The Best Twist on a Classic: Popcorn Marshmallow Treats!

Margaret 00:00:05 Hello friends, and welcome to episode 298. And today we are doing popcorn marshmallow treats. Welcome to Bite Me, the show about edibles where I help you take control of your life. I'm your host and Certified Ganjier Margaret and I love helping cooks make safe and effective edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here. And welcome back, friends, to another wonderful episode of Bite Me, the show about edibles, the podcast that helps cooks make great edibles at home and explores the intersection of food, culture and cannabis. What are we making today? Well, I'm glad you asked. And of course you listen to the intro. So I know you already know that. 298. It's hard to believe I'm about to push 300 episodes, but today we're doing popcorn marshmallow treats. I think we're just going to hop right in today. Except for me to say that if you haven't considered joining the Bite Me Cannabis Club. Head over to join Bite Me. Com and check it out, because I am really excited and proud of the space that has been created over there, and I would love to say that I created it.

Margaret 00:01:15 But of course, it's only with the help of the people who are participating in that community that makes it so wonderful. So it's not just me, but it is a wonderful way for me to connect with you listeners in a place where we can talk about cannabis and edibles openly, without the restrictions that you find on a lot of social media platforms. Unfortunately, it's a cool space, so I hope you'll consider finding me over there as well so we can continue the conversation. Now, with that out of the way, I just want to say thank you for listening as well. If you're just joining us for the first time, I'm really glad that you found the show, and I would love to hear where you're listening from. And if you've been here for a while, I appreciate you. It's listeners like you that make this all worthwhile. And oftentimes I talk to other people who are doing work similar to my own, some kind of. I hate the word content creation, but you know, podcasters, YouTubers, book authors, there's all sorts of people out there who are making things in the world for other people to enjoy.

Margaret 00:02:12 And the question often comes up, why do you keep doing it? I'm not alone in this that many of us feel that it's the connection with the people that you are working for. In a sense, it's when you get that email from somebody who said, hey, I just found your show and I'm really enjoying it. It's when that person joins your community and starts to participate in and is obviously getting a lot of value out of it. It's the messages that you might get on some social platform where somebody finds something you posted and shares how it impacted them, and these are the reasons why we keep going, and that's the reason why I keep going. So thank you for those who are along the ride who are on this journey with me, because when I started out Almost six years ago. Did I think that I would still be doing this today, and that I would have people joining along for the ride? No, and I'm figuring it all out as I go. I am literally figuring out as I go, because it seems like every time I figure something out, the rules change.

Margaret 00:03:12 So it's a challenge. Of course, I'm sure you probably feel the same way when it comes to using a lot of your own softwares and services that we have to engage with every day, but it can be challenging and it's a little less lonely because of the Bite Me. Cannabis club, thanks for being here, I appreciate you. Now you may be wondering what's a popcorn marshmallow treat? Well, I'm so glad you asked because that's why we're here today. So remember a few weeks back when I we really got into the science of the perfect popcorn? Now, partly that was because I had just done a deep dive into making ghee. And you can use ghee to make popcorn, and I have since made so much popcorn. My friends, I have made popcorn with. I can't remember if I've mentioned this on the show, I feel like I might have, but to recap, I have made popcorn with ghee, with olive oil, with butter, and with beef tallow. Actually, I haven't tried it with olive oil yet.

Margaret 00:04:11 I'm sure that would be another option. The avocado oil seems to be one of my favorites. Just because the oil sits right above the stove and it's easy to grab, and it has a high smoke point and it has a nice flavor. And of course, if you want to infuse it, you can cook your popcorn in the oil. The butter was the worst of the of those that I mentioned actually. So if you want to use an infused butter or an infused oil to drizzle over top afterwards, that's your best bet as far as that goes. But we really got into it and I've been enjoying making popcorn pretty regularly. There's something really fun about making it in a pot. And does it necessarily take a lot more time than making it in the microwave or an air popper? Not really. And the microwave popcorn. I have thoughts about that. I'm not really a big fan. There seems to be a lot of waste and it always has a certain flavor. There's a certain taste. So in any case, we got into popcorn making at episode 293 and then for episode 297, which was the episode just before this one, we got into making marshmallows from scratch, something I've never done before, and I've since made a couple of times, and sandwiched in between those two was an essential guide to making tinctures how to make them, how to use them, how to dose them.

Margaret 00:05:24 That was episode 296. So today, prepare yourselves, my friends, because these three paths converge into one glorious, crunchy, chewy, perfectly dosed, treat infused popcorn marshmallow bars. They are like Rice Krispie treats, but with the superior texture of popcorn. I think the popcorn is really nice. Surprising way to change up that recipe. You may be asking, but Margaret, why? Why does this work? Why would I want to swap out my Rice Krispies for popcorn? Well, popcorn is salty and crunchy and the marshmallows are all sweet. And you mix them all together and you end up with this salty, sweet, crunchy, chewy bar. And it hits all the notes and it's easier than you think. Of course. And it's super customizable, like all the things I love to do on this show. Now remember on our chat about popcorn, the best popcorn for the job. You want something that's going to hold up to the marshmallow goo? Honestly, that's pretty much any popcorn. I did recently buy popcorn at a local shop that I tend to frequent to buy my vegetables and and eggs and whatnot.

Margaret 00:06:39 And I bought GMO popcorn. It seemed fancy, but it was really partly the convenience. And I do try and buy local whenever I can. And I think this was a local kernel maker, and there was a couple of different kinds that I got, and one was like a mushroom style popcorn. I forget the name of it. Exactly. If I had thought ahead, I would have gotten out the package and had a quick look at it before I started this episode. But when I asked what the difference was, the shopkeeper. Hi Sam, if you ever happen to listen to this, she's lovely. And her husband Anthony from the food shop, but she explained that the popcorn, that style popcorn just sort of opens up more and almost looks like a big mushroom top. So I did not use that one. I used a regular popcorn because I didn't necessarily want the popcorn that I'm swapping out for Rice Krispies to be like super large. And so your basic popcorn is going to work really well for this.

Margaret 00:07:34 You don't necessarily want heavy butter or salt before mixing, so you can kind of skip that part. Just pop your popcorn. You can do it air pop. You can use microwave popcorn too, of course, or your stovetop, which is what I did. But what you really want to try and do is get out those unpopped kernels as much as possible, because I did leave a few of those in, and that was the one drawback that I didn't really like is sometimes spitting out a couple of popcorn kernels. But I do find also when you cook it on the stovetop, you get a lot. You get fewer unpopped kernels, especially with anything but the butter. Honestly, the butter was the worst for making the popcorn in again, as I just mentioned. Better for drizzling on top, not for actually cooking the popcorn in. So try and get out those kernels. Now, of course you're going to be binding all of this together with melted marshmallows and some butter. So if you've infused your marshmallows, that is one way that you can have that incorporated into this recipe.

Margaret 00:08:33 But you can also just use infused butter or infused butter for this too, because you take I believe it was. I don't have to guess. I have it right here. I pulled up the ratios that I had written down. Half cup of butter and you can use your infused butter, a ratio of infused to regular butter, depending on your tolerance preferences. A half a cup of butter can be quite a bit depending on how strong it is, so do be mindful of that. I hope you've done your calculations and a pound of marshmallows in a large saucepan. So depending on where you are with your, marshmallow making process. I mean, sometimes you don't even necessarily have to let the marshmallows set. If you're going to be doing this. But I did, of course, because it makes more than you're going to use. So this is another infusion point. You might have infused marshmallows. Maybe you're just going to buy store bought. You can keep it really simple. But these were just some ideas because, you know, you've made your popcorn.

Margaret 00:09:32 You've tried making marshmallows. Now you can combine the two or it's just inspiration for which to do so because maybe you have marshmallows. You're like, what the hell do I do with them all now besides just eat them? Which is a completely acceptable thing to do. And I think I mentioned in that episode last week how many company marshmallows I did eat. If you've if you've popped your popcorn, I mean, that's going to take five minutes on the stovetop. You don't even you don't even have to let it cool. And then you melt your marshmallows in the butter together. And here you can use infused butter. But you could also use the tincture as well. You could add the tincture while you're stirring in the butter marshmallow mix. If you would prefer to use the tincture instead of the butter, it'll work in this as well, but you just need to make sure that everything is going to mix well and it's going to blend beautifully without adding. If you use a tincture instead of the butter, I mean, you're already adding butter.

Margaret 00:10:28 So I mean, you don't really have to worry about fat content per se, but using a tincture is not going to add extra fat or make the treats too greasy and allow for precise dosing, which we always love to talk about, but know your tinctures potency or your butter, depending on which way you're going, maybe you can do both. I am still in the process of trying to make the freezer tincture, so that is going to have less flavor than a regular tincture. So bear that in mind. But I do fine with the popcorn and the and the marshmallows together that it's pretty good at masking some of that flavor. So basically it's just like making Rice Krispies. And the reason I kind of like this in a way, is because I can make the marshmallows, I can make the popcorn. I don't tend to go out and buy marshmallows or Rice Krispies. I don't really eat that much surely anymore. Cereal? Cereal? I don't know. It depends on how you say a tomato tomato? I kind of gave up on cereal a long time ago, because I remember buying it when my kids were still at home and just being overwhelmed every time I had to go to the grocery store and buy cereal.

Margaret 00:11:31 Because so much of it is marketed as like this healthy thing to eat. But and yet it has got so much sugar in it, it would make your head spin. Of course, there's always the types that are overtly sugar laden and you're like, then there's a thousand options of that. Like so many grocery stores, there's an entire aisle dedicated just to cereal. I just got to the point where I was just like, I'm not just gonna buy any of it. And I've kind of stuck with that. I do enjoy the occasional bowl, because if I'm being completely honest, my dad does buy it and occasionally eats cereal. And maybe twice a year I too will have a bowl, but that's about it. So if you're not really wanting to go out and buy a box of Rice Krispies just to have it sit on your shelf until the next time you make a Rice Krispie, maybe you do it pretty regularly, I don't know. This can get you around that. Just make popcorn instead. And so you make your popcorn, and then you're going to take your half cup of butter with your pound of marshmallows.

Margaret 00:12:26 You're going to melt them on the stove together. You're going to infuse them depending on your preference, maybe the infused butter, maybe throwing in some tincture. And then you're going to throw in your popcorn, mix it all together and press it into a pan. Now, I did put mine in the refrigerator. You almost don't need to. I found that you could probably just leave it out at room temperature. It almost made them harder to get out of the pan. Like, it really did stick. But you're going to have a nice crunchy, sticky marshmallow treat with this, and it comes together pretty quickly. And of course, it is endlessly customizable, so you could mix in things as well once it's cooled a little bit so that they don't necessarily melt. Mini chocolate chips. Sprinkles. Chopped nuts. Pretzels. Dried fruit. You could add, the peanut chocolate M&Ms as well. For something a little bit bigger, you can drizzle it with chocolate on the top afterwards. And if you're looking for something again with a higher potency, maybe adding infused chocolate to the top is a way to sort of move it into a higher potent potency range.

Margaret 00:13:41 For those who need that, you could drizzle, you could sprinkle some sea salt flakes on top. Crush candies. There's all kinds of things you could do, which is kind of what makes something like this fun. And I would encourage you to experiment and share your combos. I'd love to see how people get creative with this kind of thing. Now, of course, adding all these goodies doesn't necessarily change the dose per square, but it might make them more tempted to folk. So please don't forget to label, label, label as always in the community. Recently, one of our members said that they always make their edibles in a shade of green and I thought that was really clever. Now, this doesn't necessarily protect those who are maybe new to the household, but how many people do you have that are new coming over and opening up your fridge and consuming something without you knowing about it? But to all those people that lived in there in the household. Hi Wayne, this was your your trick.

Margaret 00:14:37 They knew that if there was a treat in the fridge and it was green, that you had to be cautious because it was infused with cannabis. So this is another way to sort of indicate to people who may be getting into your goodies that they should proceed with caution, maybe ask about it. I always do like to put the milligrams per serving on a label anyway, but this is another way to further encourage people to ask more questions before consuming without thought. So there's always ways to make the labeling process a little less boring, if you will. One of those also might be using molds to have some kind of cannabis pot leaf motif or something like that, so that people also know. I always find when it comes to labeling, the more little touch points that you have to indicate that something is infused, the better. So the overt, like, you know, this has so many milligrams per milliliter or per serving or whatever in it is excellent. But then just having the visual of like a, a cookie in the shape of a of a pot leaf or something made that has green food coloring or some kind of green color to it so that it's just an extra layer of protection.

Margaret 00:15:46 So I love to see how creative people get with that kind of stuff too. If you have been making popcorn or even making marshmallows and some tincture and you are looking for ways to use it all, you can try this particular recipe out. And I would love to hear how you customize it. Or maybe you don't. You can always tag me at. Bite me podcast on the gram. That seems to be where I'm most active as far as the social platforms find me inside the Bite Me Cannabis Club. I, of course, will link to all the episodes that I've mentioned in this because I did mention three, and you can find them in the show notes over on Bite Me podcast.com. And someone might ask, could I use colored marshmallows? You could try it with caramel, marshmallows, or other flavored marshmallows if you wish. You're going to get a bit of a different flavor profile, so just keep that in mind. But luckily, popcorn, much like your Rice Krispies, is going to work with a lot of different flavor profiles.

Margaret 00:16:41 So just make sure that you infuse the fat and the tincture as carefully as you would otherwise. And what about flavored popcorn? If you are purchasing popcorn, maybe. You know, I think flavored I think the caramel I mean, you could use a caramel popcorn with marshmallows and that would actually be probably good too. But I'm also a caramel caramel lover, so keep that in mind. Cheese. Popcorn. I mean, I don't know. I tend to make my own popcorn, but I have seen lots of popcorn on the store shelves. And the cheese one is one you might find most commonly, and I somehow I don't know if that would work. I don't that doesn't sound like it would appeal to me. The cheese, popcorn and marshmallows. Yeah, it might go well with a caramel, a caramel popcorn, but I'm not so sure about the about other flavors like cheese or or dill or like, I know there's different flavors you can probably get out there, so maybe stick to the sweeter ones, but to each their own.

Margaret 00:17:36 If you try it out and and it works. Let me know. I would love to hear it. So next week we are going to be continuing the conversation about tinctures. I know this one was a little more low key in a lot of ways. I'm going to be using the cannabis tincture to make another recipe, but this time in the realm of a beverage, so stay tuned for that next week. I'm really excited to get back into making more beverages. I kind of I made some over the winter, but there's something about beverages in the summertime. That's it for this week. My friends get popping, get melting, get mixing. Show me your lovely creations. I would love to see them. And then, of course, I don't know if I've mentioned this before. There is a Bite Me podcast shop where you can get Bite Me merchandise. That is correct. You can tell the world that you're a listener of Bite Me, the show about edibles. Head over there and check it out.

Margaret 00:18:31 Something fun that I've been playing around with recently. Until next week, my friends. I'm your host, Margaret. Stay. Hi.