Garlic butter. Peanut butter. Or just butter. All may be household names. Now farmers in the Baltic state of Latvia want to introduce a hitherto unknown butter, cannabis butter, to the world.
"I love it, especially like my grandma used to make," Latvian farmer Dainis Lagzdins said as he invited AFP to taste the dark green butter, a local specialty made of cannabis seed, which he calls a "miracle of taste and flavor."
"Mmm, the taste is heavenly," he said.
Latvian farmers use centuries-old recipes to make the butter or spread at home, sometimes using only soaked, roasted and milled cannabis seed, sometimes mixing it together with oil or butter.
Latvians love it. And unlike the soft drug cannabis, it's legal.
Latvians usually buy it from farmers or at farmers' markets. The speciality also appears on the shelves of big supermarkets, but not so regularly.
Now Lagzdins, the director of the Iecavnieks company, has ambitious plans from the tiny Latvian village of Iecava, 44km south of the capital Riga, to introduce this hitherto unknown product to the world.
"Russian and Finnish salesmen have already shown an interest in our cannabis spread," Lagzdins said, saying he was slightly concerned about whether he would be able to supply the specialty in large quantities.
He is currently finetuning his recipe, but swears by its health qualities -- it does not contain milk proteins, or cholesterol, while cannabis seeds are a natural antioxidant. Once prepared it can be stored for half a year.
Preparing good cannabis butter is not easy. It is mainly done by hand in 18 different steps.
Although cannabis butter and the cannabis seeds used to make it are legal, Latvia's cannabis fields are under strict controls, and farmers have to get permission to grow cannabis and can only grow it in the open air.
Lagzdins started to grow cannabis in large quantities last year, mixing the seeds with seeds brought from England.
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
‘DANGEROUS GAME’: Legislative Yuan budget cuts have already become a point of discussion for Democrats and Republicans in Washington, Elbridge Colby said Taiwan’s fall to China “would be a disaster for American interests” and Taipei must raise defense spending to deter Beijing, US President Donald Trump’s pick to lead Pentagon policy, Elbridge Colby, said on Tuesday during his US Senate confirmation hearing. The nominee for US undersecretary of defense for policy told the Armed Services Committee that Washington needs to motivate Taiwan to avoid a conflict with China and that he is “profoundly disturbed” about its perceived reluctance to raise defense spending closer to 10 percent of GDP. Colby, a China hawk who also served in the Pentagon in Trump’s first team,
The arrival of a cold front tomorrow could plunge temperatures into the mid-teens, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Temperatures yesterday rose to 28°C to 30°C in northern and eastern Taiwan, and 32°C to 33°C in central and southern Taiwan, CWA data showed. Similar but mostly cloudy weather is expected today, the CWA said. However, the arrival of a cold air mass tomorrow would cause a rapid drop in temperatures to 15°C cooler than the previous day’s highs. The cold front, which is expected to last through the weekend, would bring steady rainfall tomorrow, along with multiple waves of showers
RSS