Wednesday, June 11, 2014

Medical Marijuana Fruit Leather by THChristi

Strawberry flavored Organic
Red Pear & Rhubarb fruit leather
Tired of candy and other sweets when really you just want a dose of medicine?  This recipe might help.

I'm going to share with you my recipe for Strawberry flavored Rhubarb and Red Pear fruit leather.  This is a hit with patients who are looking for something different and even a little healthy to eat as a medible. Because this recipe contains rhubarb as one of the main ingredients I have added some additional sugar to counteract the tartness found in the rhubarb.  Don't worry though, if you want to convert this you can easily substitute any fruit in the amounts listed in the recipe.  If you use a sweet fruit in season you may leave the sugar out entirely or you can reduce it to taste.  You may also substitute any desired sweetener for your dietary needs.  While fruit leather may sound daunting or complicated it's actually quite simple to make.  Let's get started!

What you will need:

  • A large stock pan
  • 2 greased cookie sheets with sides 
  • a blender (I like the stick type blender but you can use a counter top unit as well)
  • 2 Cups of coarsely chopped Rhubarb
  • 2 Cups of coarsely chopped Red D'anjo Pear with peel on
  • 1 1/3 Cup of water
  • 1/4 to 1/2 cup sugar ( add more or less to suit your taste)
  • 1 package strawberry flavor kool-aid (unsweetened)
  • 2.5 grams of decarboxylated kief (or add more or less for desired potency)
  • parchment paper for wrapping
  • kitchen shears
  • zip lock bags or other airtight container for storage
Instructions:
  1. In your stock pot combine the rhubarb, pears, water and sugar.  Place on stove top on medium heat.  Heat to a simmer stirring occasionally.  Cook for approximately 15-20 minutes or until your rhubarb is softened.
  2. Use your stick blender to process the contents of the pot into a nice puree constancy.  If you don't have a stick blender (immersion blender), pour the contents into your counter-top blender or food processor and pulse until you achieve a puree texture.  
  3. Add to your mixture 1 packet of strawberry flavored unsweetened kool-aid and your decarboxylated kief.  
  4. Again using your stick blender or counter top model pulse until everything is well blended.
  5. Divide your mixture into 2 equal 1/2s.  Pour 1/2 of the mixture onto each of your greased cookie sheets. Spread until it's evenly distributed on each sheet.
  6. Set your oven to 170F (or your oven lowest setting).  
  7. Place the pans in your oven.  Use a wooden spoon to keep the oven door a little bit gaped.  This will allow the moisture to leave the oven as your fruit mixture dehydrates.
  8. Now we wait.  I found the mixture takes anywhere from 6-12 hours to dehydrate in the oven.  You can check if it is done by attempting to peel up a corner of the fruit leather.  When it's done the leather will easily peel up.
  9. Once you've achieved the desired texture, remove the sheet pans from the oven and allow it to cool on your counter.
  10. When your mixture has cooled completely, score all around the edges of your sheet with a sharp knife.
  11. Tear off a piece of parchment paper approximately the same size as your cookie sheet.  Place this paper over the top of your fruit leather and use your hands to rub out any trapped air bubbles in the paper
  12. Starting in the corner, peel up your paper and fruit leather.  If you have scored the edges of your pan well you will be able to pull the whole sheet out in one big piece.
  13. place parchment side down on a clean work counter.  Using a sharp pair of kitchen shears cut your leather and parchment into 18 evenly sized pieces.  To prevent the scissors from sticking you can grease the blades with cooking oil or non stick spray.
  14. Place the cut leather pieces into individual zip-lock bags or stack them into an airtight container.
If dehydrated fully this leather can last for a very long time.  Store in a cool and dry place.  If you still have some moisture in your fruit leather you will want to store in an airtight container in your refrigerator.

** Variations for other fruits:  Simply substitute the fresh chopped fruit of your choice.  You can certainly use blends of fruit as well, just be sure that you have a total of 4 Cups of fresh chopped fruit.  Reduce the amount of sugar to taste and then follow the same instructions above.  Feel free to use an alternative sweetener such as maple syrup for this recipe.  Also if you don't want an artificial color/flavor you can make this without the kool-aid.  I mainly use the kool-aid flavoring when working with rhubarb because it mellows the sour/tart rhubarb flavor a bit.  When making with berries and other fruit I just allow the flavor of the fruit to shine through and eliminate the kool-aid from the recipe.

**Do not substitute wax paper for parchment paper.  The wax paper will absorb some moisture and become almost impossible to remove easily from the finished leather

**Alternative to cutting into rectangles you could use a cookie cutter to cut out fun shapes or you could cut out a long strip and roll it up to make a fruit roll-up

I hope you will enjoy this recipe.  If you have any questions, just leave a comment below and I will get back to you with my best answer.

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No time to make your own?  Come find me at the Patient Cannabis Exchange farmers market in Tacoma, WA every Sunday.  I will have medicated fruit leathers along with a lot of other medible and topical medication options.  

Stay well my friends!





Wednesday, June 4, 2014

Thank you readers giveaway!

Wowee! Thank you so much!  My little old blog has reached 100,000 readers like you!

When I started this blog it was with the intention of sharing my journey with medical marijuana and I have.  Along the way I've shared the good and the bad experiences with dispensaries.  I've shared my journey of first healing myself and then on to helping other patients too.  I've had some ups and downs along the way, but for the most part this has been a very positive journey.

Early on when I started sharing some of my recipes for making your own medical marijuana treatments I fought back against those who told me I shouldn't.  They said I was infringing on others in the industry who were providing medicines to dispensaries.  They said I should do the same.  They said I should "corner a market".  My response to that was "In a round world there are no corners".  I explained that the recipes were my own. I worked hard to research, test and develop them and I wanted to share them with anyone who could be helped.  I explained that there are so many people who are benefiting from medical marijuana, that there is no way any one provider of medibles or topicals could ever meet the demand.  I also pointed out that because of stringent (albiet unjust) laws, I am only able to help patients in Washington state.  By sharing through this blog I have been able to help patients all over the world to help themselves and make their own medicines!  That means the world to me! And that is why I will continue to share when and where I can.

So thank you again!  Thank you for all your positive feedback!  Thank you for your suggestions and stories of success!  Thank you for your support and readership!  In appreciation I wanted to have some kind of giveaway.

Because I have readers all over the country and all over the world I can't offer the medicines that I make as a prize so instead I've put together a few marijuana and candy making items that I thought might help you make your own meds and have fun too.  I want to shout out to Maritopian Life the game and Teddy's WetPaint420 Studio who kindly donated some games and some beautiful matted prints to include.  I've added to that some candy flavorings, a candy making mold, and some misc. marijuana industry favors.  I hope you guys will enjoy this as a token of my appreciation for all of your support!

To enter simply leave a comment below, or if you follow on facebook, twitter, or instagram I will be posting how to enter there as well. Winner will be chosen by random name generator so comment with your name or screen name.  I'll announce the winner on July 1, 2014

Thanks so much!

Stay lifted friends!