Thanksgiving is one of our favorite holidays. There is an impressive amount of food cooked. Several courses for several people are prepped. Friends come together, laugh, eat, drink, and think about all the things that they are thankful for. This breeds a wonderful environment of friendliness, compassion, and culinary delight. This makes Thanksgiving ideal for pairing with cannabis.
For those who are curious about turning their Thanksgiving into a Danksgiving, we have some tips that can help make the experience one of your favorite cannabis-infused events.
Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash
Easily the biggest draw about a cannabis friendly Thanksgiving is infusing the meal itself. This is a great idea and there are bounties of edible recipes to find online, but we will make a very strong recommendation on this topic: Don’t infuse everything! Don’t make the mistake of assuming that every one of your guests would be ok with your “special” mashed potatoes. Provide a normal dish for everyone to enjoy and keep the infused dishes separate. But make them organic and delicious.
First step to edibles is to make your cannabis butter or oil. You can use either, but we suggest butter as it can be used for a more diverse selection of meals versus using oil. Important note: make your canna-butter before Thanksgiving day. The process will take 24 hours and require the use of the oven.
First and foremost: decarboxylate (decarb) your cannabis. Decarbing involves baking your cannabis at low temperatures. In layman’s terms, this activates the psychoactive properties of THC found in cannabis, thus making it ready for infusion. If you or a friend have leftover trimmings from a home grow, this plant matter can be decarbed as well for the same effect.
To decarboxylate cannabis:
- Heat your oven to 220-235 degrees Fahrenheit
- Spread parchment paper over a baking pan, then spread your cannabis across the paper
- Bake for 30-45 minutes.
For Thanksgiving, you’ll want a half-ounce to an ounce of high-quality, organic cannabis. Learn more about cannabis decarboxylation.
After you decarboxylate your cannabis, it’s time to infuse it into canna-butter. It’s remarkably easy to make your own canna-butter, but here’s a basic breakdown.
You will need:
- 1lb unsalted butter
- 1 cup water
- Cheese cloth or a fine mesh strainer
Directions
1. Add one cup of water and 1 lb of butter into a stock pot or sauce pan; let the butter melt and begin to simmer on low. Adding water helps to regulate the temperature and prevents the butter from scorching.
2. As butter begins to melt, add in your ground, decarboxylated cannabis.
3. Let the mixture simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. Keep the heat low. Do not allow the mixture to boil. The longer the mix simmers, the more potent it will become.
4. After simmering, pour the hot mixture into a glass, refrigerator-safe container, using the cheese cloth or fine mesh strainer to strain out all plant matter from the mix. Try to get as much liquid off the plant material as possible. Discard leftover plant material after straining.
5. Cover and refrigerate the liquid canna-butter overnight or until the butter is fully hardened. Once hardened, the butter will separate from the water. Lift the now infused canna-butter from the water and discard the remaining water.
6. Let the canna-butter sit at room temperature to soften for use. Do not use a microwave to soften the butter.
You can learn more about canna-butter and oil infusions from Leafly here.
Now that you have your homemade canna-butter, the sky is virtually the limit on what you choose to infuse with it. Canna-butter can be applied to multiple recipes, and many traditional Thanksgiving dishes already use butter as an ingredient.
Here’s some suggestions on what to use your canna-butter with:
- Mashed potatoes
- Green bean casserole
- Creamed spinach
- Cornbread
- Pie crust (for any pie you intend to make)
All the sides listed above have butter for an ingredient that can be easily be substituted with your canna-butter. However, our top suggestion on food infusion is gravy. Gravy is very easy to make, it’s tasty, and it can be added to nearly anything you put on your plate. This versatility makes gravy a great candidate for infusion, and it also puts you in control of how much cannabis you are eating. Overconsumption is a common concern when it comes to homemade edibles. Only going for a gentle THC effect? Just put on a small splash of canna-gravy and always consume responsibly.
As for the more classic form of cannabis use, smoking or vaping, strain choice is key. For daytime use, choose a high-quality strain that is known to have uplifting, energizing, or creativity-sparking qualities (Electric Lemon, Blue Dream, or Betty Hayes would be a good choice.) Looking for a pleasant after-meal toke? Maybe chose a strain that would pair well with sitting on the couch and digesting. Indica or CBD strains such as the Clean Green Certified Obama Kush or Blue Dragon Desert Frost could make for a fine evening delight. You could even put a scoop of Drip Ice Cream on to your pie for desert.
Thanksgiving is about being thankful for what you have in life. Thankful for good friends. Thankful for where you live. Thankful for the food on your plate. And now, in Oregon, Thankful for the cannabis that is legally available to you. Be sure to enjoy all of the good things this holiday. You know we will.
From all of us here at Gorge Greenery,
Happy Thanksgiving