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Alpha-Pinene Terps Shine in this Sparkling Cannabis Cocktail Recipe

November 24, 2021 Published by

Holiday drinks enjoyed while celebrating friends, family and finding the light through dark winter nights is a tradition long held around the world. With pine trees inextricably part of those same warm gatherings, few things so strongly mark the arrival of the winter holidays quite like the unmistakable smell of fresh pine.

Did you know the fragrant terpene alpha-pinene is directly responsible for that unique scent we all hold near and dear during the holiday season? Found abundantly in edible plants all over the world (i.e., rosemary, juniper berries, eucalyptus, holy basil and the like), alpha-pinene’s charm also shines through in specific cannabis strains like Jack Herer, Cherry Pie and Purple Kush.

These holiday drinks in particular were inspired by pine needle syrup, a traditional Scandinavian remedy for sore throats made from pine needles foraged when the trees are just budding (the young shoots have the best flavor). Since it stunts the trees’ growth to remove the fresh buds and since not every pine tree is safe to eat, I recommend foraging with an expert or sourcing the pine needles from a reputable local or online shop. Longleaf, Shortleaf, Virginia, Spruce and Loblolly are some of the preferred trees for making pine infusions, but as with all plant consumption, take care with identification and defer to experienced knowledge before eating any plants.

There are two versions of this wintery, celebratory pine and cannabis drink: one made with sparkling wine and no added sugar, and the other infuses a simple syrup to be mixed with sparkling water–dealer’s choice.

Happy holidays, cheers!

Ingredients

1 1/2 – 2 cups cold filtered water

3.5 g dried and cured cannabis flower or trim

1/4 tsp liquid sunflower lecithin (found in health food stores or online)

1/2 cup organic cane sugar (if making simple syrup, omit if making mixer for champagne cocktails)

1-2 cinnamon sticks

2 sprigs of fresh rosemary (plus one sprig each per serving)

Sparkling white wine or sparkling mineral water (for the mixer)

Decarboxylate Cannabis

Preheat oven to 245ºF. Keep an eye on the heat using an oven thermometer.

Coarsely chop/breakup cannabis flower.

Spread cannabis evenly over a parchment lined baking pan, then cover tightly with two layers of foil.

Bake for 25 minutes, keeping an eye on the heat with an oven thermometer.

After baking, let cool fully before removing foil.

Spritz cannabis lightly with Everclear/high-proof alcohol (to help break down plant matter and cannabinoids, a genius method developed by Tamar Wise).

For Mocktail with Pine Needle Simple Syrup (no alcohol)

Boil 1 1/2 cups water, then add 1 cup pine needles.

Turn down heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Continue to simmer for 30 mins.

Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Strain needles out through a fine mesh strainer, returning the liquid to the pot.

While the liquid is still warm, whisk in 1/4 tsp liquid sunflower lecithin.

Stir in 1/2 cup sugar until it’s completely dissolved.

Pour liquid into a heat-proof glass jar (with a tight-fitting lid).

Add the decarboxylated cannabis, 2 sprigs of rosemary, and 1-2 cinnamon sticks to the liquid.

Let cool to room temperature, then put in the fridge for 12 hrs/overnight, shaking the mixture periodically.

Strain the solids out of the liquid through a cheesecloth and fine mesh strainer (more than once if necessary to get all the bits out of the liquid).

Label clearly as containing cannabis and at what dosage.

Add desired amount of the now cannabis-and-pine-needle-infused simple syrup to sparkling water over ice. Stir, garnish with a sprig of rosemary, and serve.

For a Sparkling Cocktail (mix with your favorite sparkling wine)

Boil 2 cups of water, then add 1 cup of pine needles.

Turn down heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Continue to simmer for 30 mins.

Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Strain needles out through a fine mesh strainer, returning the liquid to the pot.

While the liquid is still warm, whisk in 1/4 tsp liquid sunflower lecithin.

Pour liquid into a heat-proof glass jar (with a tight-fitting lid).

Add the decarboxylated cannabis, 2 sprigs of rosemary, and 1-2 cinnamon sticks to the pine-needle infusion.

Let cool to room temperature, then put in the fridge for 12 hrs/overnight, shaking the mixture periodically.

Strain the solids out of the liquid through a cheesecloth and fine mesh strainer (more than once if necessary to get all the bits out of the liquid).

Label clearly as containing cannabis and at what dosage.

Add the desired amount of the now cannabis-and-pine-needle-infused liquid and a sprig of fresh rosemary to your favorite sparkling Brut. Cheers!

Dosage: Both recipes make about 1 2/3 cups liquid. I use tablespoons as my measurement for dosage, with 1 tablespoon per drink. There are 16 tablespoons in a liquid cup, so 1 2/3 cups is very loosely 26 tbsps, or 13 servings. If I start with a cannabis flower that tests at around 20% THC, using 3.5g would make the total amount of THC in the syrup all in about 700mg THC. Dividing that total by 26 tbsp. servings, each tbsp. would contain approximately 27mg THC per serving.

The post Alpha-Pinene Terps Shine in this Sparkling Cannabis Cocktail Recipe appeared first on Cannabis Now.

Make These Delicious Cannabis-Infused Mocktail Recipes At Home

May 13, 2021 Published by

It’s entirely likely you or someone you know has made the unfortunate and all-too-easy party blunder of imbibing too much alcohol and then adding cannabis to the mix. What seems like a natural social combination of a few drinks and a few joints can quickly turn into nauseous, seemingly unending awfulness. The effects of both cannabis and alcohol can creep up on you unexpectedly, as your body interacts with the intake of chemicals at different speeds. I’ve certainly questioned on many a dark morning the plausibility of ever combining the two reliably, under any circumstances. The jury’s still out.

In the meantime, I can report firsthand that enjoying the two individually is the best plan. To take it even further, you can replace an alcoholic beverage with cannabis-infused mocktails, which is beneficial to your body, as opposed to the known havoc wreaked by alcohol. Instead of drinking a numbing poison for kicks, there is now the option of enjoying a plant that has been used throughout recorded civilization as a holistic natural medicine.

The question is, however, how can you enjoy cannabis consumption as innocuously and acceptably as drinking an alcoholic beverage?

Welcome to the world of “mocktails”: cannabis-infused drinks that are a delicious, effective and subtle alternative to an alcoholic beverage. Take extra care when drinking cannabis, as liquids are processed more quickly by your body than edibles, so you may feel the effects in as little as 10-20 minutes. Let it ride for at least 45-90 minutes before drinking more, to be on the safe side.

Remember: you can always drink more, but you cannot go back in time and drink less.

Luckily, it’s impossible to overdose on cannabis, but the effects can be unpleasant and overwhelming if too much is consumed for your personal tolerance.

Here’s a cannabis-infused simple syrup recipe to use as a base ingredient for your own homemade cannabis mocktail creations. It does take some time and patience, but is well worth the effort:

Cannabis-Infused Lemon Simple Syrup Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup filtered water
1 cup sugar
12 drops cold-pressed essential lemon oil
2 teaspoons corn syrup
1/2 gram cannabis BHO concentrate
1/2 gram (1 teaspoon) sunflower liquid lecithin (found in health food stores)

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Bring the cup of filtered water to a simmer. Add one cup of sugar (tip: slightly dampening the sugar before adding it to the simmering water will help the crystals incorporate more smoothly), 2-3 drops of essential lemon oil and 1 tsp of corn syrup. Take care not to boil the mixture, as that will alter the ratio of water-to-sugar in the syrup through evaporation.
  2. Loosely cover the saucepan with a lid, and bring the syrup mix to a simmer for 5 minutes. Do not stir, as the sugar may crystallize easily at this stage with the introduction of any foreign particulates. Set it aside to cool slightly during the next step.
  3. Heat cannabis concentrate to a steady 250º F degrees in a glass or stainless steel dish that will be big enough to later accommodate the addition of 1 cup of syrup.
  4. Continue to heat the concentrate until bubbles have stopped at maximum bubble formation, about 5 minutes. Temperatures of stoves and other variables make this step extremely unpredictable; the best way to gauge the correct time is visually. Stir the concentrate slightly with a bamboo skewer while heating to ensure even decarboxylation.
  5. Thin the cannabis oil with 10 drops of essential lemon oil and 1 tsp corn syrup. Mix thoroughly.
  6. Add 1 tsp sunflower liquid lecithin to the cannabis oil mixture. Stir thoroughly while heating at 175º F for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
  7. Quickly add the 1 cup of simple syrup to the warm cannabis oil mixture, stirring vigorously to incorporate the oil mixture into the syrup.
  8. Heat the syrup to 160º F. Using a wet pastry brush to keep sides free of crystals, keep an eye on the mixture and stir with a very clean whisk periodically to break up the foam. This is the most difficult step, as it can take up to 3 hours for the oil to be fully dissolved. Patience and low heat are key to the success of this emulsion while avoiding the further decarboxylation of the cannabis oil.
  9. When the oil has dissipated to a sheen of droplets, remove the syrup from the heat and cool slightly before stirring. Stir vigorously and steadily with a clean whisk.
  10. Pour the now infused-syrup into an air-tight container. (Tip: Use a spatula to ensure you fully scrape the sides of all the infused goodness.)
  11. Label clearly, and store up to one week in a dark, cool place. If the infused syrup does separate or crystallize, don’t worry, it can easily be mixed up again by simply stirring, and can be reheated gently, as needed.

Dosage: If your BHO potency is 70 percent THC (700 mg), one half-gram would then contain around 350 mg THC. With 16 tablespoons in each cup of infused syrup, a single tablespoon would contain approximately 22 mg of THC.

Three Cannabis-Infused Mocktail Recipes

Cannabis-Infused Rosemary Cucumber Ginger Beer

Rosemary, Cucumber & Cannabis Ginger Beer Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1 liter (4 cups) of ginger beer
1/2 cup cannabis-infused lemon simple syrup
1 cucumber, sliced
2 sprigs of rosemary, slightly crushed
Ice, extra rosemary sprigs and a fresh cannabis fan leaf for garnish, if available

makes 4 servings at a 44 mg dose per mocktail

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Add all the ingredients into a jug and stir.
  2. Cover and refrigerate for between 2-4 hours.
  3. Serve over ice, and garnish with extra rosemary sprigs and a fan leaf or two. Share and enjoy!

 

Cannabis-Infused Mojito Mocktail

Cannabis-Infused Mojito Mocktail Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

5-6 mint leaves
2 tbsp fresh lime juice (juice from approximately half of a medium/large lime)
2 tbsp cannabis-infused lemon simple syrup
½ cup ice
1/2 cup club soda or sparkling mineral water

makes 1 serving at a 44 mg dose

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Muddle 3 of the mint leaves and the lime juice in the bottom of your glass.
  2. Add 2 tablespoons canna-infused lemon simple syrup, the club soda or sparkling water, and the rest of the mint leaves.
  3. Stir to mix thoroughly. Add ice and enjoy!

Thai Basil and Lime Cannabis-Infused Mocktail

Thai Basil & Lime Cannabis-Infused Mocktail Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 lime, sliced into 4 lime wedges
A small handful of fresh Thai basil
2 tablespoons cannabis-infused lemon simple syrup
1 cup club soda or sparkling water, plus more to top off
1 cup ice
Lemongrass stalks, trimmed (optional, to use as stir sticks)
Cannabis leaves for garnish, if available

makes 2 servings at a 22 mg dose per mocktail

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Muddle the basil with the lemon cannabis simple syrup in a serving glass.
  2. Add the club soda or sparkling water, and stir until well mixed.
  3. Add the ice and lemongrass stalks. Top off with club soda or sparkling water and a slice of lime. Share and enjoy!

The post Make These Delicious Cannabis-Infused Mocktail Recipes At Home appeared first on Cannabis Now.