Cooking with Cannabis

Many programs promote a safe space around food and beverage, but unfortunately, that’s not the case for cannabis. In this section, you will learn how to identify the quality of various cannabis products, understand lab tests that determine some elements of safety, how to label and store cannabis infusions properly, and more.

Before you infuse any recipes or serve any guests, you must follow all food and beverage safety requirements and cannabis laws based on the country and state you reside in. This section details the “grey area” of the cannabis industry and provides recommendations on preparing yourself as a Cannabis Chef.

Aside from knowing how to make an accurately dosed cannabis infusion, identifying the tolerance of your guests is the most crucial aspect of being a cannabis chef. The tolerance guide will guide you in determining each of your individual guests’ tolerance levels and how to dose them accordingly.

Over 150 cannabinoids have been discovered throughout the various cannabis varieties, but only a handful are available to make infusions with at this time. Whether the cannabinoid comes from hemp or marijuana, what matters more than anything is knowing if the cannabinoid produces an intoxicating or nonintoxicating effect. This section will guide you on the best cannabinoids to utilize at your events, how they will make people feel based on how they are consumed, and which cannabinoids to avoid from a risk and cost perspective.

For certain cannabinoids to be effective and make people feel high, they require specific temperatures and times to be activated. Will you use your oven, sous vide machine, or air fryer to decarb flower and concentrates? This is one of the most in-depth sections in the entire course and includes several decarb experiments with lab tests, so you’re able to observe the many variables when decarbing cannabis.

Since cannabis research has identified the fantastic synergy between terpenes and cannabinoids, terpenes have become incredibly popular. As a chef, you’ve been cooking with terpenes for a while. But in this section, you’re going to learn how they can be an incredible tool for creating recipes and experiences.  

Various terpenes will be featured in recipes throughout the course, and you will also receive a terpene pairing guide within your course workbook.

Various cannabis products can be used for infused oil, fat, alcohol, honey, and other bases. Throughout the course, you will learn how to infuse flower and concentrates into a proper infusion base and determine the infusion dose. 

The infusions made throughout the course will be featured in recipes, so you are can see how and why they were selected based on their flavor, aroma, homogenization, and cannabinoid profiles. Here you will also learn which infusions can be dosed accurately or require a lab test to know what the cannabinoid serving will be.

The four video sections and course workbook will demonstrate or guide you on infusing with an oven, hot plate, sous vide machine, and other kitchen appliances. You will also learn the best temperatures and times for infusing specific cannabis products and how to minimize or enhance the flavor and aroma of cannabis.

A Cannabis Chef can efficiently work with lab-tested and reliably dosed cannabis products that retail hemp and marijuana cannabis companies produce. Just as someone doesn’t need to press olives for oil to be considered a chef, a cannabis chef isn’t required to make their infusions from scratch either. What’s more important than where an infusion came from is the chef’s knowledge on cannabis, tolerance, the effects of various cannabinoids depending on how they are consumed, and how to guide a guest out of any adverse experiences.

Cooking sustainably with cannabis is very different than any other food product. Due to the overly regulated nature of the marijuana industry, it’s near impossible to source cannabis products like a chef would source grass-fed beef or freshly harvested heirloom tomatoes. However, there are still ways you can minimize waste and get the most out of your infusions. This section will feature fan leaves, how they work in recipes, and transforming them into functional garnishes.

The trend of mixing cannabis into alcoholic drinks is already in full force, so let’s be the ones who make sure people are adequately educated about this beautiful combo. Infusing alcohol with cannabis is quite simple, but it’s crucial to understand some safety, dosing, and infusion protocols to ensure your guests don’t overindulge.

Suppose you serve anyone intoxicating compounds and are the cause of bringing them to a state of discomfort, paranoia, anxiety, etc. In that case, you are responsible for making sure they are guided out of that negative state. It’s not the matter of IF someone you serve will reach this point; it’s the matter of WHEN. Having the knowledge and skills to prevent these scenarios from happening is, first and foremost, the most important thing. However, you still need to know how to handle a situation like this because it will happen eventually, regardless of how careful you are.  

The size of the party doesn’t matter when it comes to cannabis-infused dining experiences – it’s that simple. Whether you’re serving five people for an intimate dinner or fifteen hundred for a massive corporate event, the importance of identifying tolerance, ensuring accurate dosing, and being able to confidently and correctly answer questions of your guests, always applies. This section will guide you through the various ways you can create a dining experience for guests of all tolerance levels, regardless of the size of the event.

There is a spectrum in every industry and with every product with extremes on each end. Will you be the cannabis chef that cooks with the whole plant and makes every recipe taste like ganja? Or will you finish plates with precisely dosed flavorless infusions with pipettes and syringes without ever touching the plant, leaves, or flower? Regardless of where you fall on this spectrum, the knowledge you have on cannabis and the responsibility to ensure your guests are correctly dosed is what matters most.

What role does a Cannabis Chef play in the experience a guest has at an infused event? Do you have the ability to affect the effects of their high? From the menu font to the food presentation, you have more power than you could ever imagine! A Cannabis Chef is a part of The True Entourage Effect!

There are many ways you can pair cannabis with food and beverage. Whether you’re focusing on flavor, aroma, mouthfeel, texture, or everything combined, the fantastic thing about pairing cannabis with food is guiding your guest’s senses before and after they partake in your infusions! This section includes a fun experiment you’ll get to do from home, which will completely change how you taste terpenes!

Before you can be a Cannabis Chef, you must be a chef first. But what defines a chef in today’s modern kitchen times? Here we will discuss what makes a Cannabis Chef and how to separate yourself from all the others.

Breakfast Sandwich with CBD:CBG Ghee

Apple Slaws with Beta-Caryophyllene

Ribeye with Limonene Chimichurri 

CBG & Ocimene Old Fashioned

Italian Action Soup with Fan Leaf Herb Oil

Terpene Salt Rimmed Margarita

Tacos & Guac

• Navigating the Course
• Introduction
• Disclaimers & Legal
• Cannabis Quality & Safety
• Equipment
• Cannabinoids
• Decarboxylation
• Decarboxylation Experiments
• Tolerance
• Terpenes
• Terpene Pairing Guide
• Apple Slaws
• Infusion Basics & Bases
• Flower Infusions
• Concentrate Infusions
• Concentrate Infusions for Recipes
• Breakfast Sandwich
• Storing Infusions
• Cannabis & Alcohol
• Ribeye, Chimichurri, Old Fashioned
• The Entourage Effect
• Retail Ready
• Cannabis & Sustainability
• Action Soup
• The Spectrum of Cannabis Chefs
• Catering & Events
• Overconsumption
• Salt & Sugar
• Tacos & Terperita
• Pairing
• The Unique Cannabis Chef
• Outro