1. CALCULATE YOUR DOSAGES AND POTENCY
This is really the first step to cooking properly with cannabis. If you don’t know the potency of the cannabis you’re using, it’s virtually impossible to gauge the cannabinoid concentration of your edibles and get a proper dose.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the ability to know how much THC, CBD, or other cannabinoids are in their weed because, you know, street weed isn’t exactly lab tested. But if you happen to live in an area where cannabis is legal and you can get reliable info on the potency of your bud, make sure you do.
This will really change your edible experience as it’ll allow you to get a solid idea of the cannabinoid concentration and how to divide up your doses.
Unfortunately, too many people have had a negative experience with edibles. That’s because they often contain strong doses of THC (which causes some uncomfortable side effects in high doses) and take notoriously long to take effect (meaning people tend to think the edibles haven’t taken effect yet, only to be left with a mind-boggling trip afterwards).
Just remember to start with a small portion and wait to see how your body reacts. By for instance first taking half a dose, assessing how you feel in roughly 45 mins to 1 hr, and then taking the rest of your dose if necessary, you minimize your chances of “overdosing” with edibles.
If you’re worried about the potency of your edibles not being high enough, and you still find your edibles could use an extra “kick,” try this little trick: adding some lecithin will help to crack it up.
2. DON’T JUST DUMP BUD IN YOUR FOOD
This might seem obvious to some of our readers, but we’re still surprised how many people think that throwing dried bud into brownie mix is all it takes to make edibles. Just to be clear, it’s not.
Dumping dried weed straight into your favorite dish is just going to do one thing: spoil your meal. First of all, the weed will give your food a pretty foul taste, and secondly, the dried plant matter might just make you throw up (because, newsflash, our bodies can’t digest non-edible plants like cannabis), and won’t get you high.
In order to infuse your food with cannabinoids, you need to first make an infused butter or oil, then use that oil or butter in your food.
3. DON’T WASTE YOUR PRECIOUS WEED
An important thing to know it that simply dumping a ton of weed into your butter or oil, doesn’t make for more potent edibles.
The fat molecules in butter or oil can only bind to a certain amount of cannabinoids. Adding a huge excess just ends up wasting weed. Best practice would be to just follow our recipes for cannabutter or cannabis infused olive oil.
4. CLEAN AND BLANCHE YOUR WEED
Unfortunately, most weed you get your hands on usually isn’t very clean. From insecticides and fungicides to natural chlorophyll, your weed actually contains a lot of impurities which, frankly, taste horrible.
For better-tasting and healthier edibles, make sure you clean your weed by letting it soak in distilled water for roughly 3 days, changing the water every 12 hours. Then, you’ll want to blanche your cleansed bud by adding it to boiling water for 5 minutes, followed by a 1-minute ice bath. You can then dry and decarboxylate the weed in the oven.