Decarboxylating your weed and making cannabis coconut oil
The first step to making weed gummies is creating cannabis-infused coconut oil. This is the ingredient that will turn regular gummy bears into fun gummy bears.
You can’t use regular ground weed in your oil. The cannabinoids in your weed won’t convert into their active state until the heat has been applied to them. In order to infuse your oil with THC, the THC needs to be readily available. That’s where decarboxylating comes into play.
Grind your weed into small, but not fine pieces. Aim for a grind similar to the size of grains of rice. If your grind is too rough, your weed won’t decarboxylate properly. If it’s too fine, you’re going to scorch it to bits.
Crumple up a sheet of aluminum foil and stick it in the bottom of a glass casserole pan. Sprinkle the weed on top of the foil in a thin, even layer. Cover it with another sheet of aluminum foil. Put it in the oven on the center rack and bake it for about 45 minutes at 220 degrees.
The goal is to lightly toast the cannabis. You want the lighter greens to take on a golden hue. You don’t want to burn it to a dark brown shade. It’s normal for your whole kitchen to smell like weed while this is happening, but you should still be checking in on your pan every 10 minutes to assure the cannabis is toasting instead of cooking.
After 45 minutes, take your weed out of the oven and put it in a small metal tea infuser. Place your coconut oil in your slow cooker at the lowest possible temperature. Drop the tea infuser into the slow cooker with the weed, and set the timer for 3 to 4 hours. Every half an hour, stir the oil and move the tea infuser around to assure even distribution.
When the oil is finished, dispose of the weed from the infuser and transfer your weed-infused coconut oil into a refrigerator-safe container. You can allow the oil to cool if you’re not going to make your gummies right away and store the excess for future edibles.
It helps to label your container with the amount of THC per tablespoon of oil. You don’t want to come back to use up any leftovers and forget what you’re working with.
Making your gummies
To make your gummies, you’ll need a packet of flavored gelatin, a packet of unflavored gelatin, water, your cannabis-infused oil, and soy lecithin or sunflower lecithin. Lecithins aren’t ingredients you encounter a lot when you’re cooking, but they’re necessary to emulsify oil into water. You can’t mix the oil directly into the gelatin without the lecithin. It will separate and gather as goo on top, preventing the gelatin from properly forming.
Combine ½ cup of cannabis-infused coconut oil with ½ a cup of water and ½ teaspoon of lecithin in a pot. Turn the burner to its lowest heat setting and stir until everything reaches an even consistency. You want to be sure that every last bit of your coconut oil has dissolved if it entered the pot in its solidified form.
Once the liquids are blended, add in your packet of flavored gelatin and 2 tablespoons of unflavored gelatin. Continuously stir until the powder has completely dissolved while allowing the mixture to simmer for about 15 minutes. Don’t let the mixture boil.
You’ll need to use a dropper or a syringe to fill each cavity of your gummy mold individually. This is a slow process, and while it’s happening, the mixture may begin to separate in the pan. You may need to take breaks to turn the heat back on for a minute or two to re-incorporate all of the ingredients.
When the mold is full, you can put it in the refrigerator to cool and set. The freezer may help the gummies set faster without separating.
Check on your gummies in two hours. If they separated, you didn’t incorporate the ingredients thoroughly enough. They can’t be fixed, but you can still technically eat the contents out of each cavity to avoid wasting them. If they’re solid, pop them out of the mold and place them in a refrigerator safe container. They’ll store well for up to two weeks.
The takeaway
Eating weed gummies is very easy. Making them is hard. If you’re nervous about measuring the proper ratios or having your mixture separate, don’t stress yourself out. Weed is supposed to be fun, and it’s not fun if you’re not enjoying yourself.
If you want perfect gummies that you can enjoy right now, Emjay will deliver them to you. We have a whole host of edibles in different strengths and flavors to suit your taste and tolerance. Place your order now. We’ll be by with your edibles in about half an hour – no decarboxylating, oil infusing, or gelatin whisking required.