A lot of people have a problem with edibles. Even if they are properly dosed effective edibles. That problem is the acrid green weedy flavor that accompanies many edibles. This post aims to eliminate that problem and show you how to make edibles taste better. Because a cannabis edible is not going to do you any good if its flavor is so yucky you don’t want to eat it!
If you've been using edibles for any length of time, you’ve no doubt experienced the chocolate-flavored weed that regularly passed for edibles at the dawn of legalization and sadly, sometimes still does. While there are a few rare individuals who enjoy the strong taste of cannabis in their food, most people don’t. So you are not alone.
You might be wondering how some edible companies are able to completely eliminate the cannabis flavor entirely while you have trouble with this step at home.
They do so by using specially made isolates that remove all the natural terpenes and cannabinoids in the plant, except for THC or CBD. You might get a buzz from the former, and some medicinal effects from both, but you will lose the substantial health benefits of natural whole-plant medicine.
On the other hand, terpenes and the full spectrum of cannabinoids are present when cooking with cannabis flowers and natural concentrates like kief, hash, and rosin. This is a good thing because all these compounds work synergistically to provide a broad spectrum of health benefits.
When it comes to how to make edibles taste better while retaining whole plant medicine benefits, implement the tips below. And if you're looking for ready-made, full spectrum edibles, check out Ardent's THC & CBD Cannabutter, or our amazing new Multi-Cannabinoid Beverage Booster that mixes seamlessly into any drink!.
#1 Stronger is better
We’re not talking about stronger individual doses here, but rather stronger cannabis infusions that you use to make edibles recipes.
The stronger you can make your cannabis butter, oil, or other infusions, the less of them you will need to use in your edibles recipe to achieve an optimal dose. Less infusion in the recipe means less weedy flavor.
For example, if you were to make your infused butter or oil using double the amount of cannabis suggested, or from cannabis with double the THC percentage (say 20% THC instead of 10%), you would only need to use half as much infusion in your recipe to get the same dose. Make sense? Make up the difference in the recipe with unmedicated butter or oil.
By using the FX, Mini or Nova to fully activate your cannabis, you can achieve strongly dosed infusions that maximize its potency.
Check out our post on infusion boosting to learn how to make your flower infusions more potent.
#2 Fine grinds do not equal finer flavor
There is absolutely no practical need nor benefit to finely grinding your plant material before making an infusion. You certainly do not need to bring a coffee grinder or food processor into the process (unless you are making canna-flour).
We give this advice despite a whole lot internet “experts” telling you the contrary, as well as a competing commercially available infuser that has fine grinding built into the process. They’ve all got it wrong.
What you are trying to extract when you make cannabis butter oil oil is ON the plant not IN it. You are infusing the resinous trichomes on the surface of the buds. That’s where the magic is. Finely grinding your cannabis deposits more plant material into your finished infusions, and that means more herbal flavor, but it does not mean more potency.
Before infusing, break up the nugs into popcorn size nugs, but no need to grind it as finely as you would if you getting ready for smoking or vaping. Do not grind it to a fine powder. There is no need to use a food processor or coffee grinder. Less finely ground bud means less chlorophyll in your final product.
#3 Cannabis concentrates equal LESS green flavor
Another option is to skip a whole plant infusion and cook with cannabis concentrates like kief, hash, rosin, hash oils, or FECO instead. These will give your edibles a concentrated dose of THC or CBD along with other cannabinoids and some terpenes, without imparting a lot of unwanted herbal flavor. That’s because most of the plant material and green chlorophyll have been removed.
Most concentrates will still need to be decarbed, which you can easily do in the FX or the Mini. Once decarbed you can dissolve concentrates into butter or oil, no need for a long infusion. Depending on what you are making, you may be able to simply stir decarbed concentrates directly into your recipes.
#4 Cooking helps mellow cannabis flavor
Cannabis infusions like butter and oil, tend to lose some of their green flavor when they are cooked into recipes. So, while they can be used in dishes that don’t require heating, opt for cooking when you have a choice.
For instance, if we were going to medicate a cupcake recipe, from a flavor perspective we would be better off adding the cannabis butter to the cake, which is baked, than to the buttercream frosting, which is not.
#5 Be bold with flavor profiles
If you don’t want your edibles to taste like weed, use a heavy hand with other flavors. For example, it is far easier to hide the flavor of cannabis in an Oatmeal Spice Cookie than in a Vanilla Sugar Cookie.
Seek out recipes, be they sweet or savory, that combine lots of other flavors, ingredients, herbs, and spices. Cannabis cooking can be a great opportunity to explore lots of flavorful new cuisines and flavor profiles. Have fun and you’ll come up with some great tasting creative edibles.
#6 Think outside the box
Along the same theme of experimenting with bold flavors, think outside the box of what we typically think of as edibles. Sure, cookies, brownies, and gummies are popular marijuana edibles, but from a flavor point of view, savory foods often naturally meld better with the taste of cannabis. And if they have enough other herbs and spices going on, savory recipes often do a better job of masking the flavor we are trying to avoid as well.
Conclusion
Edibles definitely do not need to taste overwhelmingly green in order to be effective. The next time you cook with cannabis, put as many of these tips into practice as is practical for the recipe you are making and see if you don’t improve the quality of your cannabis cooking creations.
Make sure you are starting with the most potent products possible by using Ardent technology for precision activation. After decarb you can infuse and bake right in your decarboxylator, too! Cannabis and hemp products from A-Z in a single machine? Priceless.
