Bite Me The Show About Edibles
Helping cooks make great cannabis edibles at home.
Create your own tasty, healthy cannabis edibles and take control of your high life! Bite Me is a weekly show that helps home cooks make fun, safe and effective cannabis edibles. Listen as host Margaret walks you through an marijuana infused recipe that she has tested in her home kitchen or interviews with expert guests. New episodes every Thursday.
Bite Me The Show About Edibles
The Benefits of Ghee: Why This Fat is Perfect for Cannabis
Discover why ghee might be the secret weapon missing from your cannabis kitchen. This golden, clarified butter not only offers a rich, nutty flavour that elevates any recipe, but its unique properties make it arguably the perfect medium for cannabis infusions.
Unlike regular butter with its 350°F smoke point, ghee can handle temperatures up to 485°F without burning—giving you greater cooking flexibility while protecting those precious cannabinoids. As a nearly 100% fat substance, ghee excels at binding with THC and other cannabinoids, potentially creating more potent infusions than other fats. For those with dietary restrictions, there's more good news: the clarification process removes milk solids, making ghee suitable for many people with lactose sensitivities.
We walk through the complete process of creating cannabis-infused ghee at home, from decarboxylation to infusion techniques, including an intriguing discussion about whether traditional long infusion times are actually necessary. Could 30 minutes be just as effective as 2-3 hours? We explore this question while providing practical advice for storage, dosing, and creative ways to use your infused ghee—whether drizzled over popcorn, stirred into morning coffee, or substituted in your favourite recipes.
Ready to elevate your edibles game? This ingredient deep-dive will transform how you approach cannabis cooking. Remember to subscribe, leave a review, and share with a fellow cannabis enthusiast who might benefit from adding this ancient superfood to their modern infusions!
Visit the website for full show notes, free dosing calculator, recipes and more.
Welcome, friends, to episode 291. Today we're doing an ingredient big bite. We're looking into the world of ghee. Welcome to Bite Me, the show about edibles, where I help you take control of your high life. I'm your host and certified gonger, margaret, and I love helping cooks make safe and effective edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here and welcome back listeners to Bite Me, the podcast, where we explore the intersection of food culture and cannabis, and I help you make great edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here. Thank you for joining me today and let me know what edibles you've been making lately. I would love to find out If you're just tuning in. For the first time, we are diving into the world of ghee so you can learn more about this marvelous ingredient that probably doesn't get enough attention If you've been here for a while. I am so glad you're joining me yet again for another episode. And yes, as I mentioned, today we're doing an ingredient deep dive into ghee, what it is, why it's a superior fat for infusing and how you can use it to create incredibly potent and delicious edibles.
Speaker 1:Before we get into today's episode, I'm going to do a little cannabis trivia to test your knowledge from the Stoner Trivia race to 420. And I'm taking a random card out of the deck, flipping it over. We've got a TV question. I don't want to do that one. I'm going to pick another one. I didn't. It had something to do with the reality TV show or TV show. I guess it is a reality TV show Pawn Stars. I've never actually watched that show. I've obviously heard about it, but I just don't feel like doing that one today. My show I can do what I want, so I'm going to pick another card randomly out of the deck. Also, I feel like if you're sitting at home you're trying to answer these questions and you also don't watch Pawn Stars, you're never going to be able to try and test your knowledge. Testing your knowledge with law. To try and test your knowledge, testing your knowledge with law Ah, that one's boring too. Some of these cards are not ideal. I'm going to pick another random one. Third time's the charm. We've got a knowledge question.
Speaker 1:This author, considered the master of horror, said I think marijuana should not only be legal, it should be a cottage industry. Eli Roth, john Carpenter, stephen King or Anne Rice this author considered the master of horror, said I think marijuana should not only be legal, it should be a cottage industry. And if you guessed Stephen King, you would be guessing correctly. Ding, ding, ding ding. As soon as the question said the master of horror, I was like I can't even ask this question. Everybody's gonna know right away it's Stephen King. I have read some Anne Rice books like it was like 100 years ago and I'm not super familiar with the other two. I've heard of them, but Stephen King is the most well-known master of horror that I can think of. I guess that that sounds like I've heard that quote before. Actually. So Stephen King has long thought that cannabis should be legal and a cottage industry.
Speaker 1:So why don't we get into this wonderful ingredient called ghee? If you've never used ghee before, or maybe you've heard of it but you're unsure if it's worth trying, this episode is for you. Trust me, by the end you'll be ready to swap out your butter or coconut oil for this golden buttery goodness. So let's dive in. So ghee is a form of clarified butter and that's been used in Indian and Ayurvedic cooking for centuries, and it's made by slowly simmering butter to remove the water and milk solids, leaving behind pure butter fat. And if you've been making edibles for any length of time. You likely know that THC loves fat. The cannabinoids in cannabis want to bind to fat and that's what makes ghee such a wonderful ingredient to infuse. And here's a few other things that make ghee special. It's got a higher smoke point. So, unlike regular butter which burns at 350 degrees, ghee can handle up to 485 degrees Fahrenheit, and that means it's perfect for cooking and baking without a nasty burnt butter taste. That 485 makes it very applicable to all kinds of cooking situations. It's also lactose free.
Speaker 1:If you have a sensitivity to dairy ghee is a great alternative, since the milk proteins, the casein and the lactose which most people have a sensitivity to in most cases have been removed. It's got a rich and nutty flavor. Ghee has this deep caramelized nutty taste that's way more flavorful than plain butter, and it's also nutrient dense. It contains fat soluble vitamins A, d, e and K, and it's been used in Ayurveda for centuries for its supposed healing properties. So if none of that convinces you that you should try ghee in some of your own cannabis cuisine, then Just know, of course, like I mentioned, that THC loves butterfat, and those two things are a perfect pairing.
Speaker 1:Now why is ghee perfect for cannabis infusions? Ghee is a game changer when it comes to making edibles, and here's why, like I already mentioned, the fat content. Cannabinoids bind best to fats and ghee is almost 100% fat, meaning you get a highly efficient extraction of THC and CBD when you're infusing. It also has a long shelf life Because ghee has no water. It doesn't tend to go bad as quickly as butter and if it's stored properly it can last months at room temperature and even longer in the fridge. And now I've never really had butter go bad on me, except on those occasions where I have infused it and somehow the introduction of the plant material into the butter just made it more susceptible to spoilage. This also means that ghee has that longer shelf life because there is no water in it. Butter has water in it. I know this because I have made butter myself in my own home kitchen.
Speaker 1:Ghee has a smooth texture, unlike coconut oil, which can get grainy. Ghee stays silky and smooth, making for better edibles in everything from baked goods to savory dishes. And there's also the versatility you can use ghee for sweet or savory infusions, like cookies, brownies, or drizzling it over popcorn or roasted vegetables. Chef's kiss. That all sounds delicious. So, whether you're trying to make something sweet or to make something salty. Ghee can work beautifully for both.
Speaker 1:Now how are you going to infuse ghee? This is the fun part is infusing ghee with cannabis to get a potent, flavorful infusion Cup of ghee. And you're going to want decarbed cannabis to go into your infusion Cultivar of your choice, although I always find it's debatable whether or not that cultivar particularly matters, because the terpenes have often been lost during the process of decarb and infusion. But I digress often been lost during the process of decarb and infusion, but I digress A saucepan, double boiler or slow cooker and a cheesecloth and a strainer so you can remove the plant material after the fact. Now I also sometimes do this in a glass jar, so that's another option, to put the glass jar in a pot of water instead of the double boiler method. But either will work.
Speaker 1:So first you're going to want to decarb your cannabis and you can bake that at about 240 degrees Fahrenheit for about 30 minutes, give or take. You will smell it in the air without question, and this is going to activate your THC or CBD. Now you can use a device like an Ardent to decarb, and they do claim that that will give you a higher percentage of activated cannabis, or if you have some already vaped cannabis that you've been saving from your dry herb vaporizer, you could use that in place of having to decarb fresh weed. So there's a few different ways you can do this, but your decarbed weed is going to be the first step. So next you're going to heat the ghee in your double broiler. You're going to melt it on low heat. The double broilers will help prevent it from getting too hot, because THC can degrade over 250, even if the ghee does not burn. So bear that in mind. Then you're going to add your decarbed cannabis to the ghee and let it simmer on low for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally. Now also, if you go the route of the mason jar or the glass jar in the pot of water, you would just add your ghee and your cannabis into the jar and simmer it on the stove. The boiling water will be around it. You might have to top up the water a little bit Now.
Speaker 1:Interestingly, I had a guest on my show recently who talked about the fact that often longer infusion times aren't necessary. And so, because I haven't tested this out myself yet, you know it's still pretty common practice to infuse for a couple of hours. But this guest and maybe I'm teasing this guest a little bit that interview will be coming out in April of 2025, depending on when you're listening to this. She said you could probably get away with half an hour and that a lot of the THC binds to the fat relatively quickly and that we just have this idea. If we infuse for longer, it means that we'll be extracting more of the THC. But that's not actually the case, according to the experiments that she's done. Now. I find this a really interesting topic. I'm going to certainly do some experiments in my own home kitchen and report back because I do find that fascinating.
Speaker 1:Because for a while, I was talking about with some friends what happened if you would infuse your cannabis for even longer than two hours, like four hours. Would it be more potent Eight hours? Basically, this guest was saying that that is absolutely not the case. In fact, what you're extracting is more of the plant material, the undesirable stuff that gives a lot of the times. If you have a really long infusion time, you get that really green color because it's extracting things other than the cannabinoids, extracting plant material, chlorophyll and all these other things. I am still going to recommend two hours at this point, but I'm going to be doing some experiments around that Not to digress too much. But maybe we don't need to be doing it for two to three hours. Maybe we just need to do it for 30 minutes, and wouldn't that save us a whole lot of time? So those are some experiments I'll be doing upcoming. If you have any feedback or anything that you would like me to include in some of these experiments, let me know.
Speaker 1:Once you have infused for a couple of hours, however, you're going to strain your infusion Once it's a little cooled off. You don't want to touch it right away because it's going to be pretty hot, but strain it through the cheesecloth into a clean glass jar, making sure to squeeze out all the goodness that you can, or whatever strainer that it is that you're using, and let it solidify and store in an airtight jar or container. It'll last for several months in the fridge and then you'll have this delicious ghee that you can have on hand and ready to use in whatever it is that you're wanting to make Now. Also, don't forget, you're going to want to figure out the potency, so it's really going to depend if you're using a cup of ghee to three and a half grams of decarbed cannabis. You can kind of figure out the potency from there, either doing the math or using an online calculator or or a device like a tea check. If you're making a ton of a ton of edibles, it's a pretty spendy little device if you're not going to be making use of it often or frequently. But also be sure to label that. Include that information on the label when you inevitably label it when you put it in for storage. Remember that. Do not forget to label, because we don't want people to inadvertently dose themselves.
Speaker 1:And now you've got a rich, potent, golden ghee ready for all of your edibles needs. And now that you've got your infused ghee, what can you do with it? Well, if you're baking, you can just swap it out one for one for butter in your cookies, brownies, cakes, whatever. If you're cooking, because it has such a high smoke point, it's great to saute vegetables, fry eggs, sear meats for an easy infused meal. Now, do keep in mind, despite the fact that it has a high smoke point on its own, thc does not. So you are going to have to keep some of the temperatures down if you're using an infused ghee, but do remember that you could use part of your recipe infused ghee and non-infused ghee because even though it has that super high smoke point, like I mentioned earlier in this episode THC just doesn't. So you're going to have to do some things at lower temperatures. I think THC starts to degrade at about 250 degrees, if I recall.
Speaker 1:As I mentioned earlier, this is probably one of the best ways to use it is drizzling, because you can melt it and pour it over popcorn, pasta, roast potatoes, roasted vegetables, all that kind of thing, and that's a great way to use it, because you're melting it gently and then you're using it as a drizzle. You don't have to worry about degrading any of the cannabinoids precious, precious cannabinoids that are in your infusion and mixing. You can stir it into coffee, tea, warm oatmeal for a dose of cannabinoids with your breakfast or something similar, and that's another nice way to use it as well. Or maybe you enjoy a nice hot cup of tea or a warm beverage in the evening when you're relaxing. This is another great way to. You can mix it into that. I mean it is going to be a little bit oily, of course, because, as we know, oil and water don't tend to mix too well. You're still going to get that goodness and you're still going to be able to enjoy your hot beverage. Mixing into warm things is another wonderful way to use it, Because ghee is so efficient at absorbing cannabinoids.
Speaker 1:It can be quite strong. So be sure that when you are dosing, you dose safely, as always we all know. Say with me together start low and go slow, and if you're new to edibles, just try a small portion and wait at least two hours before taking more. Oftentimes people will recommend and I do fall into this camp, in fact don't even wait two hours, just try again the next day if you're brand new to edibles, because, for whatever reason, sometimes things just don't play out the way you think they're going to. Yeah, you just want to be on the safe side and that really does help you. Make sure, if you're trying to figure out your tolerance, that there are no residual effects from, potentially, that first dose that you're taking, so you have an even better understanding of how your body is handling ingested cannabis.
Speaker 1:And of course, you can mix it with regular ghee. If you find your infusion is too strong, just dilute it with some non-infused ghee for more control. Very simple. So if a recipe asks for a certain amount. You know how strong your ghee is, then you don't have to use that entire amount. You can definitely mix with the regular ghee to control your dose. Definitely mix with the regular ghee to control your dose. That's our big bite into ghee.
Speaker 1:If you haven't tried infusing with ghee yet, I highly recommend it. It's flavorful, potent and incredibly versatile for edibles. I haven't made ghee in a while myself, but like any other fat-based ingredient, ghee is a wonderful one that I don't think gets enough intention A lot of the times when people think about infusing different ingredients to use for cooking purposes. You know people think of butter, they think of coconut oil, which are both wonderful. I like infusing all of those things, but they have limitations. I mean I've also infused duck fat, which is another really nice one to do. I mean I've also infused duck fat, which is another really nice one to do. I'll have to do an ingredient deep dive big bite on duck fat at some point.
Speaker 1:But do you use ghee in your edibles? I would love to hear about it and if you've made something with ghee, tag me on Instagram, at BiteMePodcast, or you can send me a message through BiteMeodcastcom and if you found this episode helpful, please share it with a friend or leave a five-star review, and don't forget to subscribe for more episodes about making homemade edibles. So until next time, my friends. I am your host, margaret. Stay high.
