Beyond Brownies: The Dos and Don’ts of Cooking with Cannabis


Cannabis edibles are the latest hot trend sweeping the United States, even the world. Health conscious folks and stoners alike are adding marijuana to their food and beverages either to get “high” or to benefit from its many, many medicinal properties. Many are doing it for both reasons. However, although easy if you know how, there is more to making edibles than your average chocolate brownie.

In days of old, weed edibles were almost exclusively brownies and gummies. Now, you find marijuana-infused dishes of all shapes, sizes, and flavors, from salads to starters, soups, desserts, main courses, beverages, even water. If you want to try your hand at making marijuana edibles, then go ahead and order recreational weed delivery. Just remember these dos and don’ts before you start:

Dos of Making Pot Edibles

  • DO make yourself a few batches of “cannabutter.” Doing so will enable you to extract the psychoactive good stuff, namely tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, from marijuana and infuse it with a fat base for cooking. Most people infuse THC with butter, but any oil or fat will work. Butter is best since you can portion it better, add it to your baking, and use it in any type of cooking.
  • DO spend some time researching before you start. A little reading can mean the difference between a successful day spent in the kitchen or a total waste of time. There is an abundance of beginner’s guides online to teach you about cooking with marijuana. Use them. Although infusing dishes with weed is not overly difficult, it can be confusing, even overwhelming, if you do not know the basics.
  • DO be cautious and start small. Try your hand at some of the easiest recipes before taking on majorly complicated ones. Brownies are easy to make and there are plenty of excellent recipes to practice your skills. Once you master a few basic edibles, you can increase dosages and experiment with other dishes at will. If you make a mistake and waste a batch, rather it is cheaper than pricey.
  • DO graduate yourself from the easy, brownie-type recipes once you get the hang of cooking with weed. It is important to get creative and try new dishes if you want to include marijuana in your diet long-term and stay motivated to continue cooking with it. There are many gourmet cookbooks for marijuana lovers specifically. Go on. Give yourself and your friends several pot feasts.
  • DO take your time. It is essential that you never rush a marijuana recipe. Rushing a pot extraction, such as cannabutter, can have disastrous consequences. It will likely lose both potency and effectiveness if you do not take the time necessary to do it properly the first time, and it will cost you money in buying more buds to start again. Practice patience and your skills will quickly improve.
  • DO invest in quality marijuana. Cannabis comes in different strains of varying grade and potency. Quality weed will make your recipes the best they can possibly be, but low-grade stuff can make them a waste of time and money. Additionally, weed, even once strained, has a certain taste. The quality will ultimately affect the flavor of the food.
  • DO know where the weed you use comes from, since it may not be organic and may contain an array of harmful substances if you do not. Like any other item on your ingredients list, marijuana can contain pathogens, pesticides, heavy metals, residual solvents, and other contaminants. Cooking may destroy some of them, but you do not want any nasty chemicals. Buy lab-tested weed only.

Don’ts of Making Weed Edibles

  • DO NOT just grind your buds and toss them into your batter. Not only will it make your dishes taste horrible, but it also will sit between your teeth noticeably for days on end. It is also ineffective this way as a method of getting “high.” To convert THCA into THC, you first need to put it through the decarboxylation process, which means infusing it with heat, such as making cannabutter.
  • DO NOT grind your buds too finely. You want to extract the trichomes on the buds, which is where all the cannabinoids are, including THC. They are not inside the buds, but on the outside. Additionally, over-ground buds will pass through your strainer or cheesecloth, ending up in your food and making giving it that nasty plant taste. You really do not want this to happen.
  • DO NOT take silly, even dangerous, advice about making cannabis oil from your friends. Rather spend time doing your homework, get information from reliable sources, and do it the correct way. If you choose to extract cannabis for infusions at home, then know that it can be very hazardous if done incorrectly. Stories abound of people blowing themselves up across the United States.
  • DO NOT go too heavy with the dosages. Edibles have different effects to smoking weed. It is much more intense and much longer lasting. Even if you think yourself immune to a THC overdose, consider yourself warned. Start slowly and begin with low doses first. As you get used to it, you can gradually increase the dose. Additionally, wait at least two hours for effects to kick.
  • DO NOT use excessive heat. Too hot a temperature can destroy the active components in marijuana, which means all the cannabinoids, including THC. When infusing cannabutter, oil, or ghee, never allow it to boil. Stick to simmering and you will be safe. It is better to cook your dishes on the lowest heat setting possible for longer. High heat will cause you to just waste time, stash, and money.

Order Cannabis Delivery Los Angeles

In California, anyone 21-years or older can get recreational weed delivery direct to their doorstep, even in jurisdictions that ban retail pot outlets. It is better to invest in high-quality marijuana for cooking than low-grade potentially loaded with dangerous chemicals and too little THC. Always buy buds that come with a laboratory-tested guarantee. This is the only way to guarantee their safety.