Making edibles sounds cool and fashionable and how to make edibles is a question that is asked quite frequently. Well, there are always two sides on a coin. On one side, making edibles at home is simple and manageable. The flip side is a little complex.
How much of the psychoactive cannabinoids (THC) get absorbed by the body? What could be the side effects if you overate your cannabis brownie?
The preliminary risk for consuming homemade edibles is that generally, we tend to miss the measure or quantity. How much is too much? What could an extra piece of pot brownie or edible chocolate do to you?
Well, the answer is subjective.
Therefore, when it comes to consuming edibles responsible usage is highly recommended.
We shall discuss the side effects of edibles in another post in detail. This article aims to put together some popular edibles and how to make them.
Before describing how to make edibles, some guidelines always come in handy.
Good-practices : Consuming edibles
- Legality: Availability of Cannabis depends on the legalization of the state and the country that you live. It is the fundamental step before you decide to make your edibles.
- Selecting a strain: This is a complicated step. If you find a good number of stores that sell quality cannabis, they might store several varieties of cannabis strains. Hence it is always recommended to do a little bit of homework and understand what your body needs? Or which cannabinoids and terpenes would suit your goals? Once you have answers for these, you would be sure about the strain and the quantity that you want to buy. It also makes the budtenders’ job much easier.
- Generally experienced Cannabis users who have a fair knowledge about the plant, know how to extract the cannabinoids without destroying the medicinal value of the plant matter. It comes with practice and experience. Hence they try and experiment with different ways of making edibles at home. Of course, at their own risk.
- Dosage is key.
Three sure-fire edibles recipes
Here is how to make three popular edible recipes. Cannabutter, edible brownie, and Cannabis Chocolate. Try them at your home and write us your feedback.
Cannabutter
Cannabis mixed with butter is cannabutter. The bioavailability of cannabis is best derived when it gets mixed with fatty substances. Oil and butter are its perfect match. Cannabutter is indeed a good start and a multi-purpose recipe. You could use it in making several other dishes too.
Recipe: How to Make Cannabutter
Cannabutter may be prepared using a double boiling method or by direct cooking.
However, both methods involve four steps.
1.Decarboxylation 2. Boiling butter and cannabis 3. Cannabutter extraction 4. Refrigeration and removing separated butter.
Ingredients
1 cup of butter = 2 sticks
1 cup of water
5-10 grams of cannabis ( depending on your potency requirement)
Materials required:
Oven
Tray and parchment paper
Cheesecloth & strainer
Glass bowl with lid
Pan for cooking butter
1. Decarboxylation
The first and the most important step is to extract the full potential of the cannabinoid (THC) from the cannabis bud. This process is a breakdown of the naturally occurring marijuana compounds into a functionally active molecular form, THC. Because THC exists in its acid form as THCA in flowers. Burning the flower removes the acid, leading to the pure form of Cannabinoid THC.
Some recipes skip the decarbing process and mix the cannabis directly into the butter and allow it to rest for 1-2 hours. But, it is always good to decarb.
Decarb the cannabis by preheating the oven to 240℉ (115℃) Spread the butter paper in the baking tray and carefully place the cannabis buds. Now, put the cannabis filled tray into the oven, allowing around 40-45 minutes for decarboxylation. Remember to stay in your kitchen. Turn on your mobiles to flight mode. While cooking edibles, all you need is patience. Ensure to check often to avoid burning. You could check it every 10th or 15th minute by shaking your tray so that the heat could spread evenly. Once done, the flowers change color and are decarbed. Active THC is derived. Keep aside.
2. Boiling butter and cannabis
In a shallow pan, add 1 cup of water, allow it to boil. While the water is boiling, break the cannabis buds into a coarse powdery form ( using your fingers) and keep ready. Now add 1 cup of butter to the boiling water and let it melt. Next, transfer the decarbed cannabis to the boiling butter. Mix well and simmer for 2-3 hours. Stir occasionally. Do not overcook. Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Once cooled you, could see white layers of milk solids that have separated from the butter. You could remove them if you prefer not to have them. Alternatively, you could use clarified butter to avoid this step.
3. Cannabutter extraction
Take a glass bowl that has an air-tight lid. Place a cheesecloth on a strainer and pour the melted cannabutter into the bowl. You may gently squeeze the cloth to extract the butter. Avoid hard squeezing.
4. Refrigeration and removing separated butter.
Close the bowl and refrigerate. Remove from the bowl in 1- 2 hours and leave it at room temperature for 5 minutes. You can see that the water has settled at the bottom and the cannabutter on top. Using a knife, you can easily remove the cannabutter.
This homemade cannabutter could be used, as a spread on your toast, in pasta, salads, soups, curries, wraps, and so on. Adding garlic, pepper, cinnamon, or other spices could give your cannabutter an additional spicy twist.
Edible Brownie
With the homemade cannabutter, baking becomes much simpler and quicker. Preheat the oven to 140℃ for 15 minutes. Melt 4-6 tablespoons of cannabutter, add one pack of brownie mix and two eggs, beat well. Ensure no lumps are formed and make a fine paste. Transfer the contents to the cake mold or tin. Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes. Relish your edible brownie.
Cannabis Chocolates
With 1-2 grams of cannabis and a bar of your favorite chocolate bar, you could make your edible chocolate. Grind the cannabis to a semi-powder to coarse texture and decarb it at 100℃ for about 20-30 minutes. Do keep checking to avoid burning as the quantity is less. As a foolproof method, you could also place the powdered cannabis on a sheet of aluminum foil and wrap it on the sides like a parcel and place it in the oven.
Meanwhile, finely chop one bar of chocolate and get it melted carefully using the double boiling method. Keep stirring. Once all the chocolate is melted and is creamy, add the decarbed cannabis and mix well. In the final step, take an ice-tray, using a spoon drop the melted cannabis-infused chocolate in every mold, and refrigerate for 60-90minutes. Remove from the cube. Enjoy cannabis flavored chocolate.
Conclusion
There are umpteen methods to infuse cannabis in your food. Make sure to avoid any bad experiences as consuming too much of edibles could leave you on a high for prolonged hours. The goal of infusing cannabis into food and edibles is to approach the plant with more medicinal and lifestyle needs. Avoiding cannabis abuse could prove beneficial to large sections of society.
