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BY LAURIE WOLF
It's harvest time, which means many Portlanders will soon be trimming their flowers. If you aren't growing your own, you've probably got a friend who is. This also means that once you've pulled the flower, you're going to have a bunch of fresh leaves you don't know what to do with.
In the spirit of the whole-plant movement, we are going to rock your cannabis world with pot-infused pot leaves.
These pot chips are infused twice, once when brushed with infused oil and again when sprinkled with a cannabis spice mix. Here's how to bring it all together, starting with the spice mix.
Step 1: Make the Cannabis Spice Mix
This mix will give you a light buzz. You can also sprinkle the spice mix on chicken or fish, or add it to a vinaigrette or marinade. I make a lot of this mix when my garden is at its peak. It seems to keep indefinitely in an airtight container. I have also added the dried herbs to olive oil or butter, and then it's a quick drizzle rather than a sprinkle.
Ingredients:
1/4 oz. cannabis
1/4 oz. fresh lemon thyme
1/4 oz. oregano
Heat oven to 200 degrees. Place the herbs on a baking sheet with sides.
Place the herbs in the oven and bake for 45 minutes. The herbs will have dried and turned brown.
Allow the herbs to cool thoroughly.
Place the herb mixture in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse until coarsely chopped.
Store in a jar with a tight-fitting lid and keep out of direct sunlight.
Step 2: Make the Cannabutter
The next step in the process is making the cannabis butter you'll need for the pot chips. This butter can also go into home-cooked edibles like brownies. The first step is decarboxylation, the process of heating marijuana to turn the compound THCa to the psychoactive THC (see page 27 for a more detailed explanation). To activate your marijuana, finely grind the flower and spread it out on a baking sheet. Bake at 40 minutes, stirring regularly, in an oven preheated to 240 degrees.
Ingredients:
4 sticks butter or 16 oz. oil of your choice
1 oz. decarboxylated flower
In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. You can vary the amounts, just be sure that the marijuana is always floating two inches from the bottom of the pan.
Bring the water to a boil and add the butter or oil.
After the butter has melted, add the marijuana. Once the cannabis is added, the heat should be turned down, very low, to barely a simmer. Cook for 3 hours.
Set up a bowl to hold the finished product. There are a couple of ways to strain the mixture. Use a deep heatproof glass bowl with a fine mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth. You can also tie a double layer of cheesecloth around a large heatproof bowl with twine, making it taut across the top.
Strain the marijuana butter over the bowl, trying carefully not to spill. When the saucepan is empty, carefully undo the twine, pick up the cheesecloth from all four sides and squeeze out all of the remaining butter.
Allow the cannabutter to cool at room temperature for about an hour. Place in the fridge until the butter has solidified and separated from the water. The THC and other properties have attached to the butter, so you are just about there.
Run a knife around the edge and lift the butter off the water. Place upside down on your work surface and scrape off any plant matter and milk solids. Your cannabutter is ready to use. Store in the refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container.
Step 3: Make the Leaf Chips
Ingredients:
10-12 fresh cannabis leaves
1/8 cup cannabutter (see above)
4 tbsp. cannabis spice mix (see above)
Heat oven to 225 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment, and lay the leaves on the parchment.
Brush the leaves with the infused butter or oil. Don't turn them over. Lay another piece of parchment over the leaves.
Bake the leaves for 8-12 minutes. Check at 8 minutes. If the leaves are brittle, they are done. If they are still soft, return to the oven for a few more minutes until done.
Sprinkle spice mix on the leaves and serve.
Local author Laurie Wolf has published four marijuana cookbooks and is the co-owner of Laurie & MaryJane, which makes cannabis products. For more, visit laurieandmaryjane.com.
Welcome to the Harvest Issue 2017
Nine Of Our Favorite New Portland Weed Hookups—Including One Delivery Service
The Story of Portland Cannabis As Told Through the Iconic Cultivars of the Pacific Northwest
The 17 Cannabis-Centric Events We're Most Excited About This Fall
Here's Why You Can't Get High Just By Eating Weed Flowers or Throwing Them in Brownie Mix
One Oregon Cannabis Farm Is Setting Out To Be Entirely Carbon-Neutral
How Oregon's Cannabis Industry Plans To Keep Wealth Here, and Help Right the Wrongs of the Drug War
Here's a List of Some of Our Favorite Cannabis Bargains
How To Make Pot Chips Using the Leftover Leaves From Your Marijuana Harvest