How To Properly Dose Edibles For Beginners

Did you know that marijuana sales are supposed to reach a dizzying $30 billion by next year? There’s no getting around the fact that more and more people are using marijuana for recreational and medicinal purposes. With such a high demand comes a wide variety of products. Aside from the usual method of smoking,  ingesting edibles is also a popular method of getting THC into the system. Are you thinking about making some yourself? Keep reading to learn all about how to properly dose edibles if you’re a beginner.

What Are Edibles?

Put in the simplest terms, an edible is any type of food that has cannabis inside it. There are almost as many different types of edibles as there are foods. Of course, there’s a limit to the variety because some food items aren’t practical for making THC edibles.

Some of the most popular edible options include brownies, gummies, mints, chocolates, and even beverages like coffee and soda.

The effect of the edible can depend on its type, as well as the kind of active ingredients you put inside. In general, you can start feeling the effect of edibles after an hour to half an hour. Items that are absorbed lingually often kick in faster, such as lollipops, rather than items that are digested in the stomach, like baked goods.

Instead of buying prepackaged edibles, it can be a lot of fun spending time making your own homemade edibles. Trying different edibles beforehand can end up giving you plenty of inspiration to work with.

Getting The THC From Your Flower

There’s no getting around the fact that dosing edibles is a crucial step. After all, absorbing THC through the digestive system makes the effects more potent and long-lasting. This is why you should avoid going overboard.

While it depends on a variety of factors, the effects of an edible can last as long as six hours, sometimes even longer than that.

When it comes to baking, you’ll start off with a flower. Each flower has its own amount of THC and CBD. There’s also the cannabinoid content to consider, but you should be able to find all of this information on the packaging.

Before you put on your chef’s hat, it’s important to take note of the percentages of each ingredient. The THC in flowers tends to fluctuate a lot, which can make it easy to put too much in your edible if you’re not careful.

Once you’ve identified these percentages, it’s time to start cooking. The first step involves infusing the flower into either oil or butter. Don’t forget to heat the substances inside the carrier fat.

To get the most THC out of your flower as possible, you’ll have to heat it for one hour and 50 minutes at a temperature of 230 degrees Fahrenheit. The next step involves straining the liquid so that you’re left with the oil or fat only.

Keep in mind that heating your flower for too long will break the THC down into useful materials while heating it for too short a time will keep much of the THC locked up inside the flower.

Perfecting The Dosage

Once you’ve gotten as much THC from your flower as possible, it’s time to infuse it into a delicious batch of edibles. The rule of thumb you should follow is one to five milligrams of THC within a given edible. This is a very small dosage, but a little THC goes a long way.

By keeping the dose low, you can avoid building up a tolerance. This gives you much more THC to work with and prevents your body from having to process an unnecessary amount of THC in the future.

As with much of baking, math is unavoidable if you want to be exact. When decarbing your flower, you should always assume you’re getting 90 percent of the THC content, even though it can range anywhere from 75 to 85 percent.

With the conservative estimate of 90 percent after decarbing, you can expect to get 1,800 mg of THC out of a flower that began with 2,000 mg. A conservative estimate for heat extraction is 60 percent, which would mean you’re left with 1,080 mg of THC.

This cooking oil will allow you to have over 215 serving sizes if you opt for the maximum recommended dose of five milligrams per edible. If you’re ever unsure about the dosage, remember that it’s best to err on the side of caution. Don’t be afraid to include some normal butter or oil within your recipe to even out some of the THC potency.

Aiming For Even Distribution

Another problem that can crop up when determining THC edible dosage is distribution. Once you’ve made butter, for instance, the cannabinoids will always settle within it based on their specific weights.

This means you can’t get widely uneven distribution if you just take a scoop of butter from the top of the jar and start cooking with it. Rather, it’s a good idea to use a long knife and take out a vertical section of the butter from the jar.

Don’t forget to mix, mix, and mix again until you’re sure it’s as evenly distributed as possible.

Once you have a beautiful product, don’t dive in just yet. You should also take the time to measure out the portions so that you and everyone else get the same dosage.

Are You Ready To Dose Edibles Like A Professional?

Now that you’ve learned all about how to dose edibles if you’re a beginner, you can start mastering the craft until you’re on the same level as a professional. Be sure to let your friends know about how you honed your skills. They’re sure to love the edibles you bake.

Of course, edibles are only as good as the cannabis you put into them. That’s why we’re dedicated to providing you with the best cannabis on the market. We have a wide-ranging medical and recreational menu for you to choose from.

Do you have questions? Feel free to contact us.