Cannabis doesn't have to be smoked.
Long before dispensary shelves were filled with gummies, chocolates, beverages and other infused products, people were making cannabis edibles at home. Brownies might be the classic example, but cannabis can be incorporated into all kinds of foods.
Cooking with cannabis isn't quite as simple as throwing some flower into your favorite recipe, though.
If you're searching for how to cook with marijuana or make weed edibles at home, there are a few things you should understand first, especially when it comes to how THC works, why cannabis is commonly infused into butter or oil and why homemade edibles can be difficult to dose consistently.
How Do Cannabis Edibles Work?
Eating cannabis is a very different experience from smoking or vaping it.
When cannabis is inhaled, THC enters the bloodstream through the lungs and the effects generally begin relatively quickly.
With an edible, THC has to travel through your digestive system and be processed by your body first.
That means edibles usually take longer to kick in.
They can also produce effects that last considerably longer than inhaled cannabis.
This delayed onset is one of the biggest reasons people accidentally consume more THC than they intended.
You eat something, wait a little while, decide it isn't working and have another serving.
Then the first one kicks in.
And eventually, so does the second.
Start Low and Give Edibles Time
If there's one rule worth remembering with edibles, it's this:
Don't immediately take more because you don't feel the first serving yet.
Give it time.
How quickly an edible affects you can depend on the dose, product, your metabolism, what you've eaten and your individual response to cannabis.
If you're new to edibles, starting with a small amount and waiting to understand its effects is much easier than trying to deal with an experience that's stronger than you wanted.
This is also one advantage of purchasing edibles from a licensed Washington cannabis retailer. Regulated products provide labeled THC information, making it much easier to understand how much you're consuming than with a batch of homemade brownies.
Why Can't You Just Put Cannabis Flower in Food?
Technically, you could.
But that's usually not how cannabis edibles are made.
Raw cannabis contains cannabinoids primarily in their acidic forms. Heat is used to convert compounds such as THCA into THC through a process called decarboxylation, often shortened to "decarbing."
That's why cannabis is generally heated before or during the infusion process when making edibles.
Once properly prepared, cannabis can be infused into a fat such as butter or oil.
That infused ingredient can then be incorporated into a recipe.
What Is Cannabutter?
Cannabutter is simply butter that has been infused with cannabis.
It's one of the most recognizable ingredients associated with homemade marijuana edibles because butter is used in so many recipes.
Brownies and cookies are obvious examples, but infused butter can potentially be substituted into many recipes that normally call for butter.
Cannabis can also be infused into oils instead.
The important thing isn't whether you use butter or oil. It's understanding that your infused ingredient now contains THC and needs to be treated differently from ordinary food.
Label it clearly and store it securely away from children, pets and anyone who could accidentally consume it.
How to Make Cannabutter
There are different methods for making cannabis-infused butter, but the general process looks like this:
Step 1: Decarboxylate the Cannabis
Break the cannabis flower into relatively small pieces and spread it evenly on a baking sheet.
The goal is to gently heat the cannabis rather than burn it.
Decarboxylation activates cannabinoids that will eventually be incorporated into the butter or oil.
Step 2: Combine It With Butter
After decarboxylation, the cannabis can be combined with melted butter and gently heated.
Avoid aggressively boiling or scorching the mixture.
The goal is to give the cannabinoids time to infuse into the fat.
Step 3: Strain the Butter
Once the infusion is complete, strain the plant material from the butter.
A fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth can be used to separate the cannabis material from the infused butter.
Be careful because the mixture may still be hot.
Step 4: Cool and Store It
Allow the infused butter to cool and store it in a clearly labeled container.
Don't leave homemade cannabutter sitting in the refrigerator looking like ordinary butter.
Someone who doesn't know what it contains could easily use it accidentally.
How Do You Make Weed Brownies or Cookies?
Once you've made cannabis-infused butter or oil, it can be incorporated into recipes that normally use those ingredients.
This is where homemade edible dosing gets tricky.
If you use infused butter in a batch of cookies, for example, the total amount of THC is being divided among every cookie in the batch.
And unlike commercially produced cannabis edibles, your kitchen probably doesn't have laboratory equipment confirming exactly how much THC ended up in each serving.
Even if you know the labeled THC percentage of the flower you started with, homemade extraction isn't perfectly predictable.
That's why you should be conservative with homemade edibles.
How Strong Are Homemade Edibles?
This is one of the hardest questions to answer accurately.
The potency of a homemade cannabis edible can depend on:
- The THC content of the starting cannabis
- How much cannabis was used
- How effectively it was decarboxylated
- How efficiently it infused into the butter or oil
- How much infused butter or oil went into the recipe
- How evenly the infusion was distributed
- The number and size of servings
That last part is especially important.
If one brownie is twice the size of another, those aren't necessarily equivalent servings.
This uncertainty is one reason commercially produced edibles can be easier for people who want predictable dosing.
Homemade Edibles vs. Dispensary Edibles
Making cannabis edibles at home can be fun, especially if you enjoy cooking.
But there's a major advantage to buying regulated edibles from a licensed Washington cannabis store:
You know what you're getting.
Commercial cannabis products sold through Washington's regulated market are labeled with cannabinoid information and divided into defined servings.
There's also a huge amount of variety now.
Depending on what's available, cannabis edibles can include:
- Gummies
- Chocolates
- Hard candies
- Mints
- Baked goods
- Cannabis beverages
- Capsules and other ingestible products
So if the only weed edible you've ever imagined is a homemade pot brownie, you have a lot more options today.
Edibles vs. Smoking Cannabis
Neither method is automatically "better."
They're simply different ways of consuming cannabis.
Smoking cannabis produces smoke and combustion byproducts that are inhaled into the lungs. Edibles avoid smoke inhalation entirely, which is one reason some consumers prefer them.
But edibles introduce their own considerations.
They generally take longer to affect you, can last longer and can be much easier to overconsume if you aren't paying attention to the dose.
Smoking or vaping also makes it easier to notice the effects relatively quickly and decide whether you want more.
With an edible, patience matters.
Can You Smoke Cannabis and Eat an Edible Together?
You can consume cannabis in different forms, but remember that the effects can stack.
If you've already smoked cannabis and then eat an edible, the edible may not fully affect you until later.
That can make it harder to judge how much THC you've actually consumed.
If you're still learning how edibles affect you, keeping things simple makes it easier to understand your tolerance.
What Kind of Cannabis Should You Use for Edibles?
You don't necessarily need the most expensive flower available to make an edible.
But that doesn't mean quality doesn't matter.
The cannabis you start with still determines what you're putting into your infusion.
Potency matters, but so do freshness, cannabinoid content and the overall quality of the flower.
You can also ask a budtender about options that make sense if you're specifically buying flower for cooking rather than smoking.
Don't Forget About Cannabis Edible Safety
Edibles require a little extra responsibility because they can look like ordinary food.
A cannabis-infused chocolate, cookie or gummy may not look particularly different to someone who doesn't know what it is.
Always keep cannabis edibles clearly labeled and securely stored away from children and pets.
Don't put homemade edibles in an unlabeled container alongside regular snacks.
And if you're serving food to other adults, make it extremely clear which items contain cannabis before anyone eats them.
Nobody should ever consume THC without knowing it's there.
Don't Drive After Eating Cannabis
Cannabis edibles can produce long-lasting effects.
Don't assume you're ready to drive just because several hours have passed.
If you're still feeling impaired, don't drive.
Plan ahead and use a designated driver, rideshare, taxi or public transportation, or stay where you are until you're no longer impaired.
Want Edibles Without the Cooking?
You definitely don't have to make them yourself.
At Seattle Cannabis Co., you'll find a rotating selection of Washington-made cannabis edibles, beverages and other products with clearly labeled THC and cannabinoid information.
If you're new to edibles, tell your budtender.
We can help explain serving sizes, show you different product types and help you narrow down the menu based on what you're actually looking for.
And if you're determined to make the classic homemade weed brownie?
Take your time, be conservative with your serving size and label that cannabutter.
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