I have successfully used the following technique to make edibles that are both enjoyable, and have a good therapeutic value. Making very small chocolates is little more difficult so you might elect to make a bigger size. However, smaller sizes allow for a lot more dosing control. Tips for making more potent edibles are included below as well. In any event, let’s get to the good stuff.
Ingredients:
-2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
-14 oz quality coconut oil (should be solid at room temperature)
-28 g quality cannabis
–1cc Mini-ice cube silicone molds (or similar)
-Measuring cups (1/4c will suffice)
-spatula
-oven & baking sheet
-double boiler pan set
-ice water
-french press
-cheese cloth
-oven mitts
-sterile food handling gloves
1. Prepare the cannabis by chunking it up [with scissors] into dime sized chunks. The densest buds will need to be chunked up a little more – light and fluffy buds a little less. I don’t recommend grinding as this will damage more trichomes (where the medicine is) and will make your oil taste more ‘green.’
2. (Optional) Blanch & Rinse: This step is not critical to the process, but will help remove a great deal of ‘green’ taste from your final product. It will also reduce smell during the decarboxylation step and the process does NOT reduce potency.
-Prepare bowl of ice-water
-Bring pot of water to boil
-Tie up prepared cannabis in cheese cloth
-Submerge in boiling water for 5 minutes
-Submerge in ice-water for 5 minutes
NOTE: Never store your cannabis wet. If blanching and rinsing it is recommended to decarboxylate immediately thereafter.
3. Decarbylation: This step converts THCA to THCTHC is the most famous cannabinoid and is psychoactive. TH... (psychoactive form).
-Preheat oven to 220 degreesF
-Spread prepared cannabis on baking sheet
-‘Cook’ for 30 minutes
NOTE: You can cook longer at a slightly lower temperature, or for a shorter amount of time at a higher temperature.
TIP: Place your container of coconut oil on the stove top while the oven is on in order to liquefy. Now you’re ready for the next step.
4. Coconut oil infusion: In this step we will transfer the cannabinoids from the cannabis to your oil.
-Place decarboxylated cannabis into your french press.
-Pour 14oz warmed coconut oil over cannabis
-Mix lightly with spatula
-Bring pot of water to a simmer (water level should not be higher than the level of oil in your french press)
-Place french press directly in simmering water and ensure there is no risk of tip-over
-Press down screen on french press just far enough to ensure cannabis is submerged in oil
-Simmer for 6 hours; check water level every 30-60 minutes and add water as needed
-After 6 hours, depress french press fully and pour contents back into coconut oil jar
-Allow to cool for 30 minutes
-Freeze coconut oil for one hour before moving back to refrigerator – keep refrigerated until use
-You should expect about 12 oz of finished canna-oil
5. Making chocolates:
-Start double boiler
-Add 1/4 cup of cannabis-infused coconut oil
-Add 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
-Mix very thoroughly for five minutes after chocolate and oil has melted – watch closely for ‘swirls’ and mix until they disappear
-Quickly and carefully transfer melted chocolate into your molds – use your spatula to get all of your chocolate
-Place molds in freezer for 20-30 minutes
-Once frozen, quickly remove from molds, place in plastic baggies, and put back in freezer or refrigerator. The addition of canna-oil makes the chocolate melt faster.
NOTE: If making for a patient you should strongly consider using sterile food handling gloves.
6. Dosing: As alluded to in the intro; I prefer to use 1cc mini ice cube molds but you can use larger molds if you like. Larger molds make it easier to remove chocolate from the mold, but the smaller molds are much better for dosing control (some of my patients have a low tolerance to THCTHC is the most famous cannabinoid and is psychoactive. TH...). Assuming your cannabis was near 20% potency, you’ll end up with 1 cc chocolate cubes that are about 2mg of THCTHC is the most famous cannabinoid and is psychoactive. TH... each. Be aware that this is an educated guess and has not been proven by testing.
Be sure to start off with a small dose and wait two hours for it to take effect. I can’t tell you what a small dose is as they depends largely on the individual. I would suggest starting with 5 cc (cubes) if you are an experienced user. My inexperienced patients have started at 3cc with good results. I prefer to wait 1 day between doses to be sure I fully understand the potency. Be careful with edibles as they can be very intoxicating!
Increase potency by adjusting this recipe in one or more of these ways:
- Increase Cannabis from 1/2 oz to 1 oz
- Increase size of the candy mold used
- Increase infused oil in chocolate mix from 1/4c to 1/2c
CAUTION: Making all of these adjustment could create extremely potent edibles.
Other notes:
- I prefer to make a full 12 oz batch of coconut oil at once as this will help ensure consistency of edibles made from it.
- Test each batch individually and expect some variation in dosing. The larger the ‘batch’ size, the more consistent the potency will be within that batch.
- Milk chocolate can be used but will melt all over your fingers during this process.
- Be careful about licking spatulas and fingers as it may become very difficult to get off the couch.
- There is a large difference in the amount of cannabis you will use if you are processing trim (~triple). Add kief to your trim and it still takes about twice the amount.
- You may process smaller amounts of oil and cannabis and a ratio of 1g of bud to 1oz of coconut oil or 3g of trim to 1oz coconut oil is a good starting point. 2g of cannabis to 1oz of oil is the ‘sweet spot’ for my patients.
- This process will work for cannabis containing CBDCBD is a cannabinoid with high medical value. It lessens t... More as well as THCTHC is the most famous cannabinoid and is psychoactive. TH.... If CBDCBD is a cannabinoid with high medical value. It lessens t... More is used you will need to adjust your decarboxylation temperature to a minimum of 230 degreesF.
- You may substitute a double boiler and cheese cloth strainer for the french press. This will be necessary substitution if you grind the cannabis instead of chunking it up.
The notes and tips could go on and on. This is just one of many, many methods for making cannabis-infused coconut oil. This one just happens to be my preferred method at the moment and just about the simplest method I could find using common household items. It is also a method I have found to make edibles with consistent potency which can also be used for micro-dosing.
Bon appetite!
— The Lit Farmer —
