Decarboxylation. Making active medibles

"My edibles don't kick and I put a lot of medicine in them. What went wrong?"  This is a question that comes my way time and again.

We put a lot of time money and effort into growing and harvesting and curing our meds but I've noticed some of us don't take the same care when making our medibles. It's one simple step that can change everything. 

From google:

1. Decarboxylation is a chemical reaction that removes a carboxyl group and releases carbon dioxide (CO₂). Usually,decarboxylation refers to a reaction of carboxylic acids, removing a carbon atom from a carbon chain.
   
   
   In the case of marijuana, decarboxylation will change THCA to THC and make the medicine activated for oral consumption. This important step will ensure that the medibles you make are fully potent when you eat them. Not to say there isn't medicinal value in THCA bit if your looking to get the THC benefits this little step will make sure of that. 
   
   
   There are different theories out there to get the best decarboxylation of your starting material. These are the times and temperatures I use. Based on my lab testing I'm hitting between 95-99% decarb using these. 
   
   
   For kief: spread on a cookie sheet or Pyrex dish in a 250 F degree oven for 35 minutes
   
   
   For bud and trim:  grind and spread on a cookie sheet or Pyrex dish in a 250F degree oven for 30-35 minutes
   
   
   Cool and store or use right away for cooking. And yes I actually prefer to decarboxylate my material and then make butter or oil from that. When making butter or oil it will decarboxylate to some degree in the process. But I've found that you create a more potent and active butter or oil by decarbing first. 
   
   
   I hope this helps you guys with your medible making. 
   
   
   Stay Lifted!
   
   
   
   

   

   
   

   THChristi 

   
   
   
   
   
   

Hash Hard Candy

I had a request for my recipe for Hash Hard Candies.  To be honest this recipe is just the recipe from LorAnn Oils with the addition of some decarboxylated kief hash.  I've used their flavorings and recipe for awhile and have been pretty happy with my results.  Check out their website if you want to purchase LorAnn Oils candy making supplies.

So here's what you will need for this recipe:

• A Candy Thermometer (absolutely necessary)
• A heat gun (recommended but not necessary if you have a reliable candy thermometer)
• A heavy pot for cooking
• Hard candy mold or mini muffin pan with foil liners
• Patience and lots of time!
• 2 Cups of Sugar
• 2/3 Cup of Corn Syrup
• 3/4 Cup of water
• 1 dram (1 small bottle) Candy flavoring oil
• 1 teaspoon Tart n' Sour flavoring
• decarboxylated kief (amount will depend on how strong your dosing your candies)  This time I used 1/8th gram per candy in my mini muffin tin.
• extra sugar for dusting your finished candies

Ok so here's the thing with making hard candies, you have have have to be patient.  This process takes a long time and if you try to speed it up you will run the very real risk of scalding your sugar and ruining the whole batch, so please be sure you have the time before beginning this process.

How to do it:

1. Spray your mold or muffin tin with a very light shot of cooking spray.
2. Measure out your desired dosage of decarboxylated kief and add that to each section in the muffin tin or mold
3. Add the Sugar, Corn Syrup, & Water to your heavy pan. DO NOT STIR!
4. Place your candy thermometer in your pan.  Be sure that it doesn't rest on the bottom of your pan if it does, it will break and ruin your thermometer and your candy.
5. Place your pan on medium heat.  
6. Pull up a chair and be prepared for the wait.  Watch your candy  in the pot, but do not stir it or turn your heat up past medium. 
7. Watch for the sugar mixture to begin to boil.  Now allow it to boil together until it reaches 300 degrees F (hard crack stage).  This takes anywhere from 20-40 minutes depending on your oven.  Here's where the heat gun comes in handy.  I use it to check the temperature of the boiling candy in different parts of the pan.  I do this throughout the boiling process.  Inevitably there will be a hot and cool spot in the pan.  When any one spot hits 300 degrees F immediately remove the pan from the burner.
8. Quickly add your flavoring and Tart 'n Sour.   It will incorporate with the boiling action of the candy mixture. DO NOT STIR! Stirring will create bubbles in your candy. 
9. Add your candy mixture to your prepared molds.  I use a metal tablespoon and quickly spoon it into the mini muffin tin.  Whatever is left over I pour into one of my hard candy molds. (Be sure you are only using molds that are rated for high heat.  Chocolate molds are NOT and WILL MELT if you add this molten sugar into them! Ruins your mold and your candies too!)
10. Allow your candies to cool completely
11. Carefully unmold your candy
12. In a small bowl add about 1/4 Cup of granulated sugar.
13. Place each candy into sugar and flip the candy over so both sides are coated with sugar.  You may spray a fine mist of water on the candies to help the sugar to adhere.
14. Place candies on a plate and allow to dry with the sugar coating in place.
15. Package and enjoy your Hash Hard Candies.

***Please note you are working with REALLY HOT sugar and this can burn really bad.  Use extreme care to keep this away from your skin!

OK so I hope you have fun making your own Hard Hash Candies, just remember to have lots of patience & time.  And again please be very careful.  That molten sugar can do a lot of damage to your skin.  I recommend doing this entire project BEFORE medicating so you are able to give this your full attention.

Stay Elevated!

Decarboxylating Kief For Medibles

Decarboxylating kief makes it more potent in medibles

OK here's a quick DIY and Why for decarboxylating kief for medibles.  The main reason to do so is by decarboxylating the kief you convert the THCA in THC which is activated for the body to process through oral administration (eating).  When I first began making my edible medicines I didn't know about this crucial step.  After all my hard work making my medibles sometimes they just didn't seem to kick. I did a little research and found that by decarboxylating the starting plant matter (in this case kief) you could convert the THCA to THC and make sure that your edibles were made with the fullest absorption into your body.

So here's how I do mine.  First using a kief box, shake out some kief from your buds or other plant matter.  For cooking it's ok if your kief material is yellow to yellow/green in color, so you may want to shake twice.  The first shake (yellow) you may want to save for smoking.  The second shake (yellow/green) you can use for all of your cooking needs.  Remove the kief from the base of your shake box and place in a baking pan.  Place this kief in a 250 degree oven for about 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool.  Now your kief is decarboxylated and ready to be added to all of your delicious medible recipes.  I store my decarboxylated kief in a small mason jar in a dark cupboard and use it as needed.'

Here's a fantastic article about decarboxylation.  In the article they say 240 degrees F for 30-60 minutes.  I still do mine for 30 minutes at 250 F.  You can decide what works best for you.

Stay elevated!