The Tastiest Mohito – 1 Simple Summer Treat

Marge (00:00:07) - Welcome back, friends, to another episode. What do you do when you need to beat the heat? You reach for something cold and refreshing, like this beautiful, infused, non-alcoholic mojito. Welcome to Bite Me, the show about edibles where I help you take control of your life. I'm your host and certified Gonger Marge and I love helping cooks make safe and effective edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here, and thank you for joining me today. Whether you're new to the show or a long time listener, you know that I often use olive oil in my cooking and my infusions. When I discovered McEvoy Ranch Olive Oil, I knew I needed to give them a try. And I love everything about these oils and the company. The oils come from a family owned farm that is both female, founded and led. They produce these organic olive oil sustainably at their Northern Californian ranch. They've just released an innovative and delicious signature olive oil collection that includes organic blood, orange and award winning Chai spice and ginger turmeric.

Marge (00:01:09) - The collection brings together flavors from multiple cultures to create new ways to enjoy olive oil. With this in mind, cards are included with the samples, the detail, the tasting profiles, and ways to use the oils so you can try them with any meal. McEvoy Ranch is committed to creating the highest quality, healthy, bright and fresh olive oils that will enhance your cooking and delightful ways. Enjoy the unique flavors and well known health benefits of olive oil by heading over to McEvoy Ranch. Com and enter promo code Bite Me 15 at checkout to receive 15% off your order. Welcome back, my friends. I hope you all had a wonderful week. You're staying high, whatever that looks like for you. And before we get into this week's recipe, which I'm really looking forward to because it checked all the boxes as far as I'm concerned, and if you've been following it for a while, you probably know what those boxes are. And if you have been listening for a while or if you're new to the show, thank you for being here.

Marge (00:02:08) - Thank you for your support. I really appreciate you because it's always nice to think that there's somebody out there listening, making these recipes and learning along with me as I talked to great guests. Before we get into it, like I said, I just want to give a huge shout out to my Irish listeners. That's right. I don't know how many of you are out there. I know there's a few. Big shout out to Green Beard Grows, one of my good friends who hails from Ireland, but because of my Irish listeners on Apple Podcasts Bite Me. The Showboat Edibles hit chart Position one and 98in Society and culture. That is definitely worth celebrating. 198 position or position? 198 I mean, it's only out of 200, I guess. So I'm kind of near the bottom, but to me that seems like there's going to be a lot of Irish people who tuned in recently for whatever reason to push me onto the chart in the first place. So thank you for that. That was a real surprise to get in my inbox when I did.

Marge (00:03:15) - And for an indie podcaster, heading any chart is pretty amazing just because, you know, there's so many podcasts by celebrities and and podcast studios and all these shows with huge budgets and deep pockets and production teams and buy me the show about edibles is just a one woman show over here where I wear multiple hats willingly to keep this going. Why? Because I love it and I love edibles and I love podcasts and I love all of you. So thank you. Special thank you today for my Irish listeners. And now for the weird word. I didn't get any submissions this week, which was a little disappointing, you guys. I have to admit, it would be really great if you would, you know, send in your submissions, but perhaps you're not feeling particularly creative or what have you. But that's okay. So I thought, you know what? I'll take it upon myself and find some interesting ones out there for us. And I went over to the Wikipedia page where it lists I think I said before when I started this segment that I forget how many, like a couple hundred slang terms, but when I reread it, it was 1247 slang terms thus far on this Wikipedia page, slang terms for cannabis.

Marge (00:04:34) - And if that just goes to show how well loved cannabis is throughout the ages. Defying time and place. Well, that's it. I mean, the first one that caught my eye, and you're going to notice that I didn't really get past the B section. There's like 1200s, a lot of slang terms. But the first one that I came across that really spoke to me was Bambaataa. That's right. Bambaataa And Let Me see, it did give a reference from the list of marijuana marijuana slang terms from the Weed blog by Johnny Green in April 29th, 2011. So that's going back just a little bit. It just says the Urban Dictionary just says another term for marijuana. Well, that's pretty much it. So I guess there's nothing really more in-depth than that. But I think I might start calling it that because there's some way that it sort of rolls off the tongue is kind of fun to say. It's it's groovy. It's maybe it's hailing to its jazz roots. I don't really know if you know anything more about it, about the history of this, then by all means.

Marge (00:05:41) - But let me know about the next weed word that I actually dug up because I thought that was interesting. I didn't really dig it up. I chose it from this list. The next weed word that I found that stood out to me was Bag of Bones. And this came from Katie Steinmetz April 20th, 2017. From the article for 20 Day. Why the why there are so many different names for weed? I thought I'll link to that in the show notes. It was pretty interesting, but I had to look up like this. This term bag of bones. It took me a minute to realize what this was representing, and essentially it's like a bag of joints, which totally makes a lot more sense. You get a bag of joints and it's going to look like a bag of bones. So that's something else you can use when you're going up for your next picnic or your next outing or trip or whatever the case is. You can always be like, Hey, I forgot, I need to go grab my bag of bones like bumble atcha and off you go.

Marge (00:06:39) - Finally, before we get into the recipe, we're going to do another cannabis fact, which is more things you can make with hemp. And I was going to try it out this week, but I haven't done it yet. But it makes sense and I haven't done it yet really, because I drink coffee every single morning, but I drink it black. So the thought of making hemp milk. While interesting, and I would probably use it in something like coffee. I do like oat milk a lot, so I feel like hemp milk would be quite similar to that. It has a nutty flavor. I mean, hemp seeds are relatively nutty as it is, so it might not be for everybody, but if I feel like if you like oat milk, then you might also like hemp milk. And it's like any other plant based milk. I have a jar, a huge jar of hemp seeds because I put them on my salads. I like to add them to my salads because it's a little extra nutrition.

Marge (00:07:34) - I like to put it in my smoothies, you know, wherever it seems appropriate. They're great to sprinkle on all kinds of things for that extra boost of nutrition, because we all know that hemp seeds are incredibly nutritionally dense and all you do is you take hemp seeds and you mix it with water and you blend it, and that's how you end up with hemp milk. So I'm probably going to try it out. I did find a recipe online that might give you better like some ratios or whatever to use so that you use enough hemp seeds. I am going to be trying it out this week and maybe putting it in my coffee and see what happens. The only thing I find sometimes is a lot of these milks don't tend to last too long, so you want to make sure you're not making too much if you don't think you're going to be consuming it in any other way besides, like putting it in your coffee. But I wonder if it would make it also a wonderful plant based substitute for milks and some of the recipes that you're making.

Marge (00:08:22) - If that's something that interests you, could be worth giving a shot. More things you can make with hemp. Hemp milk. The recipe of the week, an infused, non-alcoholic mojito. So when I was at Lyft recently, I was able to watch a lot of demonstrations by chefs who were making beverages and almost, I shouldn't say almost every single one of these chefs also was very clear that when they host dinners or when they're imbibing, they never mix edibles with alcohol. And of course you can do it. But this is my PSA of the day mixing cannabis and alcohol. The Crossfade is a very advanced move and one that you should not go into lightly because the effects of one seems to amplify the effects of the other until you realize too late that you might be a bit too fucked up. I do have recipe books made by or written by wonderful authors who are very knowledgeable about cannabis beverages and some of them do include alcoholic beverages. But I do feel like there's been a real trend in the last year or so for people to consume less alcohol.

Marge (00:09:43) - And I don't know if it's just the demographic of the people that I'm surrounding myself with. Of course, maybe skew a little older because, well, let's be honest, I'm a little older and we're finding that those hangovers are so tenacious, they hang on for so long and they just make you feel like shit. And of course, we all know now that alcohol itself is pretty poisonous in a lot of ways, whether, you know, there's new guidelines coming out saying you should be drinking less and it's affects your sleep and it has all kinds of harmful effects, even though it is a wonderful social lubricant to a point. And so there's this real push to almost culturally to reduce the amount of alcohol that we're drinking, not eliminate completely. I enjoy a nice alcoholic Machito from time to time or a beautiful glass of wine, a nice craft beer. They all have their place, but too much makes you feel too shitty. And so there is this real interest in cannabis beverages because you can imbibe and feel good without the hangover.

Marge (00:10:51) - And we all know, of course, that it's helping to balance your endocannabinoid system while you're at it. So it's like a win win. So this particular mojito has no alcohol in it. Now, of course, if you want to add some yourself, that's up to you. But that is not the way that this has been created. Now, the reason I like this recipe is because it was so damn easy, and that's box number one that gets checked. It's easy. There's little hands on time and you can get to drinking it really quick. Now, that is, of course, if you already have your infusion ready to go. If you don't, then that might take a little extra time and a little extra planning ahead. But once you have that infusion made, then you can make lots of mojitos and lots of other beverages. I mean, it's summertime right now where I am. We've had some really hot days where it's getting up to 30, 35 degrees and it's humid and hot and everyone's like, Oh my God.

Marge (00:11:41) - And I mean, to be fair, unless you're just sitting there in the shade with your infused mojito in your hand, I can see why people would be complaining about the heat. But. There is something about a mojito that is so refreshing. It's that combination of the lime and the mint and the bubbly water that I just love. And so when I was in Tulum last winter, we went to a mojito bar that had fresh pressed sugarcane for the mosquitoes that were being served. And it was so good. And luckily you're not going to need sugar cane or press for this recipe. So no worries there. But these did remind me of that bar that we went to. All you need are limes, mint soda, water infused honey. And while the recipe didn't call for ice, I added ice to mine. And it's so refreshing that you're not even going to need the alcohol. And because it's served without alcohol, you can use it, serve it to a wider audience and you make it by the glass.

Marge (00:12:42) - So that also means if you have friends who aren't consuming THC or other cannabinoids of any kind, you can swap out the infused honey for regular honey when you're making it. So either way, you've got a winner on your hands as far as a recipe goes for something that's going to serve a large amount or be able to be tailored to a larger group of people. Or you could do like I did and just make it for your damn self and enjoy it that way as well. And I sat out on my back deck and of course the squirrels were up in the trees above me, dropping acorns down onto my head. But I didn't care because I was just so blissed out by enjoying this mojito. And like I said, the glass or the drink is made in the glass. So you simply cut up your lime into wedges. You're going to reserve one of those because of course, you want to make your drinks look pretty. And it's nice to have that little lime wedge for garnish when you're finished.

Marge (00:13:36) - And so you put these lime wedges into your glass, except for that one that you've reserved, and then you add your infused honey. Now, they do suggest in the recipe to thin out your honey ahead of time to make it more like a honey syrup, which will mix better in the cold drink. And I'll be honest, I didn't do that. I did use a honey. I did have a honey on hand and it was infused and it was sort of a thin honey anyway. And I just felt like, well, that's a little extra hands on time. So I skipped it and I didn't notice any difference. So, I mean, if you're going to be making quite a few of these mojitos, then you might want to make a batch of the honey syrup. But I was just making one for myself. I'll probably actually make one tonight because it's supposed to be hot tonight as well, or this afternoon. We'll see. But if you're making more than one at a time, then maybe make thin out the honey syrup.

Marge (00:14:26) - Do it gently over the heat so you're not destroying any cannabinoids that are in your infused honey. But it seemed fine. I didn't notice anything. I also like my mojitos tart, so I didn't add more honey later, even though that's an option also on the recipe. But in any case, you take the limes, you throw them in the glass with your infused honey and then you muddle it. I don't have a muddler, so I used a wooden spoon and that worked just fine. Then you tear up your mint leaves, you add those to the glass, you muddle some more because you're going to want to release the essences of the mint or those bitter pines. I think those could be considered terrapins that you're releasing the essential oils in the Mint. And this is also where if you want to add more honey, you can as well for sweetness or potency, whichever in this particular case, because obviously this recipe is not written to be infused. That's where my genius comes in. It's sort of a choose your own adventure, if you will.

Marge (00:15:22) - Then you add your soda water and some ice and reserved lime wedge and voila, summer heat has been beaten as you enjoy this beverage. So I'd recommend going lower on the potency for this particular recipe because you're going to want to probably make another one once you're done. And if you go out and you buy yourself some limes, it uses one lime per glass. You're putting in a pretty large glass. And if you go somewhere like the store or the farmer's market to get your mint, you're going to have a bunch of mint as well. So you're going to have extra, you're going to have extra supplies to make more. So you're probably going to want to make more or you're going to be sharing it with a friend and a couple glasses. But if you'd make it a lower potency and you're like, You know what? I would really like another one. You don't have to worry about overindulging in the THC, if you know what I mean, because that doesn't always feel very good. I'd also recommend while I'm at it, making recommendations here is to have infused honey in your pantry because honey can lend itself really well to making beverages of all kinds and swirling it into hot drinks as well.

Marge (00:16:26) - So if you like Teague and sweeten your tea with a little bit of honey. Actually, honey in your coffee is pretty nice as well. So if you're looking for a little bit of a boost in the mornings or whatever, you're enjoying your hot drinks, cold beverages of all kinds, it works well in it's just a very useful infusion to have on hand. So I would recommend having that one. Just don't forget to calculate the potency because you can put a lot of cannabinoids into one teaspoon of honey or one teaspoon of anything. And I made this mistake once with my tea check because the tea check gives you results on the cannabinoid content of your infusion in milliliters, a single milliliter. And for some reason I read it as teaspoon one time when I was making something and totally miscalculated. The the potency of something that I've been making. Oops, I don't I don't recall anything really bad coming out of it. But it wasn't it was a real wake up call because I remember having that like, oh, shit moment because, you know, I was like, Oh, it's got like five, five milligrams per teaspoon.

Marge (00:17:27) - And then when I realized that it was per milliliter, well, that's more like 25mg per teaspoon, which can make a real big difference in the end result. So just keep that in mind. Make your calculations, know what you're serving yourself and others. I do recommend the tea check myself if you're making a lot of edibles and this is something you are consistently making, you're serious about it. Then they're wonderful devices to have at home or use the the free online calculator that I have over my website. It's not as perfect, but it's going to give you at least a general ballpark of where you're at. So you're not going to overindulge. But this is a cold drink. You're probably going to want to come back to time and time again. So I hope you try it out.

Marge (00:18:08) - I hope you enjoy it. Until next week, my hands stay high.