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!

Cannabalm Lotion Bars

Here's a topical that I made at the request of a patient suffering from rheumatoid arthritis.  I've made these in a roll up tube that I found on ebay for ease of application, but you could make the same recipe in any kind of a container with a resealable lid and just apply by hand as well.

Here's what you'll need:

1-2 whole cayanne peppers
1/4 Cup of plain coconut oil
1/4 Cup of Cannabis infused coconut oil
1/2 Cup of Shea Butter
2/3 Cup of shredded unbleached bee's wax
5 drops lemongrass essential oil
1 drop geranium essential oil
1 drop ylang ylang essential oil
3 drops tea tree essential oil
A small sauce pan
resealable container or empty roll on tubes
sieve or cheese cloth


Here's how to do it:

First off we will infuse the plain coconut oil with Cayenne pepper. Cayenne pepper is known in the herbal community to help mitigate pain.  Check out this link for a bit more information: Learningherbs.com

To infuse the plain coconut oil with Cayenne pepper first slice the pepper the long way to open it.  Place pepper and 1/4 Cup of plain coconut oil in a small sauce pan.  Over low heat melt the coconut oil.  Leave on low-medium heat for approximately 30 minutes (you can go longer for a stronger infusion) to infuse the coconut oil with the pepper stirring occasionally.

Using the sieve or a cheese cloth, strain the pepper, seeds & stems from the melted coconut oil. Return the infused coconut oil to your pan and discard the pepper.

Next add your cannabis coconut oil & Shea butter to the pan.

Return pan to burner on medium low.  Heat until all of your oils are melted.  Add in the bee's wax shreds.  Continue heating until the bee's wax is melted and well incorporated.

Remove pan from heat.

Add in all of your essential oils.

Stir well.

Allow to cool slightly until warm but not solid.

Pour mixture into your roll up containers or your resealable container.

Allow to cool on counter or in refrigerator until solid.

Once cooled completely, place lids on containers.

To use:

This balm can be applied to swollen joints or anywhere you are feeling pain.  It will help with inflammation as well as pain. Just be sure not to apply to eyes, nostrils or any other tender areas ;) as the cayenne pepper will give a burning sensation on these sensitive areas.

Note: I have been using this on my psoriasis and it doesn't seem to give a burning sensation.  Try it on a small area of your skin first and see how it feels for  you.

I hope you will enjoy this recipe and that it can help you to find relief as well.

Comment for questions or just to let me know how the recipe works out for you.  Also if you find it to work well for a certain medical problem let me know so I can share that with other patients who may also find relief.

Enjoy!

Fibromyalgia, Me and Medical Marijuana

So with all my cannabis recipes I thought it might be good to tell you all a little about my fight and why I am a medical marijuana patient. Here's my story:

A few years ago I began to notice a big shift in my general well being. First I started having a lot of random days where I would feel like I was coming down with a flu bug but they would pass after  a day or two and never really develop into a full blown flu. Another thing I noticed was the lack of energy I had available on any given day. Somedays I woke up full of energy only to be sapped and exhausted by lunchtime. I began suspecting something was wrong but with no health insurance I was not one to run into the doctor. I lived with these strange symptoms along with daily hip pain for over a year. I tried eating healthier. I tried getting more rest. I got a new bed hoping better sleep would allow my energy level to return to normal. All of these helped a small degree for a time but the lethargy & exhaustion always returned. My hip pain never seemed to lessen and I began to have random roving pain throughout my body.

One day out of the blue my pain levels escalated from bad to worse. One minute I was ok with background pain, the next minute I was in absolute agony. I tried meditation and deep breathing to calm myself down but the crippling pain remained. Then the spasms started. First in my face & hands. These mostly were an irritant but as they moved into my larger muscle groups they became very painful as well. 

That was the tipping point that got me to finally seek some medical help. 

First I saw a rheumatologist who sent me for a bunch of expensive blood work and X-rays. When my test results came in she  gave me a diagnosis of fibromyalgia and sent me home with muscle relaxers, pain pills and Vitamin D. 

I was on this rx plan for a couple of months but it didn't seem to help much at all. The pain pills masked the pain but made me edgy, itchy & irritable. The muscle relaxers helped to tame the muscle spasms but the side effect was low energy and then sleep for about 3 hours every time I had to take a pill. That posed an obvious problem when I had these spasms during the day. 

After awhile I began to question this course of treatment. The treatments were having as bad of an affect on my daily life as the symptoms had.  I wanted to find a way to get my energy back and limit my pain without a lot of side effects. I decided to see a naturopathic doctor. It was at my first visit that my doctor suggested I try a treatment plan that included vitamin supplements and medical marijuana. It was that day that changed my life. 

Now I'm 100% free of the rx meds and their harmful not to mention inconvenient side effects. I am on a daily dose of Rick Simpson Oil which I take before bed. This allows me to sleep more deeply which has improved my energy level throughout the day. I use medicated edibles to keep my pain levels in check along with topical mmj treatments for pain. I've found several good strains of mmj that when smoked or vaped immediately stop my spasms and tremors!  ( Harlequin & UW both the purple and green pheno). And for the pain that even the pain pills couldn't suppress I use my vape pen with Honey Oil Concentrate. 

This amazing natural medication has given me back my quality of life. Where pain once kept me on the sidelines observing life around me I can now actively participate. I can spend time working in my garden again. I can play with my granddaughter again. I can enjoy walking my dogs again. Wonderful!

But aren't their side effects from using medical marijuana?  Well sure. I suppose there are. For example one side effect would be the cotton mouth  that is experienced when smoking mmj and that is easily solved with a nice glass of water. How about the munchies?  Yep medical marijuana can definitely stimulate the appetite but that's easily solved by medicating inline with  my regular meal time. Last but not least doesn't medical marijuana make you high?  Yes, sometime and in some forms of the medication I do experience a high or a general sense of well being and happiness and that's just fine with me. I'd rather have mood elevation as a side effect than the feelings of pain, sadness & despair that came with the pain pills. I'll take a few minutes of laughter as a side effect of my mmj over the 3-4 hours of uncontrollable sleepiness that came from my rx muscle relaxers. I'll enjoy happy hungries over not bing able to cook or eat due to pain any time. 

So that's my story at least the short version. I still suffer with the multitude of symptoms that come with Fibro but less frequently and a lot less intensity. When my bad flares come, as they do I, can treat myself with the appropriate form of mmj and continue on with my day, my tasks, my hobbies & my life!

Peace & pot!