HELLO THERE! Do you enjoy reading? How about reading about cannabis? I ask because if you’re reading this column (or if it’s being read to you by a service monkey using typing-to-speech-recognition software), it seems like you might enjoy some books on cannabis. I certainly hope so, because this week’s column is about four of them. You could get them all through Powell’s or many local, independent booksellers.
Big Book of Buds: Greatest Hits: Marijuana Varieties from the World’s Best Breeders
by Ed Rosenthal (Quick American)
The Big Book of Buds series has always had a place on my bookshelf, examining cannabis strains with large, beautiful photos of—you guessed it—buds. Written by ganja guru and former Ask Ed High Times columnist Ed Rosenthal, this collection gathers 95 strains and covers how each gets you high, tips on growing and harvesting, and details on terpenes, cannabinoids, and more. A sidebar of colorful icons for each gives you extensive insight to the lineage, effects, grow times, and expected yields. Less a how-to-grow manual than a cannabis varieties guidebook, this would be a perfect gift for the weed nerd in your life. This is like Pokémon Go for the pot enthusiast, except they don’t need to leave the house and won’t get run over or robbed searching for the strains.
The Cannabis Kitchen Cookbook
by Robyn Griggs Lawrence (Skyhorse Publishing)
This is a wide-reaching collection of recipes from a handful of chefs and mixologists, running the gamut from appetizers to main courses and cocktails to desserts. Beautifully photographed, it dedicates the first 100 pages to giving the reader a broad understanding of strains, storage, decarboxylation, and more. The book reaches the next level of culinary cannabis, though, with recipes for: green tea, cannabis and coconut brownies; cannabis sweet potato fries with hemp seeds and kelp flakes; and mary jane daiquiris. (The recipes are low dose, so as to avoid a “nom nom nom oh God what have I done” scenario.) The resource guide and glossary sections are well curated, with listings for growing, storage, websites, and recommended reading. If you’re looking for a book to make you stoned and well fed, this one’s for you.
