December 28, 2009 – What do you get when you mix the culinary skills of Emeril Lagasse with a favorite ooey-gooey treat of the 70s (AKA pot-laced brownies)? The Ganja Gourmet, of course.

Now those with a prescription for cannabis don’t have to limit their choices to smoking or brownies. A Denver entrepreneur has opened a medical marijuana eatery named Ganja Gourmet.

And that’s not the only place those in and around the mile-high city can go for marijuana-infused foods like pizza, hummus and lasagna. A Caribbean restaurant across town has plans to hold classes on sprinkling, dashing and pouring a bit of mellowing weed into multi-course meals.

Sun-loving Southern Californians can tune into a low-budget TV show called “Cannabis Planet” for tips to cook with marijuana and create mouth watering and munchie-inducing dishes like teriyaki chicken, shrimp capellini and steak sandwiches.

Ironically, some say these establishments are good for curbing obesity. After all, teriyaki chicken can have a lot less fat than brownies. Marijuana meals, some say, are also better on your respiratory health since you’re not smoking — and thus inhaling.

“When I started using marijuana, I was eating a brownie every day. I gained a ton of weight,” Michael DeLao, a former hotel chef who hosts the “Cannabis Planet” cooking segments on Los Angeles’ KJLA told the Associated Press. “Then I learned how to really cook with marijuana, and once more people learn about all the possibilities, we’re going to see a lot more people wanting this in their food.”

Just don’t get any ideas of strolling into the Ganja Gourmet and ordering one of their pot pizzas. To get served, you’ve got to show a medical marijuana card proving a doctor says pot can cure whatever happens to ail you.

“I wish there were restaurants like this throughout the country,” says Wayne Shepard who holds a prescription for marijuana. “It could help ease the suffering for many dealing with cancer, AIDS and other illnesses.”

Unlike a box of brownie mix, one of Ganja’s pizzas will set you back a few coins, $89 to be exact. “It’s not like you’d eat the whole thing in one sitting. You can have leftovers,” says Shepard. But since an ounce of marijuana is said to cost anywhere from $100 to $500 an ounce, depending on strength, taste and patient preference, $89 can seem like a bargain.

There’s no worries that stopping by Ganja Gourmet will lead to eating your way to the poorhouse, either. Marijuana chefs say it takes anywhere from 20 minutes to two hours for the munchies (and other side effects) to kick in. So it’s unlikely patrons will overeat because they’re high. Although, just like pizza (and other food) that’s not laced with pot, pigging out can result in an upset stomach or feeling sluggish.

Ganja has its patrons safety in mind, too. Munchers are only allowed to eat one menu item every 45 minutes and patrons are offered a ride home if they need one.

The medicinal use of drugs isn’t new. LSD has been recently looked to as a cure for cluster headaches. And neither is Ganja’s idea.

Recently a “Cannabis Cafe” opened in Portland, Ore., where approved medical marijuana patients pay $25 per month and can smoke marijuana in the club. ‘Budtenders’ serve food, non-alcoholic drinks, and free marijuana to club members.

By Gina Roberts-Grey. Source.

December 17, 2009 – DENVER — Any slacker living over his parents’ garage can make pot brownies. Gourmet chefs are taking the art of cooking with marijuana to a higher level.

In Denver, a new medical-marijuana shop called Ganja Gourmet serves cannabis-infused specialties such as pizza, hummus and lasagna. Across town in the Mile-High City, a Caribbean restaurant plans to offer classes on how to make multi-course meals with pot in every dish. And in Southern California, a low-budget TV show called “Cannabis Planet” has won fans with a cooking segment showing viewers how to use weed in teriyaki chicken, shrimp capellini and steak sandwiches.

The evolution of pot cooking was perhaps inevitable given the explosion of medical marijuana around the country in recent years. Many health-conscious patients would rather eat the drug than smoke it. And they would prefer to eat something other than sugary treats.

“When I started using marijuana, I was eating a brownie every day. I gained a ton of weight,” said Michael DeLao, a former hotel chef who hosts the “Cannabis Planet” cooking segments on Los Angeles’ KJLA. “Then I learned how to really cook with marijuana, and once more people learn about all the possibilities, we’re going to see a lot more people wanting this in their food.”

Ganja Gourmet’s menu includes lasagna (“LaGanja”), “Panama Red Pizza” and an olive tapenade called “ganjanade,” along with sweets such as cheesecake, muffins and brownies. Employees wear tie-dyed T-shirts that proclaim, “Our food is so great, you need a license to eat it!!!”

All patrons at the Ganja Gourmet must show a medical marijuana card that proves they have a doctor’s permission to use pot for some kind of malady. The place opened last week, and so far, 90 percent of its business has been takeout.

The food isn’t cheap. A whole pizza sells for $89, and a dozen sweet treats called Almond Horns cost $120.

“The food is really good,” said Jamie Hillyer, a 41-year-old medical marijuana patient who paid $12 for a serving of vegetable LaGanja. Hillyer said that he can’t taste the weed in the food and that it gives him a “more mellow” buzz than smoking pot.

Chefs are able to use marijuana in cooking because its key ingredient, the mind-altering drug THC, is fat-soluble, meaning it binds with oils or fats.

Marijuana chefs put leaves or buds in a food processor and grind the marijuana into green flour. Then they add the flour to oil or butter, cook it slowly for up to a couple of days while the THC binds to the fat, and strain out the green flakes.

The result is “cannabutter,” or butter that makes a diner high. Chefs say 2 teaspoons of cannabutter typically contain the amount of THC in an ounce of weed.

The pot-infused oils and butters have a greenish tint and an earthy taste, but chefs say the flavor can easily be masked with garlic or other herbs and spices.

Denver’s 8 Rivers Modern Caribbean restaurant does not serve pot-infused food, but its husband-and-wife owners, Scott Durran and Wanda James, plan to offer cooking-with-marijuana classes starting next month. They also own a medical marijuana dispensary, which they hope will eventually offer take-home soups and roasted chicken.

Marijuana chefs say it takes 20 minutes to two hours for the pot-laced food to produce a high. The biggest problem, they say, is that users often eat too much, thinking the food isn’t working. While you can’t exactly overdose on marijuana food, people who eat too much may feel more sluggish or disoriented than they would like.

So at Ganja Gourmet, customers are allowed to eat only one menu item every 45 minutes.

(The drug takes so long to start working that there’s little chance of a customer developing a case of the munchies and getting hungrier the more he ate.)

Ganja Gourmet owner Scott Horowitz tried to get liability insurance of the sort bars take out to protect themselves against damage caused by intoxicated patrons. But he said he couldn’t any insurers selling similar coverage for pot shops.

Ganja Gourmet does offer customers a ride home if they need one. “If someone leaves my place wasted, I’m liable,” Horowitz said.

Horowitz’s liability worry may be shortlived. Denver’s City Council is considering an ordinance banning dispensaries from allowing marijuana to be smoked or eaten on site.

By KRISTEN WYATT. Source.