By Ashley Wiebe

Local bakery experiments with cannabis in cookies

Oct 29, 2018 | 4:47 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB — Owners of a local bakery were curious to see how the legalization of cannabis would look here in the city.

They were also curious too about what it could mean for their customers.

“People walk in here all the time, like, all day long and say ‘wow, it smells good in here!’” said owner of McBride’s Bakery, Brendan Hillson. “Today, it smells a little different.”

The scent of fresh baked bread lingered in the air, along with something a little greener.

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The local bakery was open Monday for its first weed bake.

Hillson said he was curious about cannabis as an ingredient, having never baked with it before.

“I’ve actually learned more than I’ve taught today,” he said.

Judy Szemethy was one of the participants.

She has been using cannabis for about two and a half years.

“I would take my cannabis and make something called cannabutter, which is infusing the cannabis into butter and then I would bake with it,” she said.

Szemethy started using cannabis after being diagnosed with a brain tumour.

She said it wasn’t her first choice, but her doctor recommended it to help with pain management.

“I don’t like smoking it,” she said. “And so the only other way to ingest it would be to eat it.”

Having a passion for baking, she started experimenting and whipped up a few favourites along the way.

“I love brownies, but I’ve made a variety of different types of cookies from sugar cookies, chocolate chip cookies, banana, oatmeal and raisin. I’ve made butter tarts,” she said.

The weed bake focused on sugar cookies and chocolate chip cookies, which had already been taken out of the oven and were cooling nearby.

They all looked like regular cookies, but Szemethy described them as having a distinct taste.

“Lots of times what you get is earthy, that’s the only way that I can describe it, is earthy,” she said.

But no one was taste tasting anything.

Even though cannabis now being legal, Hillson said this was a chance to try a few experiments of his own.

“I think it’s clear that we’re probably heading for a time when you could buy edibles,” he said. “I don’t know when that is. There’s no great rush for when that is, but it’s now possible for me to start learning about something that I’ve never baked with.”

He added that even once edibles are legal, pot brownies probably won’t be on the menu.

“I hate brownies. I just hate brownies. They make such a mess. It’s like opening up a can of brown paint in a bakery,” he said.

Participants were told to bring their own cannabis as McBride’s would not be supplying any. The products made were taken home by the individual participants and will not be for sale.