I am the world’s smallest cannabis user. To each their own, I’m glad it is legal where I live (I even went to a dispensary on opening day), but calling me a light weight does a disservice to light weights.
However.
It turns out I am a natural when it comes to extraction of active compounds in the plant, while preventing the extraction of turpenes, esthers, chlorophyll, and undesirable flavors.
Really, it comes down to skills I’ve honed as a brewer and vinter. Temp/time/ph/extraction medium. Turn those knobs in a measurable, consistent way, and you’re golden.
Wouldn’t it decarb when it’s all baked @ 350 in the oven? Granted, the utter you have left wouldn’t be, but you could just use it in cookies to the same effect.
Actually, no. Failure to decarb the cannabis is the most common failure mode that I’ve run into when people make their own edibles. Some decarb action will happen, yes, but it will be inconsistent and hard to reproduce.
It takes ~205-225F to break loose that carboxyl group. The oven may be at 350F, but only the outer two millimeters or so of what you’re cooking will ever see that temperature. Specifically in a turkey, the outer part of the skin heats to ~300-350F, where caramelization and the Maillard reaction (browning) take place. But the white meat and stuffing are done at 160-165F, and dark meat at 180F, nowhere near hot enough to decarb. Any of the butter that drips down into the pan will get hot enough to decarb, but may also get hot enough to destroy the THC molecule.
The same thing happens in cookies, brownies, or other baked goods. Typically your finish temperature for a brownie or cookie is about 210F… not hot enough. Yeast breads, quick breads, and muffins will be done around 200F. The glazed or browned surface will have some decarboxylation going on, but it’ll be less than complete and you’ll be missing a lot of potency.
Your other option is to start with a strain of cannabis that doesn’t have all the THC tied up as THC-a (i.e., with the carboxyl group attached.) Most commercial cannabis strains are hybridized to have as much THC-a as possible, because it doesn’t matter when you burn or vape it. The commercial grower’s goal is to have a product that packs a punch, but is shelf-stable under less than ideal conditions, for as long as possible. Home or amateur growers usually don’t have that concern, or they’re unaware of it.
For example, there’s a relatively new strain called Cadillac Kush that’s become available here on the west coast in the last month or so. The THC content is excellent-- 26% total THC! But less than 5% of that is available as straight THC-- the rest is bound up as THC-a. You could eat a gram of it and it wouldn’t even give you a buzz. Decarb that gram first, and you’ll be doing a bad Maureen Dowd impression.
I’m flabbergasted, a thoughtful and well-written response on the internet:)
Thank you for that info, upon further thought, I would be inclined to agree
with you. I’ve been making edibles myself for a bit now, and haven’t
bothered decarbing for things I’m going to bake. So far they’ve been good,
now I think I can take it up another notch ! Thanks for the info and
insight!
