We know that cannabis and hemp are soluble in alcohol and fats. After many long months keeping our immune systems healthy and functional during another wave of winter illness, we began questioning if our favorite immune supporting brew, fire cider, could be boosted with the healing properties of cannabis. But the issue is, there’s generally no oil or alcohol in fire cider, potentially making it hard to infuse.
We decided to put fire cider to the test, to see if there were any cannabinoid binding properties in vinegar. The particular store-bought fire cider we tested contained zero honey at all! We used an Apple Cider Vinegar Wellness Tonic. It contained: apple cider vinegar, oranges, lemons, onions, ginger, horseradish, garlic, turmeric, habanero pepper, and black pepper. Let’s see how it performed:
Cannabis-Infused Fire Cider Test Results
We began with THC-rich cannabis decarboxylated inside the Ardent FX on the A1 setting. We tested our decarboxylated material at MCR Labs, and found that after the activation cycle, our one-gram of cannabis tested at 16.26% THC. So, let’s move the decimal point over one place to the right to determine how many mgs are in our gram of cannabis. Our one-gram nug yielded about 162 mgs of activated THC.
We then placed the decarboxylated cannabis inside an ounce of store-bought fire cider and allowed it to infuse on the FX’s infuse setting. We brought the infused fire cider to MCR Labs to see how many mgs made it inside! It tested for 24.95 mgs of THC.
A super small amount of our original 162 activated mgs have ended up in our fire cider infusion. Let’s figure out the infusion rate of fire cider by dividing the 24.95 mgs found in our infusion by the 162 mgs that were placed inside the solution to start with. Then, move the decimal point over two places to the right.
This particular fire cider has about a 15% infusion rate. The low infusion rate is due to the fire cider being water-based. Although 15% is better than nothing, there are more efficient ways to make a potent canna-fire cider using Ardent’s precision technology. Check out some fun ways to infuse below.
Ardent Approved Ways to Infuse Your Fire Cider with Cannabis
- With cannasugar
- With green dragon: if alcohol doesn’t bother you, you can add some tincture to your infusion. It’ll kick it up a notch with heat, too.
- Using cannabis-infused honey (made with concentrate, kief, or flower infused coconut oil)
- Decarbed cannabis concentrate or kief
How to Make DIY Fire Cider Using the Ardent FX
Equipment Needed
- Ardent FX
- Ardent Frainer or Infusion Press
- Single Lifter
- Mason jar
- Ziploc bag
- Toothpicks
Ingredients
*Use organic ingredients whenever possible, and dry herbs in lieu of fresh herbs when they’re unavailable
- Apple Cider Vinegar (you can make your own with water, apple scraps, and sugar)
- Garlic
- Horseradish
- Turmeric
- Lemon
- Onion
- Rosemary
- Hot peppers (use cayenne, scotch bonnets, jalapeno, etc.)
- Cannabis-infused sugar or honey
- Tincture or decarbed concentrate, optional
DIY Fire Cider Recipe
- Combine all ingredients inside the mason jar (except your infused sugar or honey,) in the quantities you can tolerate, and place them on the Single Lifter.
- Place the Single Lifter inside the FX on the Infuse setting for about 20 minutes.
- When the mixture comes out of the device, ensure the vinegar rises above the other ingredients. If not, top it off with more vinegar.
- Mix in cannabis-infused honey or sugar, along with tincture, decarbed concentrate, or decarbed kief if you’re adding it in.
- Place a sealed ziploc bag filled partially with water on top of the ingredients in the jar to create some space between the lid and the mixture. Use toothpicks to keep the ziploc below the lid area.
- Close the lid, store in a cool dark place, and shake daily. After a month or so, the ingredients can be strained out and the cider can be stored in an airtight container in the pantry for at least a year.