Bloom Journal.. two weeks into 12/12

Frosting:

While waiting for the brownies to bake, you can begin making your frosting.

Keep in mind that preparing the frosting now is only to save time later, and if you lather it on the hot brownies as soon as they finish baking, it will ruin them and you'll be left with mush. Potent mush though ;-P

So be sure to wait a good hour, or more, after baking before you begin applying the frosting on the brownies. Carefully remove the brownie cake from the pan (why I use the foil), and feel that it is completely cool on the bottom first.

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You separated the 'hash oil water' from the more solid Canna Oil earlier, not only to give the brownie batter the water content that it needed, but to give the frosting a better consistency and better texture by leaving it with only more solid Canna oils.

You'll be starting out similarly to the batter.

- - As seen in the first photo - - Heat up a small amount of the Canna Oil in a sauce pan, remove from heat, and blend in all the remaining Cocoa powder until you create a near-black paste. I used a combination of expensive LA Burdick cocoa powder, and Hershey's Dark powder. With less expensive powders you will end up with more of a brown paste.

Add some more Canna Oil, blend. - - second and third photos - -

Add all the cream, and the pinch of salt, then blend.

Add all the powder sugar, blend.

Finally, add some more cocoa powder, and all the remaining Canna Oil. - - last photo - -

To repair consistency, if too wet, slowly blend in more powder sugar and cocoa powder. If too dry, very slowly add more cream.

Important: You want this frosting so thick, that it barely spreads, but not so thick that you destroy the brownie while spreading it.

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You can probably tell, I'm not just trying to 'get high' with these If some of the process seems tedious, it is because I am creating a delicious dessert too, and adding the ingredients in specific layers, blending more at some points and much less at others, makes for a much more complex and rich treat! With a little help, a still-simple boxed brownie mix doesn't need to be bland or dry Making the extra efforts with the Oil itself will give you greater rewards in potency as well.

 

Frosting & Decorating your Brownies or Cakes:

Add a thick layer of frosting, don't be afraid to use it all!

Now this part is just for fun.

Usually I'll only do this for Canna Cakes, for either birthdays or holidays, and not for brownies since they end up cut anyway.

But in spite of how poorly it shows up on the camera, I thought I'd do it for these brownies just for you guys

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After frosting the brownie or cake:

Go up to your grow room and, if you're completely chemical and pesticide-free, pick a nice, shapely leaf.

Wash it off in very, very hot tap water for just a few seconds. Don't worry, it won't destroy the leaf before you've finished using it.

Now, while the leaf is still hot and only very slightly damp, press it on either side (your choice.. the shiny side removes less frosting when you remove it, the buff side makes a slightly better print), and press it into the frosting.

Be firm, but don't break the surface of the frosting or punch through the brownie below.

Wait until it cools, less than a minute, then slowly peel the leaf away from the frosting.

And you're left with a neat, natural imprint!

The fake ones are fun, and yes, they usually work better.
But it seems people really get a kick from knowing that they're eating something that had a 'real cannabis leaf!!' pressed into the top (always thought that was funny, when they're eating real canna butter at the same time too ). It gives your confection a bit more class than the fake leaves as well.

 

Packaging & Storage:

After cutting them up into various dosing sections, wrap them in saran wrap to keep them neat.
- - first pic - -

Then put them all, barely touching each other, in zip-lock freezer bags.
- - second pic - -

Place them in a rubber-made or Tupperware storage container, with a few layers of wax-paper insulating them on top between the brownies and the lid.
- - third pic - -

Place a larger sheet of wax paper where the lid should be, over-lapping the edges of the container, then place the lid on top of it, and seal. This last step creates a tighter seal on the container.
- - fourth pic - -

I managed to make 27, very strong brownies with this batch. The last photo was taken a day later, after the two brownies had been frozen then thawed. They come out of the plastic cleanly when frozen, no frosting goes to waste

I cut mine into several double strength, single strength, and one-and-a-half strength sections.

That way I have a few options, depending on what I may need to try and accomplish after eating one Usually I can still have some fun, and enjoy myself with some light activity after a single dose. I can still manage to be sociable and at least sit around with people after a dose and a half. But a double-dose (I only cut up a few of these) is a late-night, sleep-or-pain remedy only.

These tend to be strong when made this way. And when they're too strong, they're not even fun or relaxing if you eat them early in the day, it's almost painful to be awake at the peaks.

Honestly, I almost NEVER eat a brownie the day I bake them, unless I'm baking specifically for good company that night.

I usually can't, because by the time I've finished baking them I've tasted the batter and the frosting on more than a few occasions, to see if things are going as planned, and by the end of the process I'm usually hardly able to stand.

So to warn one more time, they come out very, very strong when done properly.

But cut a few corners, especially on the Oil making process, and you will barely even get a buzz.
So respect the Oil, and make it as well as you can

I've shared these with people who previously couldn't digest or process baked goods properly, they had tried them from both 'legal' vendors and friends with little to no effect, and this recipe always seems to give them what they were looking for. Could be the correct heat/temps, could be the combined oils used, as some people have a harder time digesting some oils over others.

I was one of those unfortunate people for a while myself, who didn't feel much from eating Canna, until I took a few years and practiced baking my own

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That's that! I'll be back with some more grow updates very soon.

Thanks again, to everyone who stopped in with compliments and congratulations, and to everyone who stopped in to say hello even before my thread was featured

I really appreciate it, and I appreciate even more being around such great-natured fellow growers

 

It's really a great recipe considering the majority of the batter is from a box, potency aside, they're delicious brownies

They smell a lot like hash or maybe vaped THC, I find I really love the flavor of Canna mixed in almost anything sweet, it tastes great in a few savory dishes as well, but much better with cakes and confectioneries.

I think I like this photo best, this and the other shots of the Oil going into the Cocoa for the frosting, the golden green looks sort of dynamic on the black paste



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While I was preparing the butter the other day, I took these small samples from below the canopy, and quick dried them in the oven (takes about a half hour at 190).
It's not ideal, drying them this way, but it serves a purpose. I usually flash dry them to get an immediate idea whether or not they've been flushed well enough.

That way I don't wait too long to chop if the sample was perfect but took several days to dry.

There's a span of a few perfect days for harvest when a plant is finishing up, the window is larger and smaller on each individual plant, but if I miss that window entirely I'm not fully satisfied with the taste of the bud, so a quick estimate helps nail it.

One plant came down that night after the sample, the POG 8's finish quick, intensely potent, small yielders.

Just about 5 weeks of 12/12, a total 10 weeks from seed, another 3 or 4 POG 8 are about ready for the chop as well. With an early strain, and a separate veg room, you can pull off an efficient 7-10 grows per year without much trouble.

 

Alrighty, since this is supposed to be a grow journal I thought I'd post some grow updates

I've chopped three plants so far, all POG 8's, all ten weeks from seed, just over 5 weeks of bloom. Small yielders but fast finishers. Smallest plants in the room, except for one frost POG about the same size. They'll probably each have about 2-3 oz's, not bad for the three smallest when there are 32 plants left for the chop!

Yes I had 35 plants all squeezed in this one little (roughly) 10 x 11 ft space, it's not always practical but when breeding and looking for good clones, every once in a while you wind up overwhelmed. I'm moving soon, I usually try to find as many good clone worthy plants and breeding plants as possible before the move to stock up, in case I have to go on a grow hiatus I'll have seeds, but in case I have to move before a harvest finishes, and if I can start up asap in the new house, I'll have the clones. Prepared either way.

So on top of packing, cleaning, house hunting, and meeting with realtors; the breed room is full of seeded plants, the bloom room is full of nearly mature bud, I have a stack of 30 clones already rooted (should take pics of them soon) and I'll be taking more cuttings from the finishing plants within the next day, now that I have a better idea of which ones yield the best and smoke the best. That way the first crop in the new location is as good as possible. I'll have a reliable harvest going, and I'll be able to play with my new genetics at the same time

First pic, is a nug from the last 'POG 8' left standing in the room, I'm pretty sure she's the last anyway.

Second pic, 'Frost POG'.. just now she smells like fuel and piney oranges, gives you that heady cross-eyed sensation when you sniff it up close.

Third & Fourth pics, group shots.

Fifth & Sixth pics, the top bud on the 'Feralocity', getting about as long as my torso. I'll be sure and take a (safe!) pic of myself holding it for size, once she's ready.

Seventh pic, lower nug from a small 'White Widow' almost ready for the chop, also a greasy plant. Widow used to be my 'only' strain for a long time, and now sadly I've grown tired of it. This is one of two widows under the 400watt portion of the room (2 x 1,000watts + 1 x 400 watt). The widows leaves always turn the most yellow during flush, the buds get so resin coated they're hard to photograph, just look bright white. It's still one of the heaviest, least sophisticated but most potent and narcotic head and body strains in my arsenal.

 

These are all a 'Devastating Train Wreck'.

I am in love with this strain right now. It's not very stable yet, meaning there are three distinct phenos that show up ranging from more-POG to more-Wreck. But besides the Feralocity, it's one of the best yielders in the room.. somehow, the Train Wreck turned my ultra-low yielding POG 8, into a monster of a plant. The best part is that she retained the intensely narcotic POG effect and flavor, coupled with the 'up' high of the Wreck. The combination is a little mind-melding, it gives people the spins until they've had it a few times.

It smells amazing, but the scent is nothing like either of the parents. It's a rich strawberry/raspberry weed smell from across the room, makes your taste buds prick. The closer you get the more you notice this musky attic-skunk, and when you actually touch it, the glands unleash the most potent, almost-visible berry-bubblegum odors I've ever smelled.

Every once in a while I get a vaguely bubblegum POG, and the Wreck really captured it and brought it up front. I've been resisting the urge to pinch a sample nug, she's far from ready. Another week or so, maybe two. This plant fell in the middle of the range, there are two others in the room that are more POG-ish, and another that's more middle-to-Wreck.

 

It's ok about hashball Philly, and thanks for the kind words I don't mind and I'm sure he's just getting used to the way things work here, I did poke my head in his grow journal and gave him some positive encouragement, someone had already given him a hard time about linking his journal in their thread before I even got in there.

The purple strain, I think you mean the Frost POG x Purple Widow, yes she's very purple, it comes out best when grown in the winter. Usually if I can get night-time temps as low as 45 degrees in the room, she colors up spectacularly, much more than she does in a hot muggy summer grow where the night temps stay only as low as 60-65.

Many plants will experience a bit of color change in colder temps, when they would normally stay green if grown in warmer conditions, but the Purple Widow really puts the cold to good use as far as colors go. In the summer, when the room only cools so much, it's her leaves that are usually the most vibrant purple and the many of the buds only range from green to off-blue and very few reach purple, but in the winter the bud are a nice medium violet shade, and the leaves put on an even nicer display. Purple color aside, she's great smoke, it's the only POG / Widow cross I've kept around I think.
It's strange, but it makes some sense taking proper storage into consideration, I've always liked the taste of smoke even more when the bud was flowered in cooler temperatures.