“Welcome to Psychedelicatessen, a weekly column exploring the world of cannabis cuisine, including recipes from the great chefs and ganjapreneurs who fuel our appetite for adventure.”
Start your New Year off right by taking your diet to the next level with healthy hemp and cannabis-infused foods. Losing weight is one of the most common resolutions people choose after a holiday season of snacking, and switching to a diet rich in superfoods will help you feel more fit, active and energetic. Superfoods include nutrient-dense items rich in various amino acids, vitamins and enzymes designed to support vitality, such as wild salmon abundant in omega-3s, dark leafy greens bursting with calcium, antioxidant-containing berries, nuts full of protein, and supplements like maca powder, spirulina, cacao and hemp. Integrating more raw, whole foods along with superfoods into your daily routine will leave you feeling years younger!
Cannabis is a superfood in its own right, containing phyto-cannabinoids found nowhere else in nature that uniquely support homeostasis in human beings. Blending cannabis with other superfoods to create “neutraceuticals” or functional foods is a trend that will gather steam as the herb becomes increasingly accepted in our society, and many edibles makers have taken notice.
Joseph Winke, the founder of Jambo Superfoods, has been doing just that, combining cannabis with cashews, almonds, raisins, honey, coconut, cacao and pink salt to create his Cannabis Cup winning “Jambo,” an energy ball that tastes great while providing sustained energy and soothing cannabis relief. Winke also believes that using cannabis can lead one down a path towards greater compassion and spiritual connection. After studying medicinal plants in the Amazon, Joe found the complex, involved rituals that accompany ayahuasca ingestion to be appropriate to the intensity of the experience, while cannabis can be used ceremonially or casually. “Cannabis straddles most of the spectrum,” he says, “it can be used as casually as caffeine or it can be profound and transformative.”
If you’re looking to transform this year, pair your cannabis with exercise like yoga and create meditative rituals designed to increase compassion, peace and harmony. Joseph recommends “more structural intention,” explaining “we have a mantra that sets a positive intention for our edible cannabis experiences.” Before you ingest your cannabis food, repeat: “With great delight we eat these bites; to heal our bodies and free our minds!” To encourage a more spiritual connection to cannabis, Winke is developing meditative audio tracks that introduce new rituals designed to encourage “cannabis use in a more intentional, spiritual way.”
Along with cannabis-infused superfoods, Jambo is also releasing a Boost Truffle with matcha and brahmi herb designed for alertness, and a Relax Truffle containing kava-kava. You can start getting healthier today with Joe’s Healthy Hemp Shake, which uses hemp milk, nuts and frozen fruit to create a creamy drink that’s 100% natural, vegan, paleo, and free of gluten, soy and corn. “Frozen grapes are a great late night snack,” Winke says, “and freezing the fruit gets a thick, rich consistency without watering down flavors by adding ice.”
So turn over a new leaf this year with nutritious superfoods, positive intentions and cannabis-sparked spirituality! You can meet Joseph Winke at the High Times Cannabis Cup in San Bernardino on February 7-8, 2015, where he’ll be joining me for a panel discussion on edible pot. Don’t miss it!
Jambo Healthy Hemp Shake
Ingredients:
1 cup hemp milk
1 cup bananas, peeled, sliced and frozen
2/3 cup walnuts
2/3 cup raspberries, frozen
1/3 cup grapes, frozen
1 tbsp cannabis-infused coconut oil
1/4 tsp pink salt
1 tsp maca powder or hemp protein (optional)
Peel your bananas and cut into ice cube sized pieces. Put bananas, raspberries, and grapes in freezer bag or storage containers and freeze overnight.
Combine everything in a high speed blender until smooth. (Blentec or Vitamix work well)
Enjoy! Makes 2.5 cups of delicious healthy smoothie!
