Cannabis And Rose Infused Honey Makes Everything Taste Fancy

One of the most enlightening food segments I ever heard was a nutritionist breaking down sugars and sugar substitutes on NPR. As a die hard sweetener purist, I was vindicated by her enlightening information, which was essentially that all sweeteners have a glycemic action in the body, so even the lower calorie ones can still add up. This also means that if people like the taste of some of the healthier sweetener alternatives like agave and Stevia, more power to them, but they aren’t inherently better than white sugar or honey.

This boils down to one thing in my basic sweet heart: Use the ones you love, in moderation, like all things. Cannabis is one of those things. Finding a way to dose in the morning without overdoing it or relying on combustion is a tricky endeavor. Not everyone has the stomach for candies and baked goods in the morning, but there’s a place for infused honey in everyone’s morning.

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A spoonful dosed into tea, coffee, or even lemon water would do the trick. And if you’re more into food, there’s toast and yogurt for the drizzling. Honey infused with roses adds an extra special perfumed quality that can make everything feel more luxurious.

Rose and Cannabis Infused Honey Syrup

Danielle Guercio, 2017
Makes 6oz; 14mg THC per serving

• ½ cup rose buds
• 1 cup Honey Syrup
• ½ oz cannabis infused glycerin tincture*

You can totally use regular honey for this recipe, but for the love of god don’t use fancy or raw honeys, as any heat will render their finer qualities useless.

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In fact, you can go ahead and use cheaper honey syrups if you’d like, because if you are using regular honey you’ll need some water added to thin the viscosity for best dosing.

Set up a double boiler and heat up the honey syrup. Drop in some roses and give a stir every few minutes. Allow to infuse for about 30 minutes.

Strain while warm and reserve the candied roses for garnishing desserts and drinks. You can also dip them in sugar to be extra, just allow to cool on parchment where they won’t stick. Once slightly cooled, you can add the cannabis tincture. Store in a clean jar, you can refrigerate but you don’t have to.

Use in anything you would use honey in. Thanks to it’s slightly thinner consistency and water content, you can use much easier in cocktails. This syrup will dissolve into cold water much faster than pure honey.

*Cannabis Infused Glycerin Tincture

In an oven safe container double sealed with foil, decarboxylate 3.5 grams finely ground cannabis at 225 degrees Fahrenheit. Put cannabis in a mason jar or vacuum sealed bag, pour over 2 oz vegetable glycerin and seal tightly. Place in a water bath at just under boiling for 1 hour. Strain and keep contents in a sterilized container. Stores indefinitely in freezer.

If you are looking for a nice DIY get well soon gift or perhaps a special someone, this simple potion will be impressive and used up fast. Honey is one of those ubiquitous foods that nearly everyone loves, and a spoonful can be used in most recipes, from sandwiches to roasted vegetables and the obvious dessert and beverage applications.

Photos: Danielle Guercio