Common Mistakes

The world of infusing and cooking with cannabis is growing in popularity. Many Americans and now Canadians are able to buy edibles at local dispensaries but why purchase them when you can make your very own at home. Cooking with cannabis can be tricky and a little difficult especially when you don’t have someone who knows and understands the process. Here are some of the major questions and mistakes that you may make whilst making your infused foods. Here are some of the top ways you can increase your success in making homemade edibles. First you must understand a little bit about what we are trying to accomplish in the first steps of preparation.

1.     DON’T GRIND THE FLOWER: The part of the bud that we are trying to get the most use out of are the trichomes, which are on the OUTSIDE of the bud and leaves. People tend to finely grind up the bud before using it  to infuse cannabis oil or marijuana butter. This increases the unwanted flavor of the herb and amount of plant material and decreases the effect on our bodies.

2.     TOO MUCH HEAT KILLS: If you want to increase the effect of the cannabis, try cooking at lower temperatures, while heat is good for infusing, anything over 392 will result in wasted cannabis. This means do not directly fry or sauté anything with cannabis oil and when cooking with butter or oil always be conscious of the temperature. To help with keeping the temperature lower try adding water while making cannabis infusions since 212 F is the max out temperature for boiling water.

3.     DECARBOXOLATING: Like stated earlier some heat is good for the cannabis just not too much. A very useful and effective method of using heat is called decarboxylation. This is the act of using heat to activate the THC-a and turn it into THC, this results in a more potent cannabis that can be used to infuse and even to smoke. Some decarboxylation takes place while infusing butter or oil but decarbing before is proven to increase the amount of THC extracted. When cooking with kief it is necessary to decarb and is recommended when cooking with hash as well.

4.     DOSING TOO HIGH OR LOW: When cooking with cannabis you must account for the dosing of the food you are making, people tend to either put in too much or too little. The tolerance of a person often decides how much is consumed. When some people eat marijuana for the first time they may eat too much due to the fact that they might think its not working yet so they eat more, and by the time it all hits, it’s too much.

5.     NOT ONLY SWEETS: A big misconception is that sweets such as candy, brownies, cookies, or rice crispy treats are the only items capable of being infused. You can use all these tips to make your favorite pasta, salad, appetizer or dish an infused meal.

Click here for our step by step videos on how to make everyday ingredients and easy to make edibles at home.

Zi Weber / March 1, 2020