Tech Packs a Punch

STATES MORE MARIJUANA,

AS MORE AND LEGALIZE RECREATIONAL CUISINE HAS A STIMULATING NEW INGREDIENT—BUT TASTE STILL REIGNS SUPREME. ElegantEdibles

Decades ago, when marijuana users got the “munchies,” they ate pretty much whatever was at hand, whether it came out of the oven or out of a plastic bag. But today we live in more refined high times. With a growing number of states legalizing the recreational use of the cannabis plant, the phrase “pot-luck dinner” has taken on new meaning: Marijuana itself can be on the menu. (Perhaps your hypertraditional Aunt Harriet could be judiciously omitted from the guest list for this particular repast.)

Fact is, the products that infuse the drug into your meal—cannabis butter and cannabis oil—should be deployed carefully both to protect and to control the amounts of THC, or tetrahydrocannabinol, you’re serving your guests. (THC is the psychoactive compound in marijuana that makes life decidedly more interesting on the spot.) Remember that its effects are slower to arrive (and to depart) in food than in smokin’ and tokin’. Of course, your guests should know what they’re getting into.

Finally, don’t rely on a buzz to carry the dinnertime ball. The buds that matter now are the taste buds (and the trusted friends you serve); follow one of the elegant recipes on these pages and you’ll induce gustatory euphoria as well as a touch of the other kind. We guarantee they’ll make your feast more memorable—if perhaps a tad harder to remember.