Kick Ass Medicated Chocolates

I have finally successfully made Canna Chocolates at a set dose and I'm pretty proud of myself.

I mean, I've made edibles before and have had a 98% success rate. Only one product I made was void of any cerebral effects. I can't say it had no medicinal effect though, because regardless of whether I decarbed it properly or not, or it had enough Kief in it or not, it contained cannabinoids. Therefore it had medicinal effect. But I won't be trying to make hard candy again for some time!

I have been concerned for lately about finding my dose. The right amount that I can make consistently. I first had to find out how to calculate the amount of THC per piece of baked good or chocolate (or gelcap). I hunted for some sort of formula for a while on the internet until it was with great relief I was given this one. This is the actual math for my most recent batch.

2g X 1000 = 2000mg
2000mg X 22.4%THC = 448mg
448mg divided by 15 pieces = 29.8mg/piece

So the formula for you to fill in is....

#g x 1000 x THC% divided by # of pieces
If you are unsure of the THC amount use 10% as it is typically an average for generic street weed. All prescription Cannabis from you LP or local dispensary will have the THC% written somewhere on their container.  I add the decimal point in the calculation as it makes it that much more accurate.

Enough with math! Lets get to the chocolate recipe! Apologies, I did not take a whole lot of pictures this time as I was way to stressed about having this turn out right (maybe next time I'll do a video demo).

Decarbing the Cannabis

I measured 2 grams of Kosher Kush bud. I busted it up and cooked it in the oven, in a glass casserole dish with lid on, at 200'F for 20 minutes. I removed it from the oven and let it sit undisturbed until morning. Not even taking the lid off. (Leave lid or covering on until the bud has fully cooled!)
Next morning I added 2 Tbsp of Coconut Oil to the decarbed bud and warmed it in the oven for another 20 minutes. I was in no hurry. My purpose was to hopefully get as much of the THC converted as possible. 

Canna Chocolates

Ingredients:
 4 oz chocolate (I used Semi-sweet Bakers Chocolate Squares)
 1 tsp  cocoa powder (to counter the oil)
 2 Tbsp  Infused Coconut Oil (or Cannabutter)
(Bit of paraffin wax for consistency)
1/4 cup granola
1/4 cup ground nuts 
2 Tbsp shredded coconut (I used unsweetened, I'd prefer sweetened in this case)

• Melt chocolate and infused oil over a double boiler and mix well until fully melted. 
• Added a few small chunks of paraffin wax, about the size of the thumb to the first joint. It is usually used to make the finished product glossy, but since I added extra oil I didn't want my end product to melt just by looking at them, so the wax helps reduce that effect too.
• NOTE: I did not strain out the bud from my oil. In order to get the maximum amount of benefit from my medicine I didn't want to risk throwing away any terpenes or cannabinoids by straining out the bud. I just made sure it was very well ground up so the bits were small.
• After mixing the chocolate, oil and wax together I prepped my production line. 

This is where I differed the manufacturing of my chocolates. I had already done the math and knew I needed to make 15 to get the dose I wanted per chocolate. So I laid out 15 chocolate candy cups, the bowl of granola/coconut/ground nuts and the bowl of medicated chocolate. 

• I spooned out a teaspoon of chocolate into the bottom of the cups, which had been dusted with cocoa.
• Next I spooned a 1/4 tsp of granola mix into each cup. Mixing a little with a toothpick to mix it into the chocolate.
• I then spooned another teaspoon of chocolate over the top as the third layer, and again gently mixed.
• I decorated the tops with a tiny bit of granola, and....
• refrigerate

I now have 15 chocolates that knock me out for bed all from only 2grams of bud. 

Must stay refrigerated.

Things I'd do different?

I would add peppermint to the chocolate for a nice flavour. Or I'd add a tsp of maple syrup and some dried fruit, or sweetened coconut. Cranberries are nice in chocolate. So is broken up candy canes, or cookie.  Also, the sweetness of your chocolate is up to you. You can use white, 70% Cocoa, semi sweet, or sweet. Or mix a couple. How about top layer white chocolate and bottom dark? Get creative.

Why did I do it that way?

I explained above why I kept the bud in the oil and mixed it into the chocolate. Since bud is a bit gritty it is necessary to add something to the chocolate to hide the gritty texture. Thus granola. Many things could work to hide that texture as it appeals to you. 

The reason I did the math first was so that I could determine ahead of time how many pieces to make to get the right dose. I'm usually leery about making something and having the pieces come out different sizes and shapes resulting in each piece being a different dose. This is why I was super careful to measure exactly the same amount in the bottom, middle and top layers. It's also why I spooned them out in layers. If I had added the granola to the chocolate and mixed, I may not have gotten exactly the same dose per piece if one had more granola than another. 

Have any questions? Or suggestions? 

What have you made recently? 

Don't forget to like and share my blog. Then come find me on Facebook and Massroots.

Happy medicating everyone.

Another version, Cranberries and Pistachios

Making Canna-Oil: Math Included

If you have ever tried to find a definitive answer to a dosage question on the internet, you were out of luck, until now that is. 

As a Medical Cannabis Partaker (and a busy parent) I need to know what my results are going to be before I make my oil. I also need to know that my results can be reproduced. But how do I do that with kief instead of bud was my dilemma.

I understand the typical ratios for bud to butter to use for baking. I didn't know how to measure and account for the dosage using kief, or how many pills to take instead of food. So I had a few questions that were nearly impossible to find consistent answers to. Not one source I checked out agreed with the next as to how much kief to use. There is apparently no Bud To Kief Ratio "rule of thumb" out there either, though I'm proposing one here.    

And I've done all the math.  It was confusing at first, but I've figured it out. There will be diagrams, or at least pictures. With all the guess work now gone we can happily medicate knowing our results should be the same every time and increasing our dosage as our tolerance increases will be easy as well.

The Bud to Butter Ratio

For making Canna Budder, or Canna Oil for baking or cooking you will get consistent results using these ratios.

My Cheat-sheet 

 Kief, which is basically the tiny resin particles that have fallen off the bud, weighs much less than bud. So 1oz. of bud is not equal to 1oz. of kief when it comes to strength of dosage! One ounce of kief would be much stronger.

That was the challenge! Sadly, every "weed authority" I searched online did not discuss the topic at all of how much kief to use instead of bud. Oh, there are more than a few kief recipes out there, just nobody but me is apparently looking for this exact information.

Except, this is exactly what is needed in the industry; a standard to use that will deliver the same results every time for edibles, tinctures, and other blends. Listening to The Cannabist has taught me that the industry in Calorado has (and still is) suffered lots of different growing pains,  inconsistency of product was one of those major issues!
About to give up, I finally found a reliable source! Big shout out to MFT. If you have never heard of them, please check them out. These bunch of guys might look rough, but they are a bunch of sweeties! Marijuana For Trauma in Oromocto, New Brunswick. A few good people there have been cooking with Cannabis for a long time and so the information was passed down to me verbally.

Here's the ratio I finally found and would like to propose that this become the...

Golden Ratio of Bud to Kief

1oz Bud  =  4g Kief

14g Bud  =  2g Kief  

7g Bud  =  1g Kief  

3.5g Bud  = 0.5g Kief 

Keeping to this ratio will generally give you the same results as the Bud to Butter Ratio above, all other things being equal, of course. Consistency is as important at home as it is from the edibles you purchase at your local or favourite dispensary.


Quick note about the kind of oil or fat you are using to absorb the cannabinoids while it is decarboxing. Butter, olive oil, coconut oil are all fats, but not all fats are the same. One might absorb less cannabiniods than another, even with all else the same. I'm not a scientist, but I know that this area needs research to take all the guess work out of making the most potent oil infusion. Until that happens take time to learn about what you are putting into your body.


Decarboxylating: Don't forget about it!

Decarb the kief the same as Bud; in oil or dry but make sure you cook it at no higher a temperature than 285'F, for no less than 30 minutes. This time around I personally used my Crockpot on low, than high, than low again. I used a candy thermometer to test the temp of the oil over the 5 hour process. It never when over 275'F. Important to note, a temp higher than 285'F will cause the THC to evaporate off, losing some of your high. So a lower temp, but a longer time should give you better results.There are lots of methods out there, find yourself a favourite and get to it; as long as it follows these general rules above for temp and time it should work.


Note: I've been informed that though adding lecithin to the process of infusing your chosen oil with Cannibis is a suggestion and not necessary, it does increase the potency. And a real quick Google search of Lecithin tells me there are varying qualities and sources of it to pay attention to when purchasing. 

The Big Math: How to know your dosage

The big complicated math...well not really. The trick is having the formula!
And I'm giving it to you right here.
As medical marijauna users managing a chronic condition know, it is important to know your dosages. We keep track of how much or how often we dose, so consistency, quality, and potency are imperative. 
To know what dosage your baked goods are when making cookies or brownies fill in the blanks as best you can. I realize, if your medicating illegally you might not have the ability to know what percent your bud's THC is, so you will have to guess. I think I've read that most street side weed is around the 15 -16%THC. At least it's a good ballpark figure to guesstimate with.

The formula is:

 g x 1000 x THC% divided by #pieces = THC dose per piece.

So in Real life my last brownie batch I measured the dose like this:

4.09grams (bud) x 1000 = 4,090mgs

4090mg x 13.3%THC = 543.97mg

543.97mg divided by 24 pieces

= 22.66mgs per piece.

So my tolerance level for edibles right now is just over two doses, according to Colorado's term "Dose" which is 10mg (other States list a "dose" as 5 mg). Perhaps that is not a big deal to know now if you are not in a place where edibles are available, but it is good to know what constitutes a dose so you are aware and don't have to guess or even be in fear of over doing it. 

With the Kief in Coconut oil to put into pills the math got a little more complicated, because there were two different formulas I ended up needing to use. I can't describe this math. But I wrote it out nice and took a picture...

One last time, I'm not a scientist or professional anything. I'm a medical marijuana user. And I like to know what I'm putting in my body. I like consistency, I like predictability. I do not like to be in the position of being over medicated and suddenly incapable of getting my chores or errands done, or visa-versa, haven't medicated enough and in too much pain to be as active as I wish.                                                               This formula can be used to determine how much bud (or kief) to use for your right dosage, as well as say,  how many pieces to eat or divid the recipe into.                                                                                       

The bonus is, if you know how potent your cookies or brownies are you can wisely introduce a newbie with a low first dose of 3 or 5mg. There's nothing more sad than turning someone off Mother Natures best medicine by over dosing them on their first time like I did with my daughter...

but that's another story.

P.S. If you know for a fact that I am incorrect in this proposal that 28g of bud = 4g of kief, please comment below. I'm still learning and willing to be corrected.

I OD'd on THC

Well this is certainly not a topic I set out to write about, or experience. It's embarrassing to say the least! But I did over do it and I'm still alive and sane to talk about it. So, as per usual I'm using this experience to help educate those who are seeking information.

First off. I didn't die. Didn’t even come close! I didn't go crazy. I didn't try to hurt anyone, and I didn't run around my city, street, house or anywhere else talking nonsense or trying to jump off bridges. I didn't even need to go to the hospital. Whatever your preconceived notion is that could go wrong did not. All that did happen was I went to bed. Boring, eh? 

Here's everything I did wrong. 

The other night after work I made the family some banana bread. Most of the way through the process I decided this would be a great time to try using some of the AVB (already vaped bud) in some baking and then I could blog about it. With the batter ready I filled one large loaf pan and two small ones with normal batter. I added my finely ground AVB to the left over batter and made my own mini loaf. Alas, I was not my normal careful self. I got sloppy. 

I had assumed that AVB was not as strong as freshly

de-carbed bud. Correct, but WRONG!  The 1/8 cup (...Yes, I said cup!) of AVB I added was WAY too much for the TINY loaf pan I had. Oh, but it smelled heavenly! Here’s where I REALLY went wrong…I ate two pieces. It was a small loaf, I thought, one slice is like a half of a regular slice. No problem!  
Oh, yeah….then I had a half joint right after cuz that’s the habit I’ve gotten into each evening before bed. 

The result? By the time I got back home from our evening walk around the block it was rounding the hour from when I had eaten the AVB Banana Bread. I started to feel dizzy, had difficulty seeing straight and I just started to feel generally bad. This was when it dawned on me that I had eaten too much. I decided to put myself to bed right away. I was able to behave normally, nobody knew I had over done it at all nor was I mentally incapacitated. Though I did fall asleep pretty quickly. (It's taken my describing this twice to my husband for him to realize I wasn't just normal sick that night, I was over-dose sick).

Poor guy!

Normal bodily functions woke me twice in the middle of the night (unlike overdoing it with alcohol and literally pissing yourself in a drunken sleep). It was the middle of the night when I noticed my mouth really tasted bad! Like I had eaten an ashtray, all of it! Teeth brushing and mouthwash only lessened this nasty taste for a little while. It was like the taste was coming from the inside of me rather than from something I had put in my mouth. 

The next morning I got up for work, but still felt horrid. Nauseated actually. I got ready anyway, but standing looking at the door to leave was as far as I could get. It was my own fault I felt like this and I deserved to feel this way for being so stupid. But the people at work did not deserve to have me bale on them cuz I was stupid….I called in anyway and was pretty much in tears as I told the supervisor I couldn’t leave the house for fear of throwing up. The deed done, I stripped off my uniform and fell back into bed, make-up on and all. That’s where I remained for several hours, slipping in and out of sleep and often wondering if I should run for the toilet; was this going to be the time I finally threw up? I never did, but the feeling persisted for the better part of two days. And the taste that lingered contributed to the nausea. 

For those who don't understand, and may think I'm exaggerating, or may think I didn't actually over dose, let’s recap…. I literally used more AVB in a small 1/3 sized loaf pan than I should have for a whole recipe. That's nearly 8 times more than I should have eaten in one sitting. 

Things that happened when I over dosed on THC:

1. I got dizzy
2. I had trouble seeing well (This strain of bud that I used is known to counter the eye pressure of glaucoma. I figure this explains my vision problems)
3. I fell deeply asleep.
4. I was nauseated and had little desire to eat for about 48 hours.

What did NOT happen when I over dosed on THC:

1. I did not die
2. I did not fall into a drug induced coma, preventing me from waking to my own bodily needs
3. I didn’t attempt suicide (or attempt self propelled flight)
4. I did not lose my sanity. 

I did throw out the rest of my medicated banana bread though. Just the smell of it made me sick. And the thought of attempting to bake with AVB is not as exciting as it once was. I’m still saving it mind you. I can’t bring myself to throw it out though. Its extremely economical to save it and use it on an edible fire cracker or something. It’s like free THC! You use it once to medicate, save it and use it again with just almost as much benefit.

Just heed my warning, as non-life threatening as OD’ing on THC is, it’s not necessarily pleasant. That goes for smoked, vaped, or eaten. Though I think it’s easier to over do it with edibles for two reasons, it takes so long to kick in, and unless you do the actual math you don’t know how much medicine you’re eating. So, please! Be aware of what you eat. 'Measure twice, cut once' are my fathers wise words that could apply here just as easily as they do to most of life's little odd jobs. 

So tread lightly friends, and be diligent with measuring out your medicines, especially with edibles! But know too, in case you do hit a snag like I did, this too shall pass and you will live!

What I'll be doing from now on is using a method more like this...

AVB Weed Recipes. 

              Happy medicating.

(P.s. Thanks Chef Luigi for making this great video!)