If you are like me, your herbal medicine chest is full of the Earth’s bounties. We are grateful! Are you ready to create a Hemp Pantry for all your holiday cooking needs?
To booze or not to booze— it’s your choice! In this handout you will find recipes for botanicals, alcohol, Hemp, fruits, herbs, and spices that make for a tasty drink once married with Hemp (Cannabis sativa). There are also alternative ideas offered for those who do not want to add alcohol to their drink. And by eating the Hemp often safer and a better way of consuming Hemp.
While following these recipes, you’ll need several ingredients, so be sure your “Hemp Kitchen” is well stocked! Anything from flour, sugar, honey, cooking oils, chocolate, carob, and flavoring can be infused with hemp flower or CBD Hemp oils through a simple infusion process. With your infusion, you can whip up a delicious cocktail of your choice! Infusing can be used as a form of personal expression — let loose and let yourself be adventurous and creative! In your kitchen, you are the Hemp artist! Experiment with a variety of spirits, chia tea, from vodka to wine, or just stick to sparkling water. Regardless, let your imagination run free to create delicious drinks!
Hemp Simple Syrup
Simple sweeteners always make a cocktail taste better by cutting through the bitterness of the alcohol. While you can stick to a basic solution, I sometimes like to use fruits or herbs to add flavor to my syrups.
You will need:
- 4-qt nonreactive saucepan,
- Cheesecloth
- Strainer
- 2 cups boiling water
- 2 cups of your choice sweetener – I recommend raw sugar! Use 3 cups Sugar infused 3 ounces of Hemp (I do this the day before by making Hemp butter first then strain and add liquid to sugar. I use real 2 sticks butter to infuse the hemp buds)
- Your choice of fruit or herb
Add-In Examples: rosemary, jalapenos, cherries, pink peppercorns, blueberries, and whatever you would like to use.
Start by boiling your water. Once boiling, add Canna sugar and stir constantly until the mixture comes to a boil once more. Continue stirring until Canna sugar is dissolved. Add in any fruit or herbal to these infusions to complete this step! Then, remove from heat and let cool. Strain through strainer and cheesecloth. Refrigerate up to 6 months. I remove the strain Hemp and sugar and add it to teas or any beverages.
Elderberry and Hemp Infused Cocktail (or Mocktail)
With the amazing healing and immunity benefits of elderberry (Sambucus), it’s always a good idea to use this vibrant berry daily especially in the fall and winter! Both the berry and flower are high in antioxidants and can be incredibly beneficial to your immune system. Alongside this, eating the berries can reduce stress and inflammation, and make for a healthy heart. Elderberries are most popularly used for preventing and recovering from colds or the flu. I grow my own elderberries on our homestead, and you can too! Ask a nursey for the bush or contact Strictly Medicinal in Oregon they sell online.
When drinking elderberry and Hemp together, both plants speak to our souls and work together to heal the body.
For this delicious drink, prepare:
- 4 cups filtered water
- 2 cups fresh or dried not green elderberries
- Add 1 ½ cups canna-sugar (Hemp infused sugar)
Bring water to a boil. Add berries and sugar. After 15 minutes, turn stove to medium and let simmer 30 minutes before removing from heat. Let sit at least 4 hours to infuse.
Another way of adding sugars to the mixture is to decarboxylate (decarb) the Hemp in the oven. I use a canning jar with a lid. Preheat oven to 280⁰F. Place 2oz of chopped Hemp bud into the canning jar for 2 hours.
Note: I also make a canna-butter by covering the buds with glycerin after decarbing. Boil a pot of water, then place the jar with your mixture into the water for 2+ hours. This makes your canna-butter for the simple syrup, and for the juice for your drink.
Decarboxylating Your Hemp
When decarbing Hemp, you can use trim, kief (crystals from the Hemp leaves), buds, and/or hash. Decarboxylation can be done using this easy method, requiring only an oven and a canning jar.
Preheat oven to 275⁰F. Put 3oz of chopped Hemp into an 8 oz canning jar, then let heat in oven for around 40 minutes. This process will enhance the CBD (Cannabidiol), as well as the effects of THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol). Turn your canning jar often. After time is up, you can use a coffee grinder or a mortar and pestle to grind the buds, aiming for a salt-like texture. I have a new butter or oil making machine called a LEVO infus. This machine allows an herb to dry, then decarb, and activate into an oil or a butter in a matter od hours.
Hemp–flour infusion for Baking
If you are a baker and want to incorporate canna-flour into your diet, read on! Are you tired of buying Hemp CBD oils to just put them under your tongue or in water? Now you can bake delicious, healthy cookies complete with a little edible relaxation! Personally, I avoid smoking pre-rolled Hemp daily for my own personal reasons. If you tend to cough when you smoke like me, then edibles are your answer!
Your first task is to pick out Hemp buds that you want to use. For example: If you are having fibromyalgia related pain, you would need to research which strain will best treat your ailment. The characteristics of each strain of Hemp are unique in how they affect us. If all you’re looking for is basic stress-relief, then the most basic Hemp bud is perfect for you. Hemp is known for its ultra-calming effect on the nervous system.
All you will need is:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, or flour alternative of your choosing
- 2 oz decarb dried Hemp buds
Once you have chosen your bud, finely grind your Hemp in a coffee grinder, weed grinder or mortar and pestle. Though whole buds or flowers are better when making a butter or oil, a fine powder is best for infusing flour.
Be sure to decarb your buds one week or two days before making your canna-flour. So, you will always be ready to cook with your Hemp. Add your decarb Hemp into the flour of your choice and whisk. Store flour in an air-tight container, and it should last up to 3 months.
This flour will be best used for baking, not deep-frying! It does not do well in temperature exceeding 350⁰F it will remove all the healing properties. The canna-flour is very versatile and can be used in baked goods and meals. It also tends to have little to no Hemp odor!
Mistakes to watch out for when cooking with Hemp!
*Overgrinding
*Using too much Hemp
*Not stirring constantly
*Choosing the wrong strain for what you are trying to achieve
Making a Glycerin/Hemp Tincture Extraction without Alcohol
Medicating yourself and others with Hemp is easy! This Hemp tincture has no alcohol and can be easily whipped up right in your own kitchen. The tincture can be used for stress relief, alongside other CBD oils and treatments. This recipe uses glycerin, a fat from animals or vegetables. The tincture will however not be as potent or long lasting as an alcohol-based tincture but is perfect for children or those with alcohol sensitivities! Tinctures like this one take longer to make, but it is worth the 60 days. Glycerin is also food safe. Also, you could add this into soaps and skin care products. Along inside a bathtub but just watch for slippery while inside the tub.
Food-grade glycerin can be bought online, at a pharmacy, or anywhere you may buy ingredients to make soap, such as a craft store. Hobby Lobby, Walmart, and any pharmacy.
Prep List
Decarb your Hemp and store in an 8oz jar. Fill the jar approximately ¾ of the way with your decarbed Hemp powder. Then, add vegetable glycerin. Add the lid and ring to the Hemp jar to ensure that it is tightly sealed.
Wait 60 days and turn your product daily.
Once your extraction is finished, it can keep in a refrigerator for 14-24 months!
A Pantry Sample: Flavoring for Cooking
Have you tried medicated flavor extraction in your cooking? It is an additive with Hemp inside. When you are in the kitchen, but especially when baking, we you already use alcohol-based flavor extracts vanilla, peppermint, or anise this is no different. If you are sensitive to alcohol, you may want to create your flavor infusion with an alcohol-free base, such as glycerin.
For the alcohol-based version, you will need:
- 8oz of high proof alcohol,
- Strainer
- 8-oz jar with a lid
- 5 vanilla beans
- 2 oz decarb, dried Hemp buds
After decarbing your Hemp buds chop and add to the jar. Then add the vanilla beans by scraping the insides and discarding the outer skin. If you do not want any alcohol, substitute vegetable glycerin. Place lid on the top and shake jar every day for 3 weeks or longer. If you want a different flavor, add 2oz of freeze-dried pineapple instead of vanilla bean, or your choice of other freeze-dried fruit. Suggestion: add ½ teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice into a jar with Hemp for flavoring for a great Fall flavor!
After 3+ weeks, strain mixture and place in a tightly sealed jar. Label and date. An alcohol-based flavoring will last around six months, but the glycerin based will only last around three.
When I make this Hemp flavoring, I like to use high-proof spiced rum as my alcohol base — I highly recommend you try it! You will love this flavor I often add Spiced Rum into my Vanilla Bean flavoring I make homemade!
Carol's Homestead 