Psychedelicatessen: Pot Pickled Veggies

Munching on cannabis-infused pickles instead of indulging in a salty snack is a great way to add more healthy vegetables into your diet. Adding a little bit of cannabis oil makes pickles all the better, especially when paired with some cheese and crackers for a post-4:20 nosh.

Inspired by a recipe from healthy living guru Dr. Andrew Weil, a HIGH TIMES contributor back in the day, these pickles include one extra special ingredient—a dressing that contains THC-laden olive oil. The liquid from the pickles can do double-duty as a salad dressing once the pickles have been devoured, so make sure you use every bit of that medicated oil.

This is a recipe where the cannabis should be toasted in the oven at 250­ºF for 30 minutes before being simmered in olive oil for another hour. Strain the pot out of the olive oil, pressing the vegetable matter thoroughly and wringing out all the oil before discarding it. Before you start, find the jars or container that you’ll use to store the pickles, and make sure your carrots and jicama are cut short enough to stand up inside. Use a Romanesco cauliflower for some extra-trippy fractals to groove on.

Ingredients:
1/2 pound carrots, peeled and cut into thin sticks
1/2 pound string beans
1 small head of cauliflower, broken into florets (about two cups)
1/2 raw jicama, peeled and cut into thin sticks

Dressing:
2 cups water
2 1/2 cups apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup cannabis-infused olive oil
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dill weed
6 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup pickling spices OR 5 bay leaves, 1 tablespoon mustard seed, 1 tablespoon dill seed and 1 1/2 teaspoons red chili flakes

Start with a large pot and add 5 cups of water. Bring this to a boil over high heat.

Prepare an ice bath in a large bowl. When the water is boiling, add the carrots first and boil for 5 minutes. Remove them with tongs or a strainer and shock them in the ice bath. Add the string beans and cook for 3 minutes, before straining and shocking in the ice water. Add the cauliflower for one minute before shocking it.

This step slightly cooks the vegetables and makes them more porous so the dressing can seep inside. Once the veggies are cool, strain them and drain well. Add the raw jicama.

To make the dressing, take the ingredients and pour into a pan set over medium heat. Bring to a boil and cook for two minutes.

Pour the dressing over the veggies and let them cool to room temperature. Hold your jar angled horizontally and use a chopstick to force carrots, beans and jicama into neat, upright rows, adding cauliflower here and there.

Once the jars are packed, fill with dressing and refrigerate for at least two days and up to five days. In the fridge, the oil will separate and float on top of the jar. Return the jar to room temp and shake before snacking. Eat just a few pickles at a time until you get a sense of how strong the cannabis effect will be.

Stones 6 to 8.