#look the two most popular seed siblings opinions apparently are:

[lulu2992]

Anyway, after months of observation and hesitation, I’ve finally started interacting with the Far Cry subreddit. We’ll see how that goes...

[millenniumfae]

Video Game Cooking: Nectar (Hades 2018)

Nectar is one of the in-game items Zagreus can collect. By gifting these bottles of golden liquid to other characters, he raises his affinity with them, which in turn gives him powerup items and advances character questlines. 

Hades (2018) is a retelling/adaptation of the classical Persephone and Hades mythos. All items, settings, and characters are from classic Greek mythology; Zagreus’ foster mother is the primordial goddess of night. Achilles’ personal questline is about reuniting him with his lover Patrocles. Zagreus has spent his entire life sheltered underground in Tartarus, so he doesn’t know what birds are, or what winter is. 

In turn, ‘nectar’ exists in Greek mythology. It’s sometimes interchangeable with ambrosia; both are the legendary foods/drinks of the gods, said to grant immortality to anyone who consumes them, amongst other positive effects. In-game, nectar is the more commonplace counterpart to ambrosia; Zagreus finds nectar as a dungeon drop. But he needs to defeat the champion of Elysium boss to gain a single bottle of ambrosia.

Today, we’re gonna re-create the nectar of Hades (2018) for ourselves! It may be contraband in Hades’ domain, but it’s not like anyone pays attention to that rule, anyways.

Why are we recreating nectar, and not ambrosia? Because there already exists tons of ‘ambrosia’ drink recipes. Maybe not based off of the Hades (2018) version, but there’s nothing new or exciting in making yet another ambrosia drink. Nectar, on the other hand, gives us more room for invention.

Hades (2018) Nectar Recipe  (Makes One Serving)

1 1/3 cups Martinelli's sparkling cider

2 tablespoons orange flower water

1 tablespoon honey

1/4 teaspoon edible gold shimmer powder (make sure it lists all ingredients, and is certified food safe)

A pinch of coarse sea salt

A pinch of lemon zest

A drop of mint extract

The first times Zagreus gifts nectar to npcs, they describe honoring some sort of godhood custom and exchange with him with a ‘keepsake’ - an in-game powerup he can wear. Unlike with gifting ambrosia, their eyes don’t pop out with shock at receiving such a luxurious gift, it’s instead just something nice, even if relatively commonplace. But nectar is still prestigious enough that gifting the actual Olympic gods nectar goes over well.

If ambrosia is the equivalent of Zagreus gifting $30,000,000 Breguet watches to his friends and family, then nectar is the gourmet-wrapped basket of cheese and crackers you see in the ‘gift’ section of the grocery store. Something you spot while on errands, and impulsively buy so you have a hostess gift the next time someone invites you over. It’s a gift borne of societal custom, and implores the giftee to give you something in return, eventually. Everyone from your multimillionaire uncle Poseidon to your humble jailbird neighbor Sisyphus are pleased to receive such a gift, even if they might value its contents differently.

(In the early-access versions of the game, nectar was ambrosia. The final release wrote ambrosia as the coveted, rare prize you earn after defeating the champions of Elysium. True enough, Zagreus can only find ambrosia after defeating the Elysium boss.)

In original Greek mythology, ‘nectar’ and ‘ambrosia’ aren’t two distinct things. Homer describes nectar as the god’s drink, and ambrosia is the food. But in Sappho’s and Anaxandrides’s poems, it’s the opposite. There’s more recorded mentions of ‘ambrosia’, rather than nectar. Some take this to mean that both nectar and ambrosia can be seen as something both food and drink, like honey.

Both share canonical similarities. Ambrosia and nectar are fragrant foods/drinks, sometimes used as literal perfume by the gods. Makes sense that nectar smells good, if in the AD period we’ve taken the word to mean the sweet stuff within flowers.

Other than its smell, we’ve no canonical information about nectar (other than in the Odyssey, nectar is described as either ‘rose-red’ in color, or in scent). Hades (2018) rendered nectar’s appearance as an opaque, warm gold liquid in a cute little round bottle, wrapped with a ribbon to benefit its ‘gift merchandise’ reputation.        

Nobody in Hades (2018) describes the taste/smell of nectar. Ambrosia, on the other hand, is said to be rare ‘vintages’ that you’re guaranteed to like. Sometimes, gifting either results in a cutscene where Zagreus and co. hang out at the lounge, complete with a sound clip of uncorking a bottle and pouring it into a tall glass. You can also see characters drink nectar amongst each other, savoring both the occasion and the taste. Eurydice also offers a ‘Refreshing Nectar’ power up item, which just kinda looks like normal nectar but in a tall glass. 

There’s a clear alcohol equivalence. But nobody references drunkeness in-game. Even original classical Greek culture didn’t have a drunk culture like we do; wine was revered, but it was mixed with water to be savored, not to intoxicate oneself. Maybe nobody in-game can get drunk in the first place; everyone’s either an immortal, or a ghost.

(In my opinion, it’s always a bit weird when videogame characters can nurture deep, trusting relationships purely built upon a system of gifting items. But Hades (2018) does make it clear that Zagreus already has established relationships with most of the cast.)

Ambrosia’s a rare vintage. So what does that make nectar? We need to make something sweet, pleasant, attractive-looking, and also tangibly related to its rarer sibling. So we’re using another liquid that’s distilled and sometimes fermented; apple cider. 

A bit of this decision comes from the soundbite of opening up a nectar in the lounge; it’s a thin viscosity with a slight hint of foam, almost sounding like beer. And the color matters too, since different distillations of apple cider can result in different colors, ranging from dark brown to a light, bright gold.

Apple juice, when fermented, can have alcohol contents going from light apple wine, to brandies that have 10-25% alcohol. As a culinary ingredient, its modest fructose content means a higher temperature tolerance, and its citric acid can be used as a brine. It’s a popular ‘new world’ ingredient in cooking and baking. 

It’s also an ‘old world’ food. Hades (2018) doesn’t take itself super seriously, with its foil-wrapped gyros and french fries as in-game healing items. But any character/worldbuilding they do have, they keep it consistent. 

Zagreus says that Hermes’ symbol “almost looks like a bat wing”, when it’s very clearly a bird wing. Because he’s lived underground his whole life, he doesn’t know what a bird is. Weapons upgraded with the aspect of people like Guan Yu, or King Arthur, are time-bending powers that no one has ever heard of, with hints that these mysterious people live in places with their own gods/mythology. Zagreus catches a trout/bass/sturgeon fish for the first time, and it’s completely foreign to him, but Achilles fondly recalls these Greece-native fish fitting of his Nereid heritage. Characters have discussions about how mortals fear death, despite Thanatos being a gentle god represented by butterflies. There’s no sun, therefore no time, in the underworld. Hades is the god of minerals as well as the underworld, hence gems and diamonds being an in-game loot. 

Apples originated in Central Asia. During the Classical Greek era, they would have resembled what we call crabapples; small, hard, sour, cherry-sized. “At the Sammardenchia-Cueis site near Udine in Northeastern Italy, seeds from some form of apples have been found in material carbon dated to around 4000 BCE.”

It implores me to find ingredients that fit the setting, as with my other Video Game Cooking recipes. No pumpkins, no corn, potatoes, chocolate, tomatoes, vanilla. Instead, we have things like almonds, lentils, oranges, honey, garlic, onions (haha, suck it Achilles)

To reflect nectar’s ‘sweet smelling’ trait, we’re using an ingredient common in Persian cooking - and later the French royal court of King Louis; orange flower water. I found mine in my local Asian grocery. It’s a byproduct of making essential oil, and it’s colorless/flavorless, but with a strong aromatic smell that affects any food you mix it with. It’s also a known ingredient in modern day Greece, called anthonero (ανθόνερο). 

(Eeurydice is confirmed to use both nectar and ambrosia as a cooking ingredient, and her food is apparently amazing. Maybe one day, I’ll make another Video Game Cooking recipe based off of her Pom Porridge, or Ambrosia Delights.) 

And to really make it look like the food of the gods, we’re adding an ingredient found more and more in swanky bars worldwide; edible glitter powder. Originally, people only used this to decorate baked goods and candies, but come Instagram, people are making these really picturesque cocktails that shimmer rainbow. You gotta be careful when buying these for yourself, though; the tiny tins of decorative edible shimmer power you find at Michaels may not actually be as edible as they claim. I found Bakell-brand Luster Dust at a bake-supply shop. If it doesn’t list its ingredients, or certify itself as FDA-approved, then don’t use it for food.

And since it’s called ‘nectar’, we’re also adding honey. Which has long history of its divine status as a holy food. To take down the intense sweetness a bit, the tinest pinch of sea salt - another holy, pure substance. And to really bring out the brightness of the apples, we’re adding a sprinkle of lemon zest. A tiny drop of mint extract brings a complex depth to the orange flower smell.

To make a glass of nectar; cover the bottom of the glass with mint, lemon, sea salt, honey, and orange flower water. Then, pour the apple cider with the gold shimmer dust together, so that the two mix together a bit, to avoid clumping of the powder. Then you mix the drink a bit, so that the honey, zest, and salt aren’t sitting at the bottom.

It only now occurs to me that this recipe might actually be a rendition of Eurydice’s Refreshing Nectar item, rather than pure nectar itself. But just take my word for it; when you open up a bottle of nectar, you get that whiff of blossoms with the slight coldness of mint, and the sea salt/honey taste goes really well with the apple juice. I imagine that Eurydice’s somehow making a further delicious drink by adding a splash of Bailoni and ice. 

Enjoy! Just imagine that you’re hanging out with Zagreus and his three partners, cracking a cold one open over stories about how crazy the surface world is. Did you know that we have machines called computers that instantly relay information all over the world??

[larkfox]

icariahq task : 40 questions

Describe your character in a few words. Intense, curious, a resigned hopeless romantic, self-destructive

What do you know about your character that they don’t know yet? Oooof a lot. She puts the people that are most important to her on a pedestal, and it wrecks her perception of them. That she’s going to have to go through the wringer to become a better person, apologize a lot, and earn her happiness.

What are your character’s major flaws? While a compassionate person, Lark has volatile jealousy problems. She does not know when to give up in a fight. She is probably her own worst enemy.

What would your character give their life for? So many things. She would absolutely give her life to save other people. Remember when she was filming herself for a week? She was absolutely willing to give up everything if it allowed someone to have evidence.

What is your character’s greatest asset? Probably her intellect, honestly. She has some unusual ideas, but they’re apparently reasoned well. It’s something that she’s proud of.

What would completely break your character? Realizing previously unknown flaws in herself. Getting her heart broken. Someone she cares about telling her something mean (even if it’s true). Tragedies she tried to prevent

How does the image your character tries to project differ from the image they actually project? Lark thinks she is an honest person, but she bends the truth to further her own goals sometimes without being aware. Or that she isn’t as kind as she thinks.

What is your character afraid of? Seeing all of the negative impacts that she made on the world, especially seeing that she left the world a worse place than when she got there. Also termites. Not really other bugs. Termites. Oh. And spontaneous combustion.

Where would your character fall on a politeness/rudeness scale? If 1 is super polite and 10 is super rude? Maybe a 7? She’s a complete brat but likes to hear people out about their opinions.

If your character could choose a different identity, who would they pick? Anyone doesn’t feel so insecure and lacking confidence all the time. Maybe like... Miranda Priestly.

In what or whom is your character’s greatest faith in? Each individual person’s capacity for change

What was the best thing in your character’s life? Probably living in Germany. She really got a lot out of her education and lived experiences in Heidelberg.

What was the worst thing in your character’s life? When her grandfather died. No question.

What is a favorite flavor or smell of your character? Caramel in general. It’s comforting.

What seemingly insignificant memories stuck with your character? She remembers a lot of the mean things other kids said to her when she was little. They stuck with her.

What is your character’s secret wish? Like a really secret wish? She’s not great at those. She is very transparent about her desires but not her motivations or nuances. The closest thing would be that she wants a happily ever after.

What is your character’s greatest achievement? She would consider it to be completing her Master’s Degree.

What is your character’s deepest regret? How she treated Lina while they were in a relationship. And she has no idea how to overcome how stressful that is for her.

What is your character’s deepest disappointment? That her mother never really grew up. Lark finds it deeply disturbing that she is more mature than her own mother.

What is your character reluctant to tell people? About her insecurities.

What is your character hiding from themselves? How stressful it is to be so selfish all the time, but she isn’t sure how to stop.

What makes this character angry? What calms them? INJUSTICE; justice being served (also watching turtles)

List situations in which your character would not have control over themselves. Ohhhh so many. If someone is hurt, if she witnesses injustice, if someone hurts someone she cares about. Or even someone she doesn’t care about.

How strong is your character’s emotions? Controllable? Uncontrollable? Very strong, and she doesn’t have a lot of control over them. While she can take a lot of criticism, she can get riled up over odd things.

What wakes your character up in the middle of the night? That she hasn’t done enough to make the world a better place.

Describe a recurring dream and/or nightmare. She doesn’t really do recurring dreams, but she has a lot of similar dreams where she is really young and at the school she hates and nobody likes her.

Describe your character’s family. Lark was raised by her grandparents, Dale and Cecilia. Her grandpa passed away when she was twelve. Lark’s mother, Diana, was in and out, but never really figured out how to parent. If she happens to have any half-siblings, she has no idea because she does not give her father Zelus the time of day.

Name your character’s favourite person and why. Probably Steffi, but it’s a bit of an unhealthy attachment. She admires how completely self-assured Steffi is, and her sense of humor. It’s hurting Lark a lot that the two of the aren’t talking right now.

How many friends does your character have? More than you would expect. She’s not super popular, but she befriends people well enough. When she lived in Canada, she did not have very many friends, and kept to herself because other people did not seem to ‘get’ her.

How many friends does your character want? She’s happy with what she has. If more come along, she won’t stop them.

How would a friend or close relative describe your character? Smart, passionate, friendly, excitable

Who depends on your character? Why? Her mother depends on her for attention and validation. Moving somewhere her mom couldn’t go was a helpful outcome to setting boundaries.

Who does your character most want to please? Why? If she’s in a relationship, that person. If she isn’t, Steffi. She’s very devoted to the people that she cares most about, but doesn’t feel like she has to impress her family anymore, so it’s whoever she has the strongest feelings about otherwise.

How does your character feel about sex? Incredibly hesitant. She does not do one night stands, and finds the idea of casual sex wholly unappealing. She inscribes a lot of meaning into sex, and is not very experienced despite having been in relationships before. 

How does your character feel about romantic relationships? Desperately, Lark wants to be in a relationship that makes her feel loved, safe, and understood. After getting burned in her first relationship, she brought intense jealousy into her next relationship, destroying anything that could have been good all by herself. Even though she did not start dating until her twenties, she has already given up.

If your character had to live in utter seclusion, what six items would they bring? Computer; some device that lets her get access to the internet (very important. not sure where she is living in seclusion); hairbrush; one of those cute packs of a bunch of heirloom seeds so she can make a disaster of trying to grow food by herself; KNIFE; turtle tank (those fuckers are coming with)

What is your character’s most noticeable trait and most noticeable physical feature? Lark’s most noticeable trait is probably her volume level because that voice carries. Her most noticeable physical feature? Probably her eyes because of the color.

How does your character feel about work? Very badly because she does freelance copywriting for social media and digital marketing campaigns. She hates large corporations. And capitalism. Big economy in general, really. 

Write one headcanon. Lark is unusually knowledgeable about public transportation systems around the world. She’s put in the research.

Write one additional thing about your character. Do not eat Lark’s cooking if you expect it to taste like what it looks like. 

[savvyherb]

How Reliable Are Cannabis Strain Names?

Finding consistent, repeatable experiences with cannabis is a challenge that every consumer faces. Even the most experienced cannabis connoisseurs can struggle to find the right dose of the right strain with the right chemical composition.

Once you’ve found a strain you enjoy, the challenge continues when you return to the dispensary looking to recapture that experience. Two strains bearing the same name can vary from grower to grower, and any difference in the chemical makeup can sway the experience in any number of directions.

Which is why finding reliable strains that are accurately labeled is paramount to replicating the enjoyment and benefits cannabis provides. When shopping for a specific strain, the strain name is one of the few pieces of information that consumers have to depend on.

RELATED STORY

What’s in a Strain Name? A Lot, Actually—but Only If It’s Accurate

But exactly how reliable are strain names? If you pick up two distinct products that share the same strain name, how similar will they be? Let’s find out.

What Does ‘Reliability’ Mean in a Cannabis Strain Name?

Strain name reliability—that is, confidence that a specific strain name leads to predictable effects—comes down to the level of consistency in chemical expression (i.e., cannabinoid and terpene levels).

A reliable strain name is going to be consistent from grower to grower and batch to batch, expressing a similar chemical profile. Unreliable strain names will show a wider spectrum of variety in the expression of their chemical profile—that means your experience may differ from product to product, even if each of those products carries the same strain name.

Strain names can be unreliable for a number of reasons. The practice of counterfeiting or renaming a strain for marketing purposes can complicate things by presenting different chemical profiles under the same strain name.

Unstable genetics are another culprit of unreliability. When growers work with strains that have not been carefully bred to produce consistent characteristics, phenotypic differences—the disparate characteristics between sibling plants with the same genetic lineage—can also lead to more variability in the chemical expression of strains with the same name.

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Determining Reliability

The chart below helps illustrate the reliability of strain names by comparing samples of well-known strains using data from Leafly’s lab partners.

Each bar represents the average reliability of several popular strain names. Each bar represents data from many growers across the US and Canada.

  The top of the graph represents a “perfect” strain. If every grower producing Blue Dream made flower with identical chemical profiles, then the bar would go all the way to the top. That would mean that every cannabinoid and terpene is present in precisely the same ratio across all products with a shared strain name. This is obviously not possible and represents an ideal state of perfect consistency.

Strain names above the dashed line are associated with fairly consistent chemical profiles across growers. Strain names far above the line, such as White Tahoe Cookies and Purple Punch, are quite consistent and reliable in their chemical profiles.

The more reliable strain names you see on the left show a relatively consistent pattern in their chemical makeup. That means if you’re smoking a flower labeled “Blue Dream,” there’s a higher likelihood that you are enjoying the same thing you did last time—the experience, as a result of its chemical profile, will be more repeatable.

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What Is THC (Tetrahydrocannabinol)?

The less reliable strain names, like Durban Poison and Pineapple Express on the right, show greater variability in lab analyses of their chemical makeup, and will therefore be less reliable in producing consistent effects if the strain name is all you have to go on.

The dashed line represents how similar two flower products with the same strain name would be to each other if strain names were randomly assigned. Leafly’s data team can model this scenario by measuring the level of consistency between samples sharing the same strain name after randomly shuffling the names attached to each data sample. This tells us what things would be like if growers were randomly picking strain names.

Strain names like Blueberry, which are closer to the dashed line but still above it, are still more consistent across growers and products than if strain names were randomly chosen, but somewhat less consistent than strains like Blue Dream, White Tahoe Cookies, and Purple Punch.

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CBD vs. THC: What’s the Difference?

Strain names below the line can be thought of as “consistently inconsistent.” Flower products with these strain names will commonly have more than one very distinct terpene profile. Durban Poison, for example, has returned lab results from multiple growers that test all over the place with various different terpene profiles present.

Which Strain Names Are the Most Reliable?

Given that there are no enforced rules ensuring that growers accurately choose the correct strain name, it’s remarkable that many strain names are actually fairly consistent. Let’s look at an example of one of the most popular and reliable strains according to Leafly data to learn more about why reliable strain names provide a more consistent experience.

Blue Dream is a longstanding fan favorite on Leafly. There are a number of factors we can attribute to Blue Dream’s popularity, but one of the most apparent is its consistency from grower to grower.

(Leafly)

Looking at the lab data for this strain, we see a clear pattern with its terpene profile. This classic hybrid most commonly expresses a myrcene-rich profile supported by pinene and caryophyllene. Terpene profiles differ somewhat grower to grower, but most samples share the same basic profile. In fact, about 80% of Blue Dream flower products express this general terpene profile. This level of consistency is what we see from lab data coming from several hundred growers across multiple geographic regions.

Blue Dream proliferated in the early-2000s, an era that saw a lot of growth and promise for medical cannabis in California and beyond. During this time, genetics were widely shared within the medical cannabis community, and many dispensaries made clones available for patients. Blue Dream was widely available, and the fact that it was mostly available by clone helped ensure that its genetic blueprint was maintained no matter who was growing it.

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Blue Dream also features one of the most common terpene profiles across all varieties of cannabis. Myrcene is the most abundant single terpene in commercial cannabis today, and around 40% of legal flower products today are myrcene-dominant strains.

According to lab data, Blue Dream’s myrcene-dominant terpene profile is found in 54% of growers’ gardens, but 24% of growers have a pinene-dominant version supported by myrcene as the secondary terpene. These profiles share the same general makeup of terpenes but express them in slightly different ratios, likely due to subtle phenotypic differences within the genetic lineage.

Which Strain Names Are Unreliable?

Let’s look at the chemical profile of Durban Poison, a strain with a storied legacy, to better understand why some strains express less consistency when it comes to their expected effects.

(Leafly)

Lab data shows a variety of chemotypes available for products with the strain name Durban Poison. While this strain name is often seen with terpinolene as its dominant terpene, flower products with the name Durban Poison often show completely different terpene profiles. There is too much variability for us to associate a single chemical profile to Durban Poison.

Since this strain is consistently inconsistent in its chemical expression, it will be more difficult for consumers to rely on products with this strain name as an indicator of reliable effects. As more data becomes available the authentic Durban Poison may show itself, but true genetic authentication requires collaboration with breeders who have verified Durban Poison genetics.

RELATED STORY

Beginner’s Guide to Cannabis Breeding, Genetics, and Strain Variability

There are at least three major factors that explain why the strain name Durban Poison is not reliably associated with a clear chemical profile:

It is a rare landrace strain—a cultivar native to the areas surrounding Durban, South Africa, it wasn’t bred or stabilized with the same attention and methods that breeders today use to create strains.

Landrace varieties in general are rare in legal markets. They’re also highly sought-after and compelling, which makes them susceptible to counterfeiting, especially because their seeds are so hard to come by.

Durban Poison is thought to be a pure sativa. Pure sativa strains are extremely rare in a market flooded by hybrid and indica varieties, so finding one is suspect.

  Due to the inconsistent nature of their chemical profiles, there are some strain names we can’t rely on for predictable effects. But there are still many strain names out there you can count on, at least the majority of the time. As the cannabis industry matures, increased accountability that comes with lab testing will hopefully make strain names more reliable.

Ultimately no strain name is perfectly reliable and any seemingly subtle variance in chemical profile could influence the experience a strain provides. This is even more apparent for those using cannabis therapeutically. To make cannabis consumption a more consistent and repeatable experience, consumers must feel empowered to make the right decisions through understanding verified lab data for the products they are purchasing.

Cannabis consumers deserve better! More detailed analysis of the products you are enjoying is just the start. Leafly continues to develop tools and resources to ensure consumers understand their cannabis better through partnerships with data labs and collaboration with industry-leading breeders and growers.

strains

Will Hyde

Will is a cannabis expert and co-host of Leafly’s “What Are you Smoking” podcast. He’s a cultivator and former budtender who loves complex hybrids with piney and gassy terpene profiles. Follow him on Instagram at @the.avid.dabber

The post How Reliable Are Cannabis Strain Names? appeared first on Savvy Herb Mobile Cannabis Platform.

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