Culinary Cannabis
Why eating cannabis is healthy
Its 4/20 so, I felt like paying homage to the plant that we’re celebrating today! More importantly, we at The Flomade Table are doing our part to destigmatize cannabis and promote the ingestion of weed through edibles so as not to damage your lungs while gaining some pretty impressive health benefits to boot!
In the not so distant past cannabis was taboo and only relegated to stoners and rebellious teenagers. We certainly weren’t talking openly about ingesting it as a means to cure diseases or relieve pain. In fact, it was not so long ago that a mere joint would get you arrested!
But unless you’ve been living in a cave in the remote regions of Siberia, you’re well aware that there is now a lot of chatter taking place surrounding cannabis. Whether it be political, medicinal, or recreational, the general attitude surrounding the plant is beginning to change. There’s plenty of evidence to suggest that consumption of cannabis has the ability to not only treat the symptoms of but sometimes cure debilitating, chronic and even fatal diseases.
As we all know, traditionally weed was smoked. When we thought of weed images of Cheech and Chong, joints, blunts and bongs came to mind. But those are images of the past! Today you can cansume cannabis in just about every way imaginable; oils, tinctures, edibles, vapes, beverages, sprays and capsules. The list is dizzying. So it stands to reason that the culinary world would jump on board and ride this wave of enlightening discovery. No longer are we talking about brownies when we discuss culinary cannabis, now we’re talking about sauces, gastronomic foams, gels and spherifications. Weed has gone gourmet in the mainstream!
Here are some reasons you should experience culinary cannabis
You don’t have to get high!
Most importantly, cooking with cannabis doesn’t always mean you have to get stoned. Cooked raw, the leaves will expel the nutrients without being psychoactive. The primary psychoactive chemical in cannabis is THC, a cannabinoid. However, when these leaves are left raw and are un-aged, the cannabinoid found in them is THCA, which isn’t psychoactive at all. THCA only becomes THC — the stuff that gets you high — most effectively, exposed to heat. It’s a process called decarboxylation.
It’s Packed with Nutrients
Many people incorporate raw marijuana and hemp plants into their diet specifically for this reason. They want to take advantage of all the legitimate health benefits these plants have to offer without getting high.
Cannabis leaves in their natural form are high in Vitamins K & C, Iron, Calcium, folate, and most importantly it’s super high in fiber!
It’s High in Antioxidants
One of the most promising benefits from cannabis is its high level of antioxidants. Antioxidents protect our body from damage due to stress and free radicals (environmental stressors) which wreak havoc on our body over time.
Eating is Healthier Than Smoking
While I’d love to say that smoking week isn’t harmful I can’t. Inhaling hot smoke into your lungs causes iflammation. While cigarettes have many chemicals that cause other issues, the amount of tar from the smoke of weed is comparable to the amount of tar in cigarettes. In fact, since people inhale and hold the smoke in, toke for toke you get more tar from weed.
Consuming cannabis in food has none of the reprocussions that smoking creates. In addition, if your’e in it for the thc (the psychoactive effect) when eaten, marijuana has a different effect. In fact, consuming cooked marijuana has a completely different psychoactive reaction in your body than smoking it. When you ingest marijuana orally, it is first metabolized by your liver, which changes the composition of the THC and makes it more powerful than if you simply smoke it. This THC, 11-OH-THC, is more potent than regular THC (Delta-9THC), and leads to a more intense and longer-lasting high.
Good stuff right?
Natures Pain Reliever
Since ingesting marijuana creates a longer lasting and more intense full-body high, in addtion to locating and neutralizing pain the effects last much longer and are more effective than when smoked.
On average, a high from oral ingestion can last anywhere from four to six hours.
Nausea Reduction
In the medicinal world one of the first widely accepted uses of marijuana is it’s clinically proven ability to stave off nausea and increase appetite. Many studies have confirmed its effectiveness in both animals and humans (although I’m not sure we needed a study to confirm its ability to increase appetite!). The ability to regulate nausea and do so for a long period of time has made it a solution of choice for chemotherapy patients.
It Can Help to Fight Cancer
After years of misinformation, the National Cancer Institute finally updated its website a couple of years ago to reflect the fact that cannabis isn’t just effective in helping eliminate the symptoms that result from cancer treatment — nausea, loss of appetite, severe pain, discomfort — but that it can actually be used to fight cancer.
In studies on living animals researchers have found that the cannabinoids in THC were able to isolate and eliminate cancer cells.
Unfortunately the US is behind in their clinical research on the subject because of the legalities surrounding the plant and therefore a lack of funding grants for studies.
However, other countries such as Israel (the pioneer in cannabis research) are engaging in clinical studies on humans with some pretty astonishing findings.
But, you can’t get the cancer fighting benefits of marijuana from smoking the substance. It would be impossible to smoke a clinical level needed to have an affect.
However, when made into highly concentrated oils, you can get the recommended dosage in very small amounts. And if you’re going to ingest it in an edible format, why not make it super tasty in your favorite dish!
Happy 4/20! Time for some snacks!
