HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN CANNABIS EDIBLES
Cannabis and its derivative products are extremely versatile, and almost any type of cannabis product can be used to create at-home edibles with just a little bit of know-how. Whether you’ve got RSO, CO2 Extracts, Tinctures, Hash, or good old fashioned cannabis flower, a few simple steps can lead you to quality marijuana edibles in no time.
There are 2 basic steps that almost all edible infusion methods have in common:
Decarboxylation, or “Decarbing” – this is the single most important step in edibles creation! We cannot create effective edibles with raw, inactive cannabis products or plant material, as the form of THC found in these products (THCA) is non-psychoactive. Therefore, we must first convert the THCA into psychoactive Delta-9-THC (what you’re referring to when you just say “THC”) through the process of decarboxylation – this simple process involves heating your cannabis material at low temperature for an extended period of time to degrade as much of the THCA into active THC as possible.
*Time and temperature are of paramount importance during decarbing – too high of a temperature or too long of a decarb, and you risk boiling off your activated THC and other cannabinoids and terpenes, or burning your starting material. We’ll cover the decarbing process required for each type of cannabis product in the dedicated sections below, as the methods will vary slightly. In the case of pre-activated cannabis products like Rick Simpson Oil (RSO) or Tinctures, no further decarbing will is necessary during edible creation, and it can actually destroy your desired compounds to add heat!
Infusion – Infusion, as it applies to edibles, is the process by which your activated cannabis compounds get into your final edible – this is accomplished either by adding the activated cannabis material to your near-final ingredient mix, or more commonly, steeping the cannabis material in a fat source that will be used in the recipe, such as butter or coconut oil, prior to cooking your actual edible.
All of the commonly desired compounds in cannabis (including THC, CBD, minor cannabinoids, terpenes, and others) are very fat soluble, making this infusion method ideal for creating a cannabis delivery vehicle that your body can use and metabolize more easily. The cooking oil is then used as a regular non-infused fat would be in any recipe of your choice, infusing your edible with activated cannabinoids and terpenes.
Now that you understand the basic steps of creating a cannabis-infused food product, You can use the calculator in the next tab to help calculate how much each dose would roughly be using either Cannabis Extracts or Flower.
