CANNABIS COOKING
HERBS & SPICES
These days, not all pot-infused foods are sweet treats By Sarah Lemon for the Mail Tribune
M
odern cannabis edibles may be light-years from 1960s pot brownies and puffed-rice treats. But the chef-owner of Ashland’s new Cosmic Muffin School of Cookery can’t endorse taking “medicine” in “junk food.” “I would try to get people away from candies and sweets,” says Deborah Costella. “We go far beyond that.” Costella emphasizes not only cannabis, but herbs and spices, as vital to the natural pharmacopoeia. Her recipes and hands-on classes demonstrate how to prepare foods — from soups and sandwiches to her namesake muffins — with plant essences for healing Chef Deborah and wellness. Costella knew in “You have a plethora of medicine in your pantry — 2012 “things were in your spice cupboard,” different” from says Costella. Certified in culinary the days when arts, Costella worked for stoners stirred more than a decade as a cooking instructor and “weed” seeds personal chef in Las Vegas and stems into before her concept for cannabis-infused cuisine brownie batter. emerged. Caring and cooking for her brother through his long battle with cancer, Costella realized only after his death that her home-cooked meals could have administered his medical marijuana. The chef knew in 2012 “things were different” from the days when stoners stirred “weed” seeds and stems into brownie batter.
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ANDY ATKINSON PHOTOS / MAIL TRIBUNE
Deborah Costella sprinkles sugar on Cosmic Muffins in her Ashland home. In photos at left, she makes cannabis-infused butter (top), and crushes pot to make green butter.
Costella started researching online videos about cannabis cooking and sent her son to procure the key ingredient. Work sessions with a fellow chef, who she characterizes as “Bill Nye the Science Guy of food,” helped to hone her methods. “I don’t go and buy tincture and drop it in,” says Costella. “(Cannabis) is fat-soluble, so I need a fat. “I teach people how to create their oils and butters — both for THC and CBD.” The process of infusing cannabis for its complete spectrum of chemical attributes, such as terpenes, cannabinoids and flavonoids, also is endorsed by Laurie Wolf, a chef, cookbook author and co-owner of the Portland-based edibles company Laurie + MaryJane. Edibles prepared with isolates and distillates deliver only cannabis’ THC and CBD, says Wolf. By contrast, utilizing all of the plant’s compounds, including essential oils, ensures they all work together, each magnifying the therapeutic benefits of the others, which has been termed “the entourage effect.”
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4/23/2022 12:46:13 PM
