The Carolinas are famous for their tangy barbecue sauce and smoky ribs, but Virginia’s got something they don’t. Cannabis.
Read this post to learn how to use marijuana products purchased at Virginia dispensaries to make cannabis-infused barbecue sauce that’s certain to be out of this world!
Adult-use cannabis is legal to possess, use and grow in Virginia. And while there is still nowhere to legally purchase marijuana (or even seeds), most adults can get a medical marijuana card in order to purchase products available at an expanding list of licensed dispensaries.
You may be happy enough with the fact that you can get a variety of medical marijuana products—like edibles, tinctures, topicals and vapes—delivered right to your door. And if you’re anything like those of us at Virginia Marijuana Card, you’re jumping for joy over the fact that smokable flower is coming to dispensaries by sometime in September.
However, what if we told you that you can shop online for your favorite cannabis products, have them delivered to your home (legally), and then infuse them into your favorite barbecue recipe? Now that’s next-level summertime mellow at its best.
Cannabis Infused Barbecue Sauce is What You Didn’t Know You Needed to Complete Your Summer
You can use almost any product found at a Virginia dispensary to infuse your barbecue sauce with cannabis, and there are pros and cons to each. Supplies are still just a little unstable, but fortunately, many people live within the delivery zone for multiple dispensaries.
And once flower hits the shelf (or it’s harvest time for your own homegrown marijuana), you’ll be able to customize your barbecue experience to create personalized effects based on strain and terpene profile!
In this post, we are going to explain how to create infusions from products you can find at Virginia dispensaries, as well as how to create infusions from cannabis flower coming soon, and your own homegrown buds.
Harvest Time: Using Homegrown or Dispensary Buds to Infuse Sauces
It may be a while before you’re ready for your first harvest, but there’s something special about growing your own buds, then using them in your grandmammy’s BBQ recipe. Just keep in mind that when you use homegrown marijuana to infuse your edibles, dosing will always be somewhat imprecise. The amount of THC that ends up in the finished product will be affected by your methods, what you are infusing the buds into, the temperatures you use for extraction, and the amount of time your buds are exposed to heat.
The following steps work for both homegrown and dispensary-purchased buds.
Steps for Using Homegrown Cannabis to Make Barbecue Sauce:
These steps will ensure an effective extraction of THC from freshly-picked marijuana buds. If you are using dispensary-purchased buds, you can skip the first step. You don’t need to cure your buds since they are already cured by the processor.
Cure your buds. This could take up to anywhere from four weeks to six months, depending on your strain and desired results.
Decarboxylate your buds to activate the THC. This is a reasonably simple process that doesn’t take nearly as long as the curing process.
Decide which kind of extract you would like to use for your sauce. You can make a tincture, cannabutter, or cannaoil pretty easily, by following the instructions found in Missouri Marijuana Card’s Beginner’s Guide to Making Your Own Cannabis Extracts.
Add your extract to your sauce and enjoy!
Using THC Gummies in Your Barbecue Sauce
Using THC infused gummies can give your sauce a bit of sweetness that complements a KC style barbecue nicely. You’ll just want to be careful not to overwhelm your sauce with too much sweetness unless you want your barbecue chicken to taste like fruit punch. We recommend raspberry gummies from Dharma Pharmaceuticals, or wild cherry gummies from GLeaf for best flavor.
Adding Gummies to Your Recipe:
Determine your desired potency. For example, if you’re making four servings of barbecue sauce, and you want each serving to have about 10mg of THC, then you’ll want to use 4, 10mg gummies, or 40mgs of THC.
Add a very small amount of liquid to a small saucepan or skillet. This can be the barbecue sauce you’ve already prepared, water, vinegar, or any other liquid—just enough to keep your gummies from sticking or burning.
Set the burner to low, and stir frequently as your gummies dissolve.
Once they are fully dissolved, they are ready to add to your sauce!
Using Tinctures in Your Barbecue Sauce
Tinctures are probably the easiest way to get a kick of THC into your barbecue sauce. They are precisely measured, and you can find unflavored options so you don’t have to worry about adjusting your recipe to incorporate the flavor.
Determine the number of servings you want your sauce to be, and the amount of THC you want per serving.
Squeeze out the appropriate amount of tincture into your sauce!
Enjoy the buzz of great barbecue!
Homemade Edibles are Still Edibles. Be Careful!
Picture this: You’ve worked hard to make the absolute perfect sauce. You used your Memaw’s recipe, and you measured out a precise THC dose per serving. Now it’s time to nosh. And you do. As a matter of fact, those ribs you made were so good, you got through a whole rack without stopping. Then, you realize you had a whole four servings of sauce. The THC-infused sauce. The sauce that was supposed to be potent enough at one serving.
Two hours later, you’re not sure if you should call a friend to giggle over your mistake, or an ambulance to come and save you from your high.
The first thing to remember is that no one has ever died from a marijuana overdose. According to some sources, you would have to smoke 1,500 pounds of marijuana in 15 minutes in order to die from smoking marijuana.
Then, follow the steps in our post on how to sober up if you get too high.
We always suggest trying the base product (in this case, the gummies, beverage, tincture, buds or cannabutter) that you intend to use in your DIY edibles (in this case, the barbecue sauce) before you actually use it in your recipe. That way you know if you are using the right dose, or if you maybe need to scale it back to 7mg of THC per serving, rather than 10mg of THC per serving.
A Word About Grill Heat and THC Degradation
THC evaporates at about 290 degrees. It starts to evaporate at temperatures even lower than that. So if you want your sauce to retain its potency, then you’ll need to watch the temperatures you’re cooking at.
There are a couple of ways you can get your ribs just right for that summer kind of mellow you’re looking for without sacrificing any THC or flavor.
Make sure you are infusing your sauce at lower temperatures. If your sauce recipe requires boiling, add your tincture, dissolved gummies, beverage, or cannabutter after that part of the process.
If you are a fan of cooking your meat in the sauce, then try cooking low and slow. Even better, smoke your meats with the sauce on.
Smokers generally operate between 225 and 250 degrees.
You could also put your grill on very low and cook with the lid closed.
While summertime isn’t ideal for turning your oven on, you could also cook your ribs in a roasting pan with the oven set at 250.
Just be sure that no matter what method you use, your meat needs to reach an internal temperature of at least 145 degrees in order to be safe to eat.
Get a Virginia Marijuana Card to Legally Buy the Cannabis You Need for a Perfect Summer Barbecue!
You can definitely wait until it’s time to harvest your first homegrown marijuana plants before you get started with your first BBQ. Or you could start as soon as your Virginia marijuana card gets processed through the state. Once you have a card, you can visit any dispensary in Virginia and purchase the perfect medical marijuana products for your next recipe.
Give us a call at (888) 633-5808, or click here to schedule a virtual appointment with a Virginia marijuana doctor today!
Doctors Who Care. Relief You Can Trust.
At Virginia Marijuana Card, our mission is helping everyone achieve wellness safely and conveniently through increased access to MMJ. Our focus on education, inclusion, and acceptance will reduce stigma for our patients by providing equal access to timely information and compassionate care.
Call us at (888) 633-5808, or simply book a medical marijuana evaluation to start getting relief you can trust today!
Check out Virginia Marijuana Card’s Blog to keep up to date on the latest medical marijuana news, tips, and information. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to join the medical marijuana conversation in Virginia!