The Art Of The Cannabis Chef: A Glutster 4/20 Special

The date of 4/20 is a national holiday to many. The world's counterculture all gather on this day and pay hazy homage to cannabis. Smoking it, vaporizing it, drinking it and... eating it.

For this last 4/20, the Glutster was privileged enough to hang out with one of the leading suppliers of edibles in Los Angeles. Although choosing to remain undisclosed, this couple is not new to the L.A food world. An alumni from both the French Culinary Institute in New York and the baking program here at the School of Culinary Arts in Pasadena, she is the baker of the team. And him, well, he's definitely not unknown in the small world of L.A chefs, he makes the Caramel Corn and handles most of the business stuff.

They have been steadily at this for about a year and a half, that was when they both decided to call it quits in the hardcore world of the conventional food industry. And now, their stuff is available in 10 different dispensaries all around L.A.


Cannabis Compound Butter: 1 lb

Their extensive fine dining restaurant upbringing has resulted in doing everything they make from scratch. Starting out with their basic compound butter they infuse with the stuff that they use for everything they make. Unsalted butter goes hand in hand with T.H.C since it is fat soluble. For this, he uses some stuff he gets from up north, B Grade buds with minimum stig and and almost no sun leaf. He refuses to use the byproduct of a bunch of low quality stuff known as shake that most other bakers use.

When I walk in, they are baking up a storm. 4/20 was only a day away and their orders were not getting smaller for that significant day.


Piping Pot: Peanut Butter Cups

From peanut butter cups, raspberry bars, blondies, cookies brownies...they make everything single handedly and only in small batches to insure uniformity. Weighing everything and personally sealing wrapper for every single thing they pump out.


Speed Rack-o-Stoned Goods

They are particularly proud of one product though, their canna-caramel corn.


Canna-Cracker Jacks?

Selling 140 bags of it a week, it is one of their best sellers. And I see why after I see the attentiveness he puts into making just one batch.


The Art of Fine Canna-Candy

First, he makes the caramel base with sugar, corn syrup, baking soda and salt using a candy thermometer to make sure it is just at the right temperature for optimal melding.


Canna-Caramel

When the temperature and ideal viscosity is reached, he adds a 1 lb of the compound butter to the base, creating this vivid, green emulsion process.

Letting it reduce just a little bit, he then pours the molten hot caramel into a batch of popcorn he popped the old fashioned way earlier.


Fascinating

He then mixes thoroughly and sets it out in an even layer on baking trays to let it cool until hardened and crispy.

Mondays are usually their hustle day, baking and cooking all day 'till midnight sometimes and Tuesdays they deliver everything.

They sell 400 cookies a week along with 140 bags of popcorn and 120 peanut butter cups.

Their customers have grown to recognize their products by a special symbol found on all the products. Reliability and consistency is hard to find nowadays in anything, but their customers don't keep coming back for nothing...