem like they are on the right path

Dude, they're putting pot in more than brownies

DENVER — Any slacker living over his parents' garage can make pot brownies. Gourmet chefs are taking the art of cooking with marijuana to a higher level.
In Denver, a new medical-marijuana shop called Ganja Gourmet serves cannabis-infused specialties such as pizza, hummus and lasagna. Across town in the Mile-High City, a Caribbean restaurant plans to offer classes on how to make multi-course meals with pot in every dish. And in Southern California, a low-budget TV show called "Cannabis Planet" has won fans with a cooking segment showing viewers how to use weed in teriyaki chicken, shrimp capellini and steak sandwiches.
The evolution of pot cooking was perhaps inevitable given the explosion of medical marijuana around the country in recent years. Many health-conscious patients would rather eat the drug than smoke it. And they would prefer to eat something other than sugary treats.
"When I started using marijuana, I was eating a brownie every day. I gained a ton of weight," said Michael DeLao, a former hotel chef who hosts the "Cannabis Planet" cooking segments on Los Angeles' KJLA. "Then I learned how to really cook with marijuana, and once more people learn about all the possibilities, we're going to see a lot more people wanting this in their food."
Ganja Gourmet's menu includes lasagna ("LaGanja"), "Panama Red Pizza" and an olive tapenade called "ganjanade," along with a sweets such as cheesecake, muffins and brownies. Employees wear tie-dyed T-shirts that proclaim, "Our food is so great, you need a license to eat it!!!"
All patrons at the Ganja Gourmet must show a medical marijuana card that proves they have a doctor's permission to use pot for some kind of malady. The place opened last week, and so far, 90 percent of its business has been takeout.
The food isn't cheap. A whole pizza sells for $89, and a dozen sweet treats called Almond Horns cost $120.
"The food is really good," said Jamie Hillyer, a 41-year-old medical marijuana patient who paid $12 for a serving of vegetable LaGanja. Hillyer said that he can't taste the weed in the food and that it gives him a "more mellow" buzz than smoking pot.
Chefs are able to use marijuana in cooking because its key ingredient, the mind-altering drug THC, is fat-soluble, meaning it binds with oils or fats.
Marijuana chefs put leaves or buds in a food processor and grind the marijuana into green flour. Then they add the flour to oil or butter, cook it slowly for up to a couple of days while the THC binds to the fat, and strain out the green flakes.
The result is "cannabutter," or butter that makes a diner high. Chefs say 2 teaspoons of cannabutter typically contain the amount of THC in an ounce of weed.
The pot-infused oils and butters have a greenish tint and an earthy taste, but chefs say the flavor can easily be masked with garlic or other herbs and spices.
Denver's 8 Rivers Modern Caribbean restaurant does not serve pot-infused food, but its husband-and-wife owners, Scott Durran and Wanda James, plan to offer cooking-with-marijuana classes starting next month. They also own a medical marijuana dispensary, which they hope will eventually offer take-home soups and roasted chicken.
Marijuana chefs say it takes 20 minutes to two hours for the pot-laced food to produce a high. The biggest problem, they say, is that users often eat too much, thinking the food isn't working. While you can't exactly overdose on marijuana food, people who eat too much may feel more sluggish or disoriented than they would like.
So at Ganja Gourmet, customers are allowed to eat only one menu item every 45 minutes.
(The drug takes so long to start working that there's little chance of a customer developing a case of the munchies and getting hungrier the more he ate.)
Ganja Gourmet owner Scott Horowitz tried to get liability insurance of the sort bars take out to protect themselves against damage caused by intoxicated patrons. But he said he couldn't any insurers selling similar coverage for pot shops.
Ganja Gourmet does offer customers a ride home if they need one. "If someone leaves my place wasted, I'm liable," Horowitz said.
Horowitz's liability worry may be shortlived. Denver's City Council is considering an ordinance banning dispensaries from allowing marijuana to be smoked or eaten on site.
On the Net:
Cannabis Planet: https://cannabisplanet.tv
Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
By KRISTEN WYATT (AP)

[Skip]

Some misinformation here:

Chefs say 2 teaspoons of cannabutter typically contain the amount of THC in an ounce of weed.

If that were so, then brownies made with a stick or two of butter would probably be equivalent to several pounds of pot. Nobody makes cannabutter that strong.

Also you don't want to grind the weed down. You want to separate out the plant matter from the tricomes as much as possible. Far better to use polm, hash, bubble hash or whatever, but not the entire plant with leaf matter. The leaves add a bad taste to most things you cook. Sure you can try to cover it up, but it you can always taste the ganja.

While you can't exactly overdose on marijuana food, people who eat too much may feel more sluggish or disoriented than they would like.

That's an understatement about overdosing on cannafoods. Yes, you're sluggish & disoriented. You're also immobilized, unable to do anything for as long as 24 hrs, and psychologically it can result in paranoia (esp. if you've never od'd before.). It can be pretty serious. And the way to help alleviate the symptoms is a massive dose of Vitamins B complex and C. That's wise that they're limiting the amount people can eat over a period of time. I can see why they'd need to offer a ride home to their customers...

[Open Eyes]

From what i understand the THC and other cannabinoids start to degrade around the 29 degree Celsius mark. Correct me if i am wrong.

Why bake anything with THC in it for prolonged periods of time when it degrades?

[ourcee]

I've had herb in a jar in a glove compartment that was probably around 84f (29c) and it definitely didnt degrade. I could see it degrading after weeks or months of being in constant 80 degree weather maybe...

[Skip]

I'm thinking once the THC binds with oil, it won't degrade much under heat. I thought it was direct sunlight that degraded THC.

Yes, the corrupt are going to regulate the fucked up.

Who cares?

I do what I want.

[Rustylions]

Its great to hear of other people involved in transforming cannabis from a drug to a condiment.

Still working on cannabis infused hempseed oil seared and lightly deep fried tempura scallops with salmon roe and ponzi sauce. Dessert is cannabis green tea ice cream over coconut cannabutter sticky rice.

If legalisation ever makes it to my backwater country I'm standing in the front yard with an apron and a bong for the world to see.

RL

[slappyjack]

2oz in one pound of butter is plenty for 99% of the people out there.

I'm kind of mad though, because my body doesn't digest fat very well and I don't get much effect from cannabutter.

[Pistil_Party09]

they're right about eating too much...my friend makes ganja caramel all the time and 1 or 2 never did anything for me but i ate 6 one day and could barely talk or stand up even.
wasnt traumatic at all though.....i had no plans so it was quite entertaining....

[nowonknows]

Originally Posted by Skip

Some misinformation here:

If that were so, then brownies made with a stick or two of butter would probably be equivalent to several pounds of pot. Nobody makes cannabutter that strong.

The stronger you make it the less you use, if you are cooking a shit load as this guy would be doing it would be easier and make more sence to do it this way, less time spent making butter.

Also you don't want to grind the weed down. You want to separate out the plant matter from the tricomes as much as possible.

try it, anything I plan on using for cooking is ground into flour first.

The leaves add a bad taste to most things you cook. Sure you can try to cover it up, but it you can always taste the ganja.

yet again, try making flour. I cook more so just with the flour instead of making butter. Before I started grinding it into a flour, I just chopped it up and cooked with it, doing this the flavour is over powering, grinding it into a flour and then mixing with dry ingredients doesn't have this effect.