Build A Smart Infusion Pantry With 5 Reliable Staples

Margaret 00:00:05 Okay. I want you to imagine your kitchen for a second. Like, really? Picture it. And your pantry shelf. Your spice rack. The little jar of honey next to the stove. Now, imagine that any meal you made from that kitchen, any of it, could be infused. Not because you made some special cannabis recipe, but because you stocked your pantry differently. That's what today is about. We're not talking about making one edible. We're building a system. And by the end of this episode, we're going to understand why five basic ingredients can replace every single specialty cannabis recipe that you've ever tried to follow. This is the cornerstone. It's a foundation. And if I'm being dramatic about it, and I am, this is how you go from making edibles to running an infused kitchen. I'm your host, Margaret, a certified Ganjier and cannabis educator who believes your kitchen is the best dispensary you'll ever have. Welcome to Bite Me, the show about edibles. Let's grab a snack and dive in.

Margaret 00:01:04 So before we get into the actual staples that we're going to be talking about today, I just want to take a few seconds to reframe all of this, because I think most people approach cannabis cooking completely backwards, and here's how most people do it. They find a recipe cannabis brownies or an infused pasta or whatever, and they follow it start to finish. And that works. But it means that every single time you want to cook with cannabis, you're starting from scratch. You're declining, you're infusing, you're doing the math every single time. And that can really add time onto whatever recipe that you're making. And don't get me wrong, I love cannabis cookbooks, but many cookbooks you can take the recipes you find in those and infuse them as well. You don't necessarily need a specific cannabis cookbook, although there are so many that I love. The pantry approach flips that you do the work once up front, and then you store your infusions like any other ingredient, your can of butter lives in the fridge next to the regular butter.

Margaret 00:02:01 Your infused honey sits in the cabinet next to your regular honey and you. When you want to make something, almost anything, you can just swap out one for the other, or do a ratio and add a little bit to what you're already making. It also changes how you think about dosing when your infusions are pre-made and pre calculated. You know exactly what you're working with every time you reach for the jar. There's no guessing. There's no I think I should add a tablespoon. No surprises. At 1030 at night. So I have five staples. Let's go through each one. What it is a little bit on how to make it, because I've covered a lot of that already before, how to store it and how to label it and how to actually use it. And we'll start with one you probably already know. And that is staple number one can of butter. It is the OG infusion, the one that everyone usually starts with. I started with canned butter when I started making edibles many years ago, and there's a reason for that.

Margaret 00:02:59 And butter is in everything. And you can use it for toast, cookies, sauces, mashed potatoes, scrambled eggs, pasta, popcorn. You get the idea. If you only ever make one infused staple in your life, make this one. The process is two steps, and you can't skip either one. Step one. Of course, as we know. Say it with me, friends. Decarboxylation or the D carb. And this is where you're going to activate your THC by baking your cannabis in the oven first. That converts your THC a into THC, which is a compound that actually does something when you eat it where your cannabis is, you're barely going to feel anything, and that's not what you want. Step two is the actual infusion. So you're going to combine your D carb cannabis with your unsalted butter and allow them to mix together for the conventional wisdom being at least a couple of hours there. Finding now. Thank you to Vanessa Alvarado. 20 minutes you can come, you can extract the majority of the cannabinoids in 20 minutes.

Margaret 00:04:01 And when I did my own tests with a t check, I found that the longer infusion time did not necessarily extract that many more cannabinoids. It was pretty marginal. In fact, if I remember it was something like, say, 3.7mg/ml versus a 3.9. So for all that extra time, it didn't really make my infusion that much more potent. When it's done, you strain it through your cheesecloth or a fine mesh sieve into a container, let it cool and you've got an infused butter. You can store your can of butter in the fridge. I do find that of all the infusions I've ever had, canna butter is the one that can go rancid if you don't store it properly and use it in a timely fashion, so you can store it for about 3 or 4 weeks. You can also freeze it for up to six months, and if you freeze it in ice cube trays or proportioned Molds. Then you can just pop one out when you need it. And that's a super handy way to have.

Margaret 00:05:01 Make sure that you have infused can of butter. There's something about introducing which probably surprises no one. Introducing the plant material into the butter that will just cause it to go faster. So you have to be mindful of that. Of course, you can substitute your can of butter one for one, and any recipe that calls for butter. The ratio you use depends on your desired dose, and for lighter effects, just replace a portion or a ratio of the butter called for. So if you know your recipe calls for a half cup of butter, but you don't need that much because it's going to be too strong for you, you just add a third of that as your can of butter. As always, start low, go slow. If you're new and you can always eat more, you can't eat what you've already had. And in fact, I really do like to make edibles in such a fashion so that I can decide on the dose that I want. Staple number two is your cannabis coconut oil, and this one's worth having in addition to the can of butter, not instead of it, because it does things that butter can't.

Margaret 00:06:00 First of all, coconut oil is vegan, which means it opens up your infused kitchen to anyone who doesn't do dairy and has a higher smoke point than butter. So it handles higher heat better, and it works in sweet and savory recipes. It's also absorbed transdermal, which means. And this takes us slightly off the culinary path for a second. It can be used in topicals to infused lotions, salves, lip balms. So this pantry reaches beyond the kitchen. And as someone who makes a ton of topicals and uses them every single day. Coconut oil is a great addition to have the same process as can of butter. First, as always, and then combine your your cannabis with your coconut oil. There's different types of cause. You can use refined coconut oil, which has a more neutral flavor. Virgin coconut oil has that tropical taste which you may or may not want, depending on what it is that you're cooking. And then you're going to infuse for your 20 minutes or up to two hours if you choose to do, do so and you have the time and then you're going to strain and then it's done.

Margaret 00:07:01 Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, which can actually be really handy. It'll in a cool pantry it'll keep for a couple of months in the fridge for longer, and again in the freezer even longer than that. It's the same deal. Label it. Be sure to include the date, the estimated potency, and what is in the container, and make sure it's pretty obvious that it's that it contains cannabis. And anywhere that a recipe calls for oil, you can use your infused coconut oil. Sauteing vegetables. Making salad dressings. Baking smoothies A tablespoon A teaspoon of infused coconut oil blends beautifully into a smoothie, and you'd never know it was there. And it's also genuinely delicious, melted over popcorn with a little sea salt. I've used it in all kinds of baking recipes as well, swapping out for typical butter. Now, also, I might mention here that if you are so inclined, I also happen to love infused olive oil. If you really are working on building up your cannabis pantry, I would consider adding olive oil to that as well.

Margaret 00:08:08 The next one is your cannabis tincture, and I did a full episode on this a little while ago, which I can link again to the show notes. And I know this one sounds very, very medicinal and not something you might find in a cannabis pantry, but hear me out, because this one can potentially be the most versatile of all the five. And a tincture is a cannabis extraction in alcohol, and it's typically a high proof spirit like Everclear or food grade glycerin if you prefer to keep things alcohol free. Now, glycerin doesn't extract the plant compounds nearly as efficiently as alcohol, so alcohol is still your best way to go. But the result is a liquid infusion that can you can add to literally anything without changing the texture or adding fat. Or I would say without adding much flavor at all. I've taken alcohol tinctures that I made and dropped them under my tongue before, and that does kind of burn. Again, you want to discard your cannabis? I know I keep saying that, but it's not really a step that you should skip if you want to have any kind of potency in your final infusions, you can combine it with your high proof alcohol in a mason jar.

Margaret 00:09:11 You can mix them together. You can put it in the freezer to try and reduce some of the chlorophyll extraction, and combine it with the cold, alcohol and cold. The cannabis shake for a couple of minutes and strain immediately, and the result is relatively clean and light. Some people prefer a longer soak. You can do this over weeks if you wish, in the freezer, shaking occasionally, but more time, more extraction. You're not necessarily getting more potency, but you can experiment with that. Of course, it might also give you more of those herbal grassy notes which, depending on what you're doing, may work out just fine. You're going to want to store it in a dark glass bottle, perhaps a dropper bottle if you have it, and it can last for months in a cool, dark place because the alcohol is very shelf stable. The only thing I will note is I'm in Canada and Everclear is almost impossible to come by, so you may have to find other ways to get the alcohol.

Margaret 00:10:05 You can't just go into the store and buy it like you can in places like in the US, but you can still find like high proof alcohol in your liquor store. I know I bought some, I wish I could remember what it was called. Maybe I can include it in the show notes because I have it in my freezer right now and that seemed to work. But the higher the proof, the more it will extract the cannabinoids. Using it is where it gets really fun. You can add some drops in your morning coffee. I need to try that. I do have a tincture at the ready myself. You can use it in cocktails or mocktails almost. Whatever you're doing, people will will reduce this down and then it works very well in candies, hard candies and gummies. You could use it in a salad dressing, depending on how much you have, or in a sauce or in a glass of juice, because you're usually using less than you might when it comes to like can of butter or or the like.

Margaret 00:10:53 One caveat is that alcohol tinctures can be very strong, and the onset, when taken sublingual under the tongue can be faster than with food. So know your dose and again, start low and go slow. And I will, as I said, link to that episode that I did on cannabis. Sublingual is. Your infused honey or if you have it running through your veins like I do maple syrup. And I love having this on hand. And I think it's because they're beautiful. Jars of infused honey or maple syrup are gorgeous, and they have this beautiful color, and they feel like something special to have in your kitchen, and they can be incredibly useful. Now, this one's a little bit different, as I touched on that full episode that I did very recently. Because you're not infusing honey directly with your cannabis because there isn't fat in in your honey or maple syrup in order for it to bind. It just doesn't work in the same way. So you're going to use some of your infused coconut oil or olive oil in this case, I think those two work particularly well.

Margaret 00:11:59 And you warm your oil a little bit. Add some of that and then you have infused honey. And I know some people as well who will just throw in carved cannabis directly into their honey as well. And you can do the same thing with kief. Honey is naturally antimicrobial. It's very shelf stable, and your infused honey will keep for months. And this one again, very, very useful. You can use it in your tea, your toast, your oatmeal drizzled over cheese fruit for a charcuterie board that will be remembered. Salad dressings, marinades, yogurt. The list goes on. Honey is a very versatile and this one also is really nice as a gift as well, because you can put it in a pretty jar and label it appropriately, of course, but that is a gift that keeps on giving. And finally, one that I haven't made in quite some time. But I think I need to revisit myself. And I didn't did do an episode on this a while ago as well, but it's probably been a few years.

Margaret 00:12:56 Is cannabis salt? And this process also extends to cannabis sugar as well. But we already have the sweetness with the honey and the syrup. So the cannabis salt is a staple that most people probably don't really think of when they think of cannabis infusions. You know, it's also called canna salt or infused finishing salt. And the method here is different from the others because you use your tincture or the tincture, you make a tincture or use the tincture that you already have because you have a cannabis pantry, which is one of the beautiful things about building a pantry, is that these things start working together, and you combine it with coarse salt. In a baking dish, the salt absorbs the tincture. You want to make sure it's it's mixed very well, but then you spread it out and you let it dry, either at room temperature for 24 to 48 hours, very low heat in the oven, maybe around 175, or if you have like a dehumidifier or not. What are those things? Keep saying.

Margaret 00:13:53 Wanting to say. Dehumidifier. I used to have one anyway. I'll think of it. Maybe later. But what you're left with is a an infused salt that you can grind or use as is. You're going to store that in an airtight jar away from the moisture, and it basically has an almost indefinite shelf life. Cannabis salt is a finishing salt. You would use it the same way you used a flaky sea salt. You pinch it over scrambled eggs, use it on a steak. The rim of a cocktail glass. Sliced avocado. chocolate chip cookies right out of the oven. Because it's a finishing touch and dosing is naturally light and easy to control. And a pinch is a small pinch. It's one of the most elegant ways to add cannabis to food without it being like a cannabis dish. It's just a beautifully seasoned dish. That one is a really fun one to have. I haven't made that in a long time. I think I need to revisit it. Is it a dehumidifier, a dehydrator? Haha, I knew I'd remember it.

Margaret 00:14:49 Of course you're going to want to make sure that you calculate the potency for all these five beautiful things that you've made. The dosing math is really important because especially if you're making them for yourself or gifting them to other people, you want to make sure you have your math down, but just remember that a little bit of cannabis can go a long way. Just as a quick example, if you have 1000mg and then because you have one gram of cannabis, and then that gram of cannabis is at 18%, that is 180mg that you're working with. Now, there is, of course, de loss and a couple other things that can affect that amount. You don't necessarily need to jam in a whole bunch of cannabis into your infusions to have reasonably powerful doses. So just bear that in mind. Here's what the full cannabis pantry looks like when it's fully stocked in the fridge. You've got your can of butter and the pantry or freezer. You have your coconut oil and maybe your olive oil in a dark cabinet.

Margaret 00:15:52 You have your tincture bottle, and on your shelf counter you might have your infused honey. In another jar, you have your cannabis salt, and each one handles a different lane of cooking. So fat based baking and rich savory dishes. You have your your can of butter, your dairy free high heat and topicals. You have your cannabis oil. You also have the olive oil for a lot of savory dishes. And I also do use that in topicals as well. You have your drinks dressings anywhere you don't want to add fat or texture. This is where you might use your tincture for sweetness and gifts and finishing. You have the unexpected honey, and for light touch, seasoning and wow factor, you have the infused salt. And of course, you don't have to make all of these five at once. You can start with one, probably the butter, and get comfortable with your math and with the storage and the labeling and just the whole process of making this infusion. And then as you get more confident you can build in a few months, you might have a fully stocked, infused pantry that may or may not be the goal for you, but it is pretty handy when you do have it.

Margaret 00:17:00 So that's the Cannabis pantry. Five staples, infinite meals, and a whole different relationship with your kitchen. The thing I love most about this approach, honestly, is that a demystifies the whole process. Cannabis isn't a special, mysterious ingredient that requires its own recipes. It's just a thing that you can have in your pantry, like olive oil or hot sauce. And you can use it thoughtfully if you dose carefully. And that becomes a natural part of how you cook. I hope you found this episode useful. I would genuinely love it if you shared it with somebody who's just starting to explore cannabis cooking. And let me know what your favorite pantry staple happens to be. Until next time, my friends. I am your host, Margaret. This is Bite Me, the show about edibles. Thank you so much for being here. And until next week, my friends. Stay curious and stay high.