Ocimene

Sweet herbs and green wood, a little citrus.

Green and sweet at once, and very light. Cold dishes keep it: a herb salad, a melon plate, a mango salsa. Heat it and it is gone.

In the kitchen

Goes early

These are the lightest compounds in the plant and they leave first. Decarbing costs you most of them before the fat is even involved — the coolest step on the schedule is 200 °F, and that is already well past where they start moving. If this is the aroma you want, it has to come back into the dish from somewhere else: fresh zest, fresh herbs, a spirit, stirred in off the heat.

Cook it with

mint parsley basil mango lime melon cucumber tarragon green bean

The same compound is in mint, parsley, basil, mango and orchid — which is the short version of why these pairings work. You are not matching a flavor to the cannabis, you are adding more of something the flower already tastes of.

Recipes that suit it

All recipes →

AppetizerLowNo cookNo smell

Avocado lime guacamole

Guacamole loosened with infused olive oil instead of being mashed dry. No heat, no smell, ready in ten minutes.

Contains lime

Written for

2.5 mgper serving

6 servings · 10 min

SauceLowNo cookNo smell

Basil pesto

Made in a food processor, no heat at all. Keeps a week in the fridge and doses pasta, eggs or bread by the spoonful.

Contains basil leaves

Written for

2.5 mgper serving

8 servings · 10 min

SauceLowNo cookNo smell

Buttermilk ranch dressing

Mayonnaise, buttermilk and soft herbs whisked into a pourable dressing. Because it is spooned onto an individual plate, each person decides their own serving, which is the most forgiving arrangement there is.

Contains flat-leaf parsley

Written for

2.5 mgper tablespoon

24 tablespoons · 10 min

AppetizerLowNo cookNo smell

Classic hummus

Canned chickpeas, tahini and ice water blended pale and light. Nothing is heated at any stage, which makes it one of the gentlest carriers on this site, and a scoop is easy to measure.

Contains paprika and chopped parsley

Written for

2.5 mgper serving

16 servings · 20 min

MainStandard

Creamy tomato soup

Canned tomatoes cooked down with onion and garlic, blended smooth, then finished with cream and a slug of olive oil once the pot is off the burner. Ladling measured bowls is what keeps the servings honest.

Contains basil leaves

Written for

5 mgper bowl

6 bowls · 55 min

SideLow

Garlic butter green beans

Blanched until they still snap, then tossed in infused butter off the heat. A side dish that carries a light dose for a table where not everyone wants a brownie.

Contains green beans

Written for

2.5 mgper serving

6 servings · 15 min

Flower that carries it

From StrainTrackr. Each of these breeders named ocimene on their own product page — a claim about their cultivar, not a lab result. Most strains have no terpenes published at all, so this is a sample of what is documented rather than a ranking of what is strongest.