SashaHashish

a learn-as-you-go guide to elevation by implementation

[sashahashish]

cannabanana bread with BHO butter

Hello readers,

I am back again with another post! After experimenting with chocolate chip cookies, we decided to apply the information we learned from the different and improved processes to another recipe. My boyfriend had done some more research on the decarbing and butter preparations and we have purchased some new equipment to make the processes concerning the butter more precise in ways that really had called for refinement over our past experimentation. For example, we bought a laser thermometer to get exact temperature readings when it really mattered, such as during the BHO decarb process. We have a very old oven, so we know that it does not disperse heat evenly or steadily. The recipe that he really wanted to eat was banana bread. I am going to include the recipe.

Banana Bread

Yields 1 loaf

3/4      cup granulated sugar

8      tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

2      large eggs

4      ripe bananas

1      tablespoon milk

1      teaspoon vanilla extract

1      teaspoon ground cinnamon

2      cups all-purpose flour

1      teaspoon baking powder

1      teaspoon baking soda

1      teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan

Cream the sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a small bowl, mash the bananas with a fork. Mix in the milk and cinnamon. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Add the banana mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until combined. Add dry ingredients, mixing just until flour disappears.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 1 hour to 1 hour 10 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.

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The first step to using BHO butter in this recipe was to again clarify the butter. Remember that 1 stick of butter does not equal 1 stick of clarified butter, so you will need to clarify about 1 & 1/3 sticks to yield 1 stick of clarified.

The next step was to decarb the BHO. After our findings with the chocolate chip cookies revealed that the BHO/stick ratio needed increasing, we decided that in this recipe, which also calls for 1 stick of butter, we would see what kind of results come from doubling the BHO and using 2 grams. The method we used to decarb is as follows:

Bring the clarified butter to 250*F (or as consistently close to 250 as possible). Because of our oven, we had to play with it to find the right temp.

  (Clarified butter + 2 grams BHO + lecithin. The lecithin had just been added, but will dissolve)

Both grams of BHO were added directly into the liquid clarified butter and also 1 teaspoon of lecithin. Upon further research in this process, we discovered that the lecithin should be added in a ratio that is consistent with 1-3 teaspoons per 1 cup of butter/oil. Also, a couple experienced cannabis chefs had provided us with the same method for decarbing the BHO directly in the butter. As a rule of thumb when decarbing marijuana in any form (flowers, BHO etc...), 27 minutes at 250*F will complete the decarboxylization process, converting all THC-A into the active THC. The chefs told us this process would occur even when carried out while mixed in with the clarified butter at 250*F. We are experimental so we took their advice. This process was done on our stove top in a small saucepan. My boyfriend used the laser thermometer several times throughout the 27 minutes to maintain 250*F and adjust the stove settings, if necessary. Once 27 minutes was up, he re-measured the butter in a liquid measuring cup to be sure he still had 1 cup. He then mixed it in a ramekin and refrigerated it. As it was solidifying in the fridge he mixed it a couple times until it was too solid to whisk. When it became solid, he put it in the freezer overnight.

  (After freezing overnight)

In the morning, he took it out of the freezer and brought it to room temp on the countertop and prepared the banana bread recipe using the room temperature butter.

Results-

After the loaf was done baking, it cooled and he sliced 1/10 of the loaf to eat. He felt the first effects after 30 minutes and the peak was reached at the one hour mark. The peak lasted for 2 hours, this means it was its strongest and did not waver in strength over a 2 hour period. After that, there was a 3 hour period that was still strong, but wasn’t as mind-altering as the first 2 hours of the effects. He described the 3 hour period as “perfect for getting off the couch and finding something to do”.  Consider it this way: if the 2 hour period is 100%, the following 3 hour period is 85%, still enjoyable and desirable and definitely still high. The final stage lasts about 2.5-3 hours and is a very mild, gentle decline to 0%. This final stage would make for a great time to take a weed nap or head to bed for the night. These are the effects from a person who is a 7.5-8 on my scale. He reports that he is very satisfied and these are by far the best edibles we have made yet. We are interested in finding a better banana bread recipe to use, but it is by no means unsatisfactory. The butter is twice as strong and he ate more of it at once by cutting a 1/10 loaf piece, but 1/10 loaf = 3 cookies x twice the BHO = 6 cookies. He said he would rather eat 1/10 loaf of banana bread than 6 of the 1g BHO/batch chocolate chip cookies.

ZE END!  

[sashahashish]

Update on Part 2- Findings

Greetings-

After a little holiday break we are back to share our findings with respect to our last time cooking. We had given batches of cookies to our family members as gifts and wanted to give them enough time to experiment and try them out a few times before posting a definitive recap.

As a reminder, we had prepared the butter two different ways and used both methods to make the same recipe yielding the same number of cookies. Each person was given 30 chocolate chip cookies. Unfortunately, after all our cookies were delivered to one recipient, they were attacked by evil forest creatures who felt very happy for  a very long time. We then had to reallocate the goods among each person. Originally, one person had a 3 hour sedative batch (BATCH A), and 3 people had each been given a 1 hour batch (BATCH B). The report on BATCH A will be unaffected by the breach, but the findings from the B BATCHES may not reflect the true results from only consuming BATCH B  since two of the B BATCHES were  compromised, and we therefore had to spread some of BATCH A  among the three bags of BATCH B to even them out in quantity. This will impact our findings because the cookies were all the same chocolate chip recipe and we therefore could not differentiate whether the BATCH B recipients  were reporting on BATCH B cookies or BATCH A cookies.

Person One (Batch A)

Scale= Level 1

This person ate one cookie at night and really enjoyed the outcome. This person had requested that the cookies have sedative qualities and reported that the cookie before bed made him feel tired and relaxed. He felt less muscle pain. He expressed satisfaction that when he fell ill due to unrelated causes, the cookies made him more comfortable when dealing with the symptoms of his illness which included organ pain due to chronic  coughing. He also mentioned that early on, because he felt great eating one cookie, he tried eating a second cookie the next time.  He told us that he did not enjoy his experience after eating two cookies and did not do it again. He said he felt too stoned and the mind altering effects were excessive to the point of discomfort. He also reported an impact on his vision. The speed the cookies impacted him each time was approximately 45 minutes. We have reason to believe, and hopefully research why in the future, that the speed of impact may vary person by person based on dietary choices and metabolic rate (although these are just hypotheses).

Person Two ((and his wife)) (Batch B w/ some Batch  A)

Scale= Level 4, (wife= level 1)

This person has a more extensive past medicating with marijuana and therefore does not find himself in states of discomfort easily when medicating in different ways with different but reasonable quantities. His first time eating the cookies, he reported that he ate one, didn’t feel anything after an hour, ate a second one, again didn’t feel much after another hour and then ate a third and felt heavily but comfortably high after an additional 30 minutes. His wife ate one cookie and it was reported that she liked how that made her feel. They continued to eat at this rate and be satisfied.

Person Three (Batch B w/ some Batch A)

Scale= Level 3

This person is older and has an extensive past medicating with marijuana (aka 70s hippie) although many years have passed since then and he began medicating again *very* rarely over the last year. This person, although he medicates very infrequently these days, his past experience with marijuana use has allowed him to feel comfortable with the intensity of edibles.This person ate one cookie the first time, but wished he had eaten two. The second time, he ate two cookies. The third time, he upped his dose to three cookies and reported feeling the most satisfied from three cookies. He said they took about 50 minutes- one hour to take effect and he felt the general euphoric edible happiness. He felt they are perfect for the nightly wind down period of watching TV and relaxing.

We have learned through these findings that the 1 gram BHO/1 batch (30 cookies) is not enough unless you are a level 1 or 2, or you don’t mind to consume many cookies. My personal feelings about that are that one doesn’t eat medicated cookies because they want cookies, they eat medicated cookies to feel high, so the amount of BHO/stick does need to be increased when people of average to high tolerance are going to be eating them, so that they don’t have to eat 3 cookies.

[sashahashish]

cookies with BHO pt. 2

Hey guys--

After the last post, I left off hoping to improve three things:

1) absorption by the body to feel the effects of the THC quicker than 1 hour to an hour and fifteen minutes;

2) overall strength; and

3) duration

I came across this cooking with cannabis internet personality BadKat. Through watching her videos and reading her blog entries, I discovered that there is a key ingredient that can be added to the butter, called lecithin (popularly soy lecithin). Lecithin is a nutrient that aids  overall cell function and is used commonly for memory improvement. According to Vanderbilt.edu, "Lecithin, a lipid material composed of choline and inositol, is found in all living cells as a major component of cell membranes, which regulate the nutrients entering and exiting the cell."  I would love to lead an entire lecture on lecithin, but I just don't think I can right now. I highly suggest you read more on it though. It will aid in our quest to improve speed of  absorption and strength by improving our bodies' ability to fully utilize the THC we are consuming .. which is GOOOOOD :) We found it at Whole Foods for a reasonable price:

Another aspect we added to the process is to decarboxylate the BHO. We knew that was an integral part when working with flowers, but questioned whether or not BHO had already undergone that process. There is a comprehensive explanation of the purpose behind decarboxylation below, along with instructions. If you are producing your own BHO, it's recommended to decarb in flower state before processing into BHO.

The next valuable tip I learned was to clarify the butter. There is about a tablespoon's worth of milk solids and water in each stick of commercial butter. When you clarify butter, you take out the 1/8 of the stick that is not absorbing THC, as it does not have any fatty properties, which if you clarify enough butter, you can just replace that tablespoon with more clarified butter when measuring it out for your recipe (which you will now need to do, since you are reducing the amount of butter from 1 stick to 7 tablespoons). 

>>The only way to truly impact the strength of the cookies, to the degree that a person with a tolerance level 5 could eat fewer than 4-5 to get high, would be to increase the amount of BHO/stick. We will report on that another time. The improvements listed above and explained below have improved the speed of reaching the high and duration, but do not necessarily mean one will have a stronger high, just a better one :)<<

HOW TO DECARBOXYLATE

In order to fully activate the cannabinoids in your material to achieve the same potency as smoking/vaping, one must decarboxylate the material first.  Decarboxylization (decarbing) is the process the material must undergo in order to turn the dormant THC-A into its active cousin THC (you do this all the time when smoking it, by sparking up).  Decarbing is achieved by heating the material enough to achieve this conversion while keeping the temperature low enough to avoid THC vaporization.  We put 3 grams of BHO in 3 separate ramekins and wrapped them in tin foil until it was airtight.  We then placed them in an oven preheated to 245*F. We left them in there for 20 minutes. When we pulled them out, we allowed them to cool to the touch before uncovering the aluminum. This is an important step because if you open it early you'll lose any THC, which is potentially initially in gas form.  Another way to decarb BHO would be to double boil it (using Canola Oil in the place of water due to canola oil's higher boiling temp).  The advantages to double boiling are that you can see the process in action. As the BHO heats up, it will begin to bubble, releasing CO2. Once the bubbles are completely gone, the decarb process is complete. We will update you when we use this method.  The chart below is a brief (and perhaps outdated;) ) guide to THC decarboxyilization. If you decarb for too long after the process is complete, you run the risk of degrading your THC, rendering it less potent, as shown on the chart below. The most common methods we have found online were to decarb at 250*F for 20 minutes or 220*F for 45-55 minutes, no matter if you are using the oven or double boiling approach.

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HOW TO CLARIFY BUTTER

If you need 1 stick of butter for your recipe, you will need to clarify about 1 1/4 stick. I was making a full batch and a half (requiring 3 sticks) so I did 4 sticks. Place the butter in a heavy saucepan and melt over low heat. Without disrupting it, after about 10 minutes on low, there will be a top layer of milk solids. Skim as much of it off as you can with a spoon, and discard. Then, carefully and slowly start pouring the butterfat into a dish. When there's a little left in the saucepan (about 20% of it), filter that through a coffee filter. There will also be a bottom layer on the saucepan. Do not attempt to scrape any of that out, it is also a waste and should not even be filtered. Voila! Clarified butter.

Now without that milk solid and water, 1/2 cup butter (1 stick) will be comprised of more bioavailable substance. This will allow the BHO to be better absorbed by the butter and make the cookies better. While the clarified butter was still in liquid state, and after the decarbed BHO cooled, I added a tablespoon of lecithin to each decarbed BHO ramekin poured 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter over each one. I then stirred them VERY well before covering them completely airtight again with aluminum foil. I put them back in the oven at 220*F for 1 hour. After 1 hour, we pulled them out and brought them to room temp, stirred multiple times and froze them for about 14 hours. It is recommended that you freeze it anywhere from 6-24 hours.

(^^right outta the freezer^^)

I brought them back up to room temperature and then put 2 out of the 3 ramekins back in for another hour at 220*F, and left one for 3 hours at 220*F. The one that cooked for 3 hours was cooked that way to reach a more sedative body high, as referenced in my previous post. The following images are of the 3 hour batch 1) immediately out of the oven after 3 hours and 2) after refrigerating and softening. Note that this butter is much darker than the 1 hour batch.

After that, I let it come naturally down in temp on the counter, refrigerated it for about 20 minutes before it was at room temp and I could begin mixing it with the other ingredients in the Nestle Toll House Mini Morsels Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe (see pt. 1 for recipe).

CONCLUSION

Again, I only ate one of these cookies this time under better conditions. The cookie kicked in after about 50 minutes which was an impressive improvement in the speed category. Also, the time was about 3-5 minutes in between when I started experiencing any high to when I felt completely at my peak. There wasn’t really any slow build up. I had a nice high that lasted about 2-2.5 hours, including the descent. I was in a completely comfortable, non-vegetative high. I felt that it was more of a “head high” until it was coming down. At that point, I felt sleepy. I ate the 1-hour batch. My boyfriend ate 4 cookies and his high came on after about an hour. He also felt like it peaked quicker and longer. He ate two 1-hour batch and two 3-hour batch.

  Trial 2 has the advantage when it comes to first effect and peak, because they happen after a lower amount of time. The time between peak and descent is also longer for Trial 2, meaning the strongest of its high occurs for longer. Trial 2 also has a higher value at the finish, meaning the very start to very end was longer and that’s great because it also comes on faster! With Trial 1, the high is fading for 70 minutes, with Trial two the high is fading for 95 minutes. I would interpret this as it picks you up quickly after the delay from your body processing the THC carrier (butter) (0-65 minutes and 0-50 minutes, respectively) and sets you down gently, in both cases, but more so the second time.

These batches will also be tested by others, and when I have their feedback, I will post an update.

  Thanks for reading and happy baking!

[sashahashish]

cookies with BHO pt. 1

I first got in to cooking with marijuana when my boyfriend and I had the idea to make edibles for some of our family members. We decided cookies would be the easiest way for someone with low tolerance (level 1-2) to consume one small edible. I chose my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, which is the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse Mini Morsels. It is a very well-known idea that cooking with marijuana is a pretty expensive undertaking, but I wanted to minimize costs as much as possible to make it something that’s accessible to more people.

After researching and computing the right amount of BHO to add to a stick of butter that will yield 30 cookies, we decided since the recipients are low tolerance, 1 gram of BHO/stick would be a reasonable place to start. There is almost no info on the web for using BHO (a concentrate) with regular butter, due to butter’s inherently low bioavailability (its ability to absorb and be absorbed). BHO is an abbreviation for Butane Hash Oil, which is made by running butane through marijuana flowers/bud, heating and filtering. There is about a 15% return, meaning you use about 7 grams of marijuana to make 1 gram of BHO, so that is a great way to make it affordable in our particular situation.

I read several methods for rendering the BHO into the butter. It’s a delicate science because you don’t want to overcook the butter and sizzle it, so the temperature must be just right to keep the butter hot enough to absorb the THC without overdoing it. I looked up the smoke point of butter and it’s 250-300 degrees Fahrenheit (121-149*C). Time is the other factor. To increase the butter’s absorption of the BHO, we thought it wise to cook the butter for at least 30 minutes. As far as my studies indicate, you can cook it for up to 6-7 hours but we didn’t want to commit to that since we knew so little about the science and other delicacies. So far, I am aware that the cook time for the butter only affects the characteristics of the high, but not the strength or duration. Cooking the butter with the BHO for 6-7 hours is known to turn it into a sedative-type high, perfect for before bed. But I’m getting ahead of myself. My first indications told me I should combine the butter and the BHO in a small ovensafe glassware/ceramic (I used a ramekin). I had read about a method called a bain-marie, where you essentially take a casserole pan, fill it about 2/3 full with simmering water, then put the ramekin containing the butter and BHO into the water bath much like cooking custard. This seemed like a very safe method for my first time, so I set it all up, preheated my oven to 200 degrees (didn’t want the water to boil) and put everything in the oven for about 52 minutes. I stirred it with a whisk twice during the cooking process, then again when I removed it. If these numbers sound rather arbitrary, they are just based on a bunch of information and are therefore experimental. I transferred the ramekin to the refrigerator and let the butter harden. After it hardened, I let it sit on the counter until it came to room temperature, as my recipe specified. I will include here the Tollhouse recipe. This was a test batch, not intended to be given to anyone. The recipe yields 5 dozen cookies and calls for 2 sticks of butter, so I just halved it. (I did not add nuts, but you can).

Nestle Toll House Mini Morsels Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.)  Nestle Toll House Mini Morsels

1 cup chopped nuts

PREHEAT oven to 375° F. COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

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You add your BHO butter just as regular butter because you will still have the same amount after cooking as before, 1 stick.

CONCLUSION

Generally, the outcome of this batch was kind of wishy-washy. I only ate one and I consider myself a tolerance level 2. I finished baking this batch at about 230am after having slept about 4 hours the night before and working out. It took just over an hour to kick in, which is just a little longer than what’s reasonable and ideal for edibles, but when it did I definitely felt high but wanted to sleep. Not sure if my senses were so dull from being tired that I immediately wanted to sleep and felt pretty stoned or not because my boyfriend had 4 cookies and still supplemented it with a couple oneys. Overall, they still needed refinement. We wanted to explore ways to speed our bodies’ absorption of the THC, make them stronger and the high last longer than about an hour- hour and 15. This method would be fine for a real novice.

[sashahashish]

introduction

greetings--

the purpose of this blog is to serve as a journal for those interested in exploring ways to manipulate marijuana into different forms and products. When I became interested in this topic, the research I collected was incredibly scattered and lacked true guidance. It's my goal to provide a comprehensive resource that will, undoubtedly through a trial and error system, be able to eliminate the guesswork involved in finding the perfect method for cooking and otherwise medicating with marijuana in a non-traditional format, where "traditional" can be understood as inhaling smoke or vapor etc. "Perfect" results will vary by person, so I invite you to expand on my findings; however, I will be attempting to create something for everyone throughout my progress.

  The levels of tolerance used to evaluate the effectiveness of the product will vary throughout my experimentation, and I will be sure to note that as I go. One of the hardest parts of fine-tuning the process is understanding how much marijuana to add to each unit (stick of butter, cup of oil etc) in order to yield desirable strength. For blogging purposes, I will use a 1-10 scale to denote tolerance level among those who test the product. Consider

0- Complete virgin lungs

1- Medicates maybe a couple times a year, and each time is like the first time. May go a couple years without medicating at all. This person may seem and SHOULD BE cautious about overmedicating. This person will have little to no knowledge and tolerance.

2- This person may randomly medicate throughout the year, but more than likely stays under 15 times per year. This level would include many social smokers and high school students. This person SHOULD BE cautious about overmedicating, even though they may have a gung-ho attitude. Still too low of a tolerance to bypass many of the stereotypical adverse side effects such as paranoia, social withdrawal, anxiety.

3- May smoke as often as a level 2, maybe up to twice as much a year. This person is not likely to make regular purchase. May be a former smoker and likely knows their own tolerance and medicates accordingly. This person may experience the same effects as a level two, but is inherently more comfortable with them.

4- This person is purchasing cannabis for personal use on a semi regular basis. This person knows their tolerance and is comfortable stretching it. This person owns a pipe and consumes almost exclusively flowers but would be willing to try or has tried concentrates scarcely.

5- This is meant to be the average cannabis user. This person likely purchases their own supply and replenishes when gone. Continues to mostly medicate with flowers, but loves when the opportunity to use concentrates arises. This person probably owns an herb grinder and collects kief.

6- This is a top level flower-only smoker. This person is interested in acquiring high level strains and evaluates and understands the differences. Depending on state law, this person may have acquired their MMJ card.  This person should still be wary about high-dosage medical concentrates.

7- Welcome to the world of concentrates. This person is interested in the world beyond top shelf flowers and will begin expanding their methods of medicating. This is the introductory student to the art of vaporizing and cooking with concentrates. You rarely find this person in low supply, and some would identify them as level one “stoners”. This person is likely to medicate throughout their life.

8- Graduated to the world of almost exclusively medicating with concentrates. This person views cannabis as a large part of their life and is very knowledgeable and comfortable with it.

9- This person is a serious MMJ patient. This person may be using the highest dosage medical marijuana. At this level of tolerance, you’re beginning to see the tolerance that matches a person who is medicating against a potentially life-threatening disease. This person is deeply embedded in cannabis culture and is a resource for educating any level user beneath them.

10- Master grower, chef, cannabis connoisseur. If cannabis was taught in college, this would be your professor. This is the 1% of the cannabis community. This person is either terminally ill or a titan in the cannabis industry. Unmatched in knowledge and tolerance. Certified strain hunter and breeder. Lil Wayne, Seth Rogen, Snoop Dogg icon status. This person is an innovator in the cannabis community. These are all examples of a level 10.  

  So, without further ado, I introduce to you my cooking and medicating with marijuana blog. I hope you enjoy, and constructive or curious feedback is always welcome. <3