Bhang Beverages of South Asia – A Cannabis Gift from Lord Shiva

Bhang lassi, a south Asian treat, is a drinkable preparation of cannabis. The term ‘Bhang’ can refer to a number of different cannabis goodies ranging from hash-like concoctions, edible candy-like balls to beverages. According to Martin Booth’s ‘Cannabis – a History’, bhang refers to the lowest grade of cannabis sold in India, cannabis leaves with a few flowers mixed in. The other grades of marijuana are ‘ganga’ – female marijuana flowers, and ‘charas’ – hash. ‘Bhang’ grade marijuana has traditionally been used to prepare edible and medical cannabis formulations, though many bhang lassi producers today use ‘ganga’ grade marijuana in their preparations.  We’ll focus on the beverage preparations popular in many parts of India, bhang thandai and bhang lassi.

Government Authorized Bhang Shop - from Wikipedia

In Hindu culture, recorded use of cannabis goes back to 1000 BC.  Despite years of prohibition, cannabis remains important in Indian culture, where it plays a role in the institution of ayruvedic medicine. The Indian government licenses bhang vendors and medical preparations of cannabis can be obtained in ayruvedic apothecaries. Consumption of Bhang is associated with the worship of lord Shiva and the celebration of Holi – the spring festival of color. Holi is particularly popular and celebrated with gusto (and lots of bhang) in northern India. One of the main traditions of holi is the use of colored powders on others; festive bonfires are also involved. Lord Shiva is said to have discovered the transcendental properties of bhang, earning him the epithet ‘Lord of Bhang’. The ancient Indian text the Arthaveda describes bhang as a beneficial herb that reduces anxiety. Bhang is used by some holy men to boost meditation and achieve transcendental states.

The classic north Indian bhang beverage preparation, bhang thandai, is made with milk, nuts (usually almonds, sometimes cashews) and spices including lots of black pepper and cardamom. It is sold in marketplaces and by street vendors. There are government sanctioned and licensed bhang shops. Some The city of Varanasi is famous for its bhang preparations, and street vendors prepare and sell it at the ghats (stair terrace areas leading down to the river).

Bhang preparation - grinding the cannabis. From Khabar Express Website.

Different preparation methods are used to create bhang beverages. Because the active ingredients in marijuana are fat soluble, it is necessary to have fat in some form as a key part of the recipe. Many recipes involve boiling the cannabis in a bit of water, straining out the plant matter and then grinding the plant material into a paste along with some of the fat containing material (whole milk or nuts). A mortar and pestle are used to grind cannabis buds and leaves into a thick paste. Milk, ghee (clarified butter) and ground nuts are added to the cannabis mixture. Spices are incorporated and the beverage is served chilled. 

Bhang lassi is a ‘special’ lassi made with bhang in lassi, a yogurt based beverage. Lassi comes in many flavors, and can either be a savory, lightly salted beverage or can be a sweetened concoction incorporating fruits. Mango lassi is a popular flavor available at Indian restaurants in the US and Europe. 

As with other edible preparations of cannabis, it takes at least an hour for the effects of bhang to manifest. Although not readily available at medical marijuana dispensaries, cannabis aficionados can enjoy a cup of bhang when visiting India. A scene from Anthony Bourdain’s NoReservations shows him visiting a government sanctioned bhang shop in Rajastan where he is offered bhang lassi in three strengths: strong, super sexy strong, and 'full power 24 hour no toilet no shower' strong… whatever that means. Although bhang can be are nutritious and wholesome, consumers should be wary of unscrupulous bhang dealers who are rumored to use other drugs, such as veterinary tranquilizers, to enhance the effects of their wares. Bhang can be prepared at home, and a recipe follows:

From Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India (SCFI).

Flavoured bhang drink

  Ingredients
2 cups water
1 ounce marijuana (fresh leaves and flowers of a female plant preferred)
4 cups warm milk
2 tablespoons blanched and chopped almonds
1/8 teaspoon garam masala (a mixture of cloves, cinnamon, and cardamon)
1/4 teaspoon powdered ginger
1/2 to 1 teaspoon rosewater
1 cup sugar

Method
Bring the water to a rapid boil and pour into a clean teapot. Remove any seeds or twigs from the marijuana, add it to the teapot and cover. Let this brew for about 7 minutes.
Now strain the water and marijuana through a piece of muslin cloth, collect the water and save.
Take the leaves and flowers and squeeze between your hands to extract any liquid that remains. Add this to the water. 

Place the leaves and flowers in a mortar and add 2 teaspoons warm milk. Slowly but firmly grind the milk and leaves together. Gather up the marijuana and squeeze out as much milk as you can. Repeat this process until you have used about 1/2 cup of milk (about 4 to 5 times). Collect all the milk that has been extracted and place in a bowl. By this time the marijuana will have turned into a pulpy mass.
Add the chopped almonds and some more warm milk. Grind this in the mortar until a fine paste is formed. Squeeze this paste and collect the extract as before. Repeat a few more times until all that is left are some fibers and nut meal. Discard the residue.
Combine all the liquids that have been collected, including the water the marijuana was brewed in. Add to this the garam masala, dried ginger and rosewater. Add the sugar and remaining milk.
Chill, serve, and enjoy. 

(recipe from the Society for the Confluence of Festivals in India (SCFI).

Please send us your bhang recipe or stories about drinking cannabis for a chance to win a Stoner Living gift bag!

-------------- (c) 2013 Stoner Living Blog

Cannabinoids and Medical Marijuana - what all those hard to pronounce components in Cannabis do for you

Some of our readers will remember when Cannabis was called grass, you could buy it by the lid, and Thai stick and Panamanian Red were the stuff of connoisseurs. The intervening years have seen a revolution in potency and overall quality as well as consumer awareness of the product itself. The first legitimate forays into contemporary marketing of marijuana have been under the medical model, so it should be no surprise that a plethora of information about the active ingredients in marijuana is available to consumers from medical marijuana dispensaries and seed companies alike. So what do all those difficult to pronounce components do for you?

A plant's cannabinoid profile refers to the specific mixture of the quantity and type of cannabinoids produced by a given plant. Think of it as a window on a strain’s effect and potency.

Table: Cannibinanoids and Their Effects

Over 475 compounds have been identified within the Cannabis sativa plant; of these 66 are classified as ‘cannabinoids’ unique to the Cannabis plant. RaphaelMechoulam (discussed in a previous article) dedicated much of his career to understanding the natural product chemistry of the marijuana plant. The most famous cannabinoid, delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (Δ9-THC), is the substance responsible for the majority of the psychoactive effects of marijuana. Other cannabinoids, including cannabidiol and cannabinol, alter the subjective experience of the ‘high’ by interacting with the way THC impacts the brain.

Much of the cannabis breeding of the past 30 years has focused on increasing the potency (ie. – the % THC) in strains, with considerations such as yield, pest resistance and other qualities getting some secondary attention. Furthermore, for years many in the breeding community held a belief that strains high in CBD had more of a ‘downer’ high and were seen as undesirable. Modern medical research has shown cannabidiol (CBD) to have tremendous potential as an anti-inflammatory compound with pain mitigating and possible anti-cancer effects.

Q. Why would anybody want a low/no THC strain of marijuana?

A. Medical marijuana users may desire a strain high in medically important anti-inflammatory CBD compounds without the psychoactive effects of a high THC strain.

The advent of the medical marijuana movement has seen the development of some high CBD strains, but it remains difficult for consumers to obtain high CBD/low THC strains even in medical contexts. One example of such a strain is The Remedy, available to qualified medical marijuana patients from the Dockside Coop in Seattle, WA.

Commercial interests have invested time in such ventures; GW Pharmaceuticals, the company behind Sativex, has done extensive research on cannabis breeding. Their website is clear they rely on traditional plant breeding techniques and do not use GMO technology. According to GW Pharma, four genetic loci control the cannibinoid profile of cannabis. They have a nifty explanation of their breeding strategy on their website here. They have numerous patents with specific genetic profiles – including high THC strains and 0 % THC strains.

There are a variety of techniques available for obtaining a cannabinoid profile, including specialized labs offering testing services such as Analytical 360. Other firms offer extremely portable thin-layer chromatography techniques, such as the one produced by Cannatest. Cannatest is a Seattle area business that offers home testing kits as well as testing services. The power to bring analytical testing in-house to cannabis breeding operations is critical at a time when shipping samples via USPS is in violation of federal law. The people at Cannatest also offer a mobile testing service in the greater Seattle area.

HPLC Plate of Cannabis Analysis Performed Using Cannatest Kit

The advent of legalization will see technologies for analytical testing of marijuana becoming commonplace – possibly even required – for the benefit of cannabis consumers. Opportunities for research abound and cannabis with a wide range of cannabinoid profiles (especially the hard to find high CBN/low THC strains) will soon be readily available to the public.



----© 2013 – Stoner Living Blog

Genetic Sequence of Cannabis Sativa

The full genome for Cannabis sativa is downloadable here (the cultivar used was 'Chemdawg'). Available to the public since 2011, only time will tell what will be done with this information. The Cannabis plant has been bred to produce a wide array of phenotypes (and chemotypes) with the use of traditional plant breeding techniques alone.

Chemdog - photo from Green House Seeds

Ignoring the issues of ethics for now, an easy to anticipate and creepy use of this information involves splicing the genes responsible for production of say, THC, into another plant. The easiest target would probably be the hop vine - Humulus lupulus - as it is the only other member of the plant family Cannabaceae. Other obvious targets included members of the mint family. The idea of smoking the  fruit of such plants - 'Frankenbuds' - is a little off-putting, but such technology would free the industrial hemp industry: if any plant can be engineered to produce THC, the argument about cannabis/hemp being confusable becomes moot.

About the Strain:
Chemdawg is a rather potent strain of marijuana, with the Green House Seeds version placing 2nd in the IC420 Growers Cup in 2008. 

A website with information on how to download and assemble the data is HERE. The data is provided by Medicinal Genomics with the help of Nimbus Informatics. Academic use is free of charge. For commercial use,  contact Medicinalgenomics@gmail.com for information on obtaining a license.

---------(c) 2012 Stoner Living


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