Cooking with cannabis has started to gain popularity with both medical cannabis users and recreational users. Anyone who enjoys preparing a cannabis product at home has certainly had the experience of having products made that may not have gone to their liking. Making hemp products involves a lot of hurdles, especially if you are working with CBD and other hemp substances for the first time. When making hemp butter, hemp oils, and other hemp products, there are a few specific practices that you should avoid when cooking with hemp. In this article, you'll learn what the main mistakes people make when cooking with cannabis are and how to avoid them.

What are cannabis products?

Hemp products have become very popular. It is a way of using cannabis in which hemp is used as an ingredient in a recipe. The most common types of hemp products are brownies, gummies, cookies, hemp butters, oils and more.

The 9 most common mistakes to avoid when cooking with cannabis

Even though cooking with cannabis isn't difficult, mistakes can happen. While sometimes unexpected circumstances can make the result inedible, there are some mistakes you can avoid. Below are the most common ones:

Mistake #1: Forgetting to decarboxylate cannabis

The most common mistake beginners make when cooking with cannabis is forgetting to decarboxylate it. Decarboxylation is usually the first step in most cannabis recipes.

Before you can do anything else in a recipe, you need to decarb the cannabis first. This is the process by whichcannabinoids are activated by heating . If you were to use raw cannabis, the final product would be quite poor quality.

Decarboxylation is very simple, just preheat the oven to 110-120 °C and place the crushed cannabis sticks on a baking tray. Stir the sticks every 15 minutes to prevent them from burning. After an hour, the cannabinoids in the cannabis should be activated.

Mistake No. 2: Excessive crushing of cannabis

One mistake to avoid when cooking with cannabis is over-crushing the plant material, especially when making cannabutter or extracting cannabis oil. This can happen especially when the buds are crushed in a coffee grinder or food processor. The chlorophyll in the oil gives it a vegetal taste and makes the oil greener. To avoid this, use a hand grinder to achieve a coarser consistency. Ideally, the consistency should be similar to coarse salt.

Mistake No. 3: Cooking at an extremely high temperature

Temperature is important when cooking with any ingredient to ensure the final product is properly cooked. Cannabinoids are sensitive and too high a temperature can burn them. A lower temperature is recommended for best results. Do not expose cannabis to temperatures above 190°C. Even when using cannabis butter or oil, make sure to use the correct temperature. Do not use hemp oil for frying or sautéing.

Mistake 4: Insufficient mixing

Another mistake when cooking with cannabis is not thoroughly mixing the batter you add it to. This is because if you don't stir it enough, you may end up with some products that are very strong and others that are not strong at all. To avoid this mistake, always mix the dough thoroughly. This will ensure that all the cannabinoids are evenly distributed in the dough.

Mistake No. 5: Using too much cannabis

When cooking with cannabis, you should never use too large an amount. This is because too much cannabis does not give the best results. A good ratio is 1:1. This means one cup of crushed hemp sticks to one cup of oil. One cup of crushed hemp sticks equals approximately 7 grams. Follow the "less is sometimes more" principle. Correct dosage is difficult. If you are a beginner, start with smaller doses.

Mistake No. 6: Insufficient straining

Another common mistake beginners make when cooking with cannabis is forgetting to strain the buds. You can spend hours cooking the best cannabutter but end up ruining it by not straining it properly. The ideal filter to help you separate the oil from the crushed plant is a cheese cloth. Just pour the cooled cannabutter into it and wait for it to strain itself. Don't squeeze it or squeeze it to get the most out of it, just wait. If you don't want the excess plant residue to remain in the oil, it is advisable to proceed with caution.

Mistake No. 7: Not adding water to cannabutter or cannabis oil

It is important to add water to your cannabutter because if you don't add water, the cannabutter or cannabis oil will easily burn and the whole batch will be ruined. Make sure you add the same amount of water as the amount of oil, as the water will only evaporate during cooking. Keep a close eye on the pot when making hemp butter. If you notice that the water is evaporating or that the butter has reached a temperature of 120°C, add more water. The water will also wash out some of the unwanted green colour and your hemp butter will not taste grassy.

Mistake No. 8: Adding too much or not enough hemp oil

It's up to you how much oil you use. You can do a test beforehand to help you decide how strong you want the final product to be. Add half or a quarter teaspoon of oil to your drink or food, let it sit for an hour after consuming it, and watch how you feel. This will help you determine its strength so you can decide how much oil is needed for a given dish.

Mistake No. 9: Too large a dose

The dosage is just as important as the cooking itself. The biggest rookie mistake people make when using cannabis products is eating too much. Wait at least 2 hours for cannabis edibles to take effect. To get the most out of homemade edibles, follow the golden rule: sometimes less is more.

It takes a lot of patience and practice to make cannabis products

Making hemp products is not as easy as it may seem. It is easy to make a number of mistakes. When preparing, keep the above points in mind and you will quickly master the art of preparing cannabis food. Remember that, as with everything else, the key to perfection is patience and practice.

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