Did you know that weed-infused honey is packed with a plethora of medicinal benefits? If bee honey was a food on its own, adding cannabis turns it into a superfood. In fact, the medicinal values of honey and cannabis complement each other extremely well. In this article, you’ll learn all about the benefits of honey and how to make your own cannabis-infused honey.
Behold what is arguably the medicine of all medicines – cannabis-infused honey. What we already know about cannabis and honey is that although they are fundamentally different, they both contain mountains of medicinal properties, and are both incredibly yummy. Infusing honey with cannabis makes for an extremely potent and long-lasting medicine.
Not all cannabis users were made alike, and although many of us really enjoy smoking, some of us prefer to go for other methods. But having said that, those making a health-conscious choice to eat rather than smoke weed sometimes end up buying sugary or salty edibles. And let’s be honest, that seems to be a health choice in the wrong direction.
Cannabis-infused honey is a solution for the one with a sweet tooth who doesn’t want to compromise on health benefits. In fact, adding honey to the mix introduces a plethora of medicinal compounds that the body will love.
It’s time to learn about all the health benefits you can receive from cannabis-infused honey and of course – we will teach you how to make it!
What’s so good about bee honey?
Using honey as medicine is by no means a new thing. Almost all medical literature from the ancient past has mentioned bee honey at some point, and it still plays a huge role in Ayurvedic medicine for example.
Interestingly, honey isn’t just good medicine for the inside of the body, but has also been used as a healing salve for wounds. This is due to its antibacterial and anti-infectious properties. The viscosity of the liquid also provides open wounds on the body a kind of protective film that can prevent infections.
Cannabis salves have also been used on the body for the same reason of healing bruises, wounds and relaxing muscles. So, you can only imagine what happens when you put the two together.
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The medicinal value of honey can be attributed to the combination of enzymes, vitamins and sugars that are contained in it, as well as the alkaline nature of honey. According to Ayurvedic doctors, honey can be used to treat skin conditions, colds, bronchitis, eye diseases and even tuberculosis. In fact, bee honey is even said to promote semen production and play a role in maintaining good mental health.
There are, of course, specifically medicinal types of honey such as manuka honey. This is honey that has had the hydrogen peroxide activity blocked. These types of honey are said to carry more medicinal value than the regular kind that we usually purchase in supermarkets.
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What’s so good about cannabis?
Cannabis has just as good a reputation as honey for what it offers medicinally. Cannabis salves have been used on the body for the same reasons:
- Healing bruises
- Wounds
- Relaxing muscles
- Anti-inflammatory qualities
So, you can only imagine what happens when you put cannabis together with bee honey. It’s a match made in heaven. The medicinal value of both products complement each other in a very natural way and make for a super medicinal powerhouse.
How to make cannabis-infused honey
Now that you know all about the reasons you might want to add bee honey to your diet, it’s time to learn how to make it. The good news is that making cannabis-infused honey is extremely easy. And if you’re a whiz of herbs or enjoy playing chef, you can add even more medicinal value to your recipe.
Choose your strain wisely
Don’t forget that the honey you make is going to be a very concentrated version of the weed that you choose to infuse. If you’re making this honey for medicinal reasons, be strain selective. Choose a medicinal strain such as White Widow, Skunk , Super Skunk or the good old Northern Lights, which will complement the medicinal properties of honey.
On the other hand, if you’re making this honey for recreational reasons, why not choose something sweet? The sweeter the flavours in your buds, the more it will fit with the sweet flavours of honey. You can try the Papaya strain, California Orange, Hawaii Maui Waui, or Bubblicious, all which are sweet and fruity strains of weed.
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And choose your honey wisely, too!
Choosing the honey for this culinary adventure is just as important as choosing the weed you’re going to use. The quality of honey varies a lot between products, so make sure you’ve done some research. Some cheaper non-organic honey jars are only partly filled with honey – and the rest is just added sugar!
Opt for an organic honey to make sure that you aren’t just consuming a whole lot of refined sugars. And if you really feel like splurging, you can purchase a medicinal honey such as manuka honey for this recipe.
Don’t forget to decarboxylate
Just like with any other edible product you make in the kitchen, it’s important to decarboxylate your weed. If you don’t, you risk losing most of the cannabinoid information that’s actually inside of your weed. Decarboxylation involves heating your weed to convert the THC-A into the psychoactive THC. For a more detailed explanation, read our article on exactly how to decarboxylate your weed.
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The method of infusion
The trick with infusing cannabis into honey is slow cooking. The slower you cook it, the more time the cannabinoids have to infuse into the honey. Also, you don’t want to let your honey reach the boil, and for that reason it’s better to keep it on a lower heat for a longer time. Don’t get over excited and burn your cannabis honey!
- Using a slow cooker or crockpot is ideal. If you don’t have that, you can use a regular saucepan, but make sure you keep a very close eye on it. If you want to take extra precautions to cook it slowly and evenly, you can consider using a bain-marie.
- Wrap your decarboxylated cannabis buds in a very fine cheesecloth and double layer it. The reason for this is that it is extremely hard to strain honey, so better to avoid putting the plant material directly inside of the honey.
- Now, add the honey to your slow cooker. You can use as much honey as you like, but pick an amount that reasonably correlates to the amount of weed you’re going to be using. For example, one tablespoon is roughly 20 ml of honey. Calculate how many doses are in your jar of honey, and choose a responsible amount of weed to add. It is also better to be using organic honey and if possible, organic weed!
- Choose the lowest heat you can for cooking the honey in the slow cooker. DO NOT let your honey come to the boil. If it starts to get too hot, turn it off or turn it down. Make sure you check on your mixture regularly.
- You can cook your infusion for anywhere between 4 and 10 hours. The slower you cook it, the more infused your honey will be.
- Remove the satchel containing the cannabis and squeeze out any honey that might be lingering around on the cheesecloth. Be careful not to burn yourself.
- Store your honey in sterilized mason jars. They can live in the fridge or the freezer for a really long time.
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Adding other medicinal herbs
You don’t have to limit your infusion to simply cannabis. This is just one herb that happens to support the medicinal value of honey and vice versa. However, if you wish, you can also add lavender, cloves, rosemary, chamomile or cinnamon to your honey infusion. These are also herbs that support the medicinal values of both cannabis and honey.
The sky is the limit when it comes to creating your medicinal honey infusion. All you have to do is put it all in the cheesecloth with the cannabis and infuse it all together.
If there are flavours you enjoy in tea, such as vanilla, you can throw that in too. You can use this honey for some very creative culinary inventions, and drizzle it on top of waffles! Otherwise, you can add this honey to teas or coffee, or simply just eat a teaspoon when required. Use your creativity and enjoy your cannabis-infused honey!
