NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. — In New York's new world of legal cannabis, there has been a lot of talk about the potential it has for the state.
Cannabis is a new crop for farmers as well as a new product for entrepreneurs, but over the last two years, it's also become a new ingredient, and the Niagara Falls Culinary Institute is at the forefront of the budding business.
Chef Nathan Koscielski was demonstrating to a classroom of students how to squeeze out rosin a type of cannabis extract from a bag of hemp flour when 2 On Your Side visited his class in April.
"So if you pack the bag too high you're not going to be able to fold the top corners in," Koscielski said.
Under 1,000 pounds of pressure, at 180 degrees, the bag emerges from a machine aptly named the Nug-Smasher. It is caked in a dark, sticky liquid that doesn't look appetizing, but is one of several types of cannabis products that are used in cooking.
"I always compare it to wine," Koscielski said
Much like wine, cannabis is an acquired taste, and something handled in moderation and with care, he added.
Miranda Sherman is a student in the class.
"That doesn't even necessarily mean that food cooked with cannabis is going to get you high. In fact, you may just be adding garnishes for a more well-rounded flavor profile," Sherman said.
The main components of those flavors are called terpenes. They're compounds found in things like tea and citrus but also cannabis, where they vary in complexity by strain. Some strains or types have herbal notes; others are peppery like cloves or cinnamon, Kosielski said.
He teaches how to pair each type with other foods as well as how to use the plant from flower to stem and ensure chemicals like THC and CBD are controlled. It's the first case like it in the SUNY system.
A mix of culinary arts and science.
"If I was going to do a limoncello tart, I teach the students that you want to use a citrus haze strain. Or if you're doing something strong and gamey like lamb with mustard and garlic, you want to do a sour diesel strain," Kosielski said.
Martin Danilowicz added: "It's an herb, you know. Rosemary thyme marijuana, it's all good."
Danilowicz is the owner of Roost restaurant in Buffalo and a backer of bringing cannabis and cuisine together. He hosts regular dinners where guests are encouraged to explore cannabis beforehand (the items themselves don't contain it) in order to enhance their eating experience.
Now two years after legalization in New York, Danilowicz could have never imagined what Koscielski has built.
"Never never and I can't wait to see what happens in the next five years. I think it's a really beautiful thing that we've come this far," Danilowicz said.
There is one caveat in Koscielski's current class, which is more lecture-based and designed to help students pass the American Culinary Federation’s (ACF) Specialization Certificate in Culinary Cannabis and Edibles exam.
There is no cooking.
However, this fall Koscielski will debut his first lab course called CUL 255 Culinary Cannabis Extracts, Concentrates & Infusions, where students will learn "the methodologies of how to prepare and make a variety of cannabis extracts, concentrates, and infusions."
Building flavors and dishes in the kitchen working with broad-spectrum hemp which contains virtually no THC (0.3% or less).
"I know in my lifetime I'm never going to have the opportunity to work with a brand new ingredient, and that's something that gets me so excited about, working with cannabis as a Chef," Koscielski said.
Added Danilowicz: "I think it's a wonderful thing that now culinary schools are offering it, grow classes. We've really come a long way, and it's beautiful."
Cannabis may never be mainstream enough to be in every restaurant or bakery, but with students learning about how to use this new ingredient, don't be surprised if cannabis in some form ends up on your plate.