Top 5 Mistakes New Edibles Makers Make

This episode highlights the top five mistakes new edible makers often make, providing insights on how to avoid them for a smoother cannabis cooking experience. Listeners gain valuable knowledge on decarboxylation, dosing, infusion mixing, timely patience, and more in order to create effective and enjoyable edibles. 
• Not decarboxylating cannabis properly 
• Incorrect dosing and understanding potency 
• Poor mixing leading to uneven infusions 
• Limiting edibles to baked goods and sweets 
• Impatience with onset time of edibles

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Chapters

• 1:09 Top Five Edibles Maker Mistakes
• 5:42 Effective Edible Making Techniques
• 20:01 Avoid Impatience With Edibles

Transcript

Speaker 1: 1:10

Welcome, friends, to episode 282. And today we're looking at the top five mistakes that new edibles makers make. Welcome to Bite Me, the show about edibles, where I help you take control of your high life. I'm your host and certified ganja, margaret, and I love helping cooks make safe and effective edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here and welcome back my friends to another fantastic episode of Bite Me. I am so glad you're here. If you're just tuning in for the first time, I'm glad that you found me. How did you discover the show? Let me know. You can send me a fan mail, a DM, an email, whichever is your preference, but if you go into your podcast player app, the fan mail button is right there and you can just press it right now and let me know. And you've been around for a while. I want to hear, too, how you found this show.

Speaker 1: 1:57

I always find it really interesting when people share unusual ways that they first heard about Bite Me. It's sort of like where were you when the Challenger exploded? I am definitely dating myself with that one. I was alive for that and I do actually remember it vividly. Well, take that with a grain of salt, because memory is a funny thing, isn't it? But I do remember. It was grade three. They wheeled the TV into the classroom and they turned it on. A bunch of excited children ready to watch this historic moment, and we all know what happened after that. And if you don't, because you weren't alive then well, it exploded with all the astronauts on board. It was actually a really tragic event, but I do recall exactly where I was and I think everyone probably has that one event where, like, where were you when 9-11 happened? That sort of thing where, collectively, as a group of people, we can think about those moments. So where were you when you first discovered Bite Me? Let me know, because I would love to hear it.

Speaker 1: 2:59

But today's episode the top five mistakes that cannabis edibles makers make. I thought this was an important one, a good way to start out the new year as well, because we have some new listeners and and people following along with the bite me fun. If you've been making edibles for a while, maybe you can skip this one, but honestly, maybe it's a good refresher Because sometimes, as time goes on, we create habits that aren't necessarily ideal, and I've been the maker of all these mistakes myself. This is not to throw shade at anybody who's doing this stuff. I've done it all myself. That's one of the reasons I started this show, because I wanted to help other people avoid making these mistakes Although sometimes you end up making them anyway because it's all part of the process and making edibles is a special process.

Speaker 1: 3:48

Now, before we get into today's episode, I just wanted to share some listener fan mail, and this one comes from Danny in Maryland and he says I appreciate your podcast and what I've learned from it. I heard you first on high on homegrown podcast. I listened to you on both currently. I just want to say thank you, danny, for sending that message. I love getting fan mail. Have I mentioned that before? If I haven't, well now you know. So please send me one please.

Speaker 1: 4:17

It's lonely podcasting sometimes, which is another reason why I started the Bite Me Cannabis Club. You can find me over there as well. Over there as well, I am feeling much better. As I mentioned, I believe, in last week's episode, I spent the early new year feeling pretty shitty. It was not a great way to start 2025, but things have changed quite a bit since then. I'm feeling so much better and I'm working on my mental wealth and I'm really excited about 2025 for myself, for Bite Me and for all of you as well. I think we can make 2025 a really special year, and one of the ways I'm going to be doing that, of course, like I said, is focusing on my mental wealth, because health is the foundation for all the things that come after that, and so that means I'm going to be working on getting better sleep, getting some some exercise and eating my fruits and vegetables and getting my protein and eating a good diet, which includes edibles, of course, reducing my stress where I can and using exogenous compounds like cannabis, but also like Magic Mind, and I've been using the Magic Mind focus shots in the mornings and it has made a noticeable difference in my clarity, and that's why I really like it, because it's not a coffee replacement, which I think is important to note, because I love my morning coffee ritual.

Speaker 1: 5:43

So this is something that I usually take after my first coffee in the morning. I drink two cups of coffee in the morning. One is decaffeinated and the other one is caffeinated, because sometimes I find it's really easy to consume too much caffeine. When you love coffee as much as I do, I'm sure many of you can relate to that. But once I've had my coffee and I've done the breakfast and gotten ready, I love to take the Magic Mind shot before I sit down to work, because it really does help me dial in and focus on what I need to be focused on. It also helps me in the sense that when I take the shot, I'm like, okay, now I'm down to get some work done and focus for a little while, and so I put my phone on, do not disturb and don't pay attention to it, and that's part of the ritual as well. Around that, the focus shot gives me the clarity, a sharper mind, this clean energy that I really like. That, I find, is very helpful when I sit down to work on all things bite me. This is part of my 2025 building my mental resilience, and magic mind has become a part of that. It's doctor validated, it's backed by scientific studies and that's another thing that I really love about it. So you can get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with my link magicmindcom slash. Bite me, jan, and you can try it out for yourself and see what you think, and I would love to hear how you find it if you do try it out for yourself.

Speaker 1: 7:11

The top five mistakes that new edible makers make, and the purpose of this is just to avoid some of the common pitfalls that people make when they're making edibles for the first time or when they're pretty new to it, because it can feel daunting. I can appreciate that. I remember the first time that I was making my own cannabis butter on the stove. I did it in the most. I mean it worked out. Obviously I'm sitting here recording this episode and if it had not worked out to bite me, the show about edibles and bite me cannabis club and all the other things that I've been working on probably wouldn't exist right now. So I'm really glad that it worked out. Perhaps it was fate, but I spent a long time stirring butter on the stove because I thought that's what you had to do, so that you didn't burn the butter, and I think I spent like two hours on the stove like stirring this stuff. It was so slow and painful, but again, like I said, it worked out, I guess, over time. But you don't need to make the same mistakes that I did. So that's why I'm here to help you, so you can get better results faster. You are, of course, going to learn from some of the mistakes that you make. When you have a little bit of guidance, if you will, from somebody who has also made all these mistakes, it can really go a long way to help you avoid some of these common ones.

Speaker 1: 8:24

So mistake number one I would say is not decarboxylating the cannabis properly or skipping it altogether. Sometimes I find there's one or the other. And decarboxylation is the first step of the cannabis edibles process. You don't want to skip it. It's essential to activating the THC and the CBD, and most people don't realize that raw cannabis doesn't contain THC at all. What it does contain is THCA, and the A is an acid molecule. So it's THCA and it takes the process of adding heat or, in the case of edibles, decarboxylation, to make the chemical reaction that converts the THCA to THC. This is the same for CBD and other cannabinoids as well. Think, when you're smoking a joint. This happens much more immediately because the heat is applied from the lighter that you're using to light that joint With edibles.

Speaker 1: 9:29

You need to take the step of decarboxylation to evenly heat that cannabis in order to achieve the same result. And if you skip this step, your infusions aren't going to be potent at all. I mean, they will decarb a little bit during the infusion process. I'll get into that in a second, but you definitely want to make sure that you're decarbing. Another mistake that sometimes you'll find around this is using the wrong temperature or time, which won't activate enough of the plant material, and also the thinking that weed will decarb during the infusion process.

Speaker 1: 10:07

So what you basically want to do is take your cannabis and you're going to put it out on a pan with some parchment paper for easy cleanup. And you're going to put it out on a pan with some parchment paper for easy cleanup. You're going to set your oven to 240 degrees Fahrenheit and you're going to put it in the oven for 30 minutes and you're going to smell it. It's going to smell like toasted weed and it's going to come out looking brown and toasty. And also note that you don't need to finely grind your cannabis to do this. Don't take the time to do it. It's unnecessary. You can, of course, break up large buds that can be helpful but otherwise you don't need to grind it. Of course, a lot of people are using shake, sugar, leaf trim, that kind of thing, so it's already broken up pretty well anyway, but don't spend the extra time to grind up your weed.

Speaker 1: 10:54

And, of course, if you want to control the smell, you can try putting the cannabis in a mason jar with a foil lid and put it in the oven Although I think you can use the regular mason jar lids that come with it as well, because the oven temperature is not so high that it will melt the rubber on it. But that is one thing you can do to help contain the smell, because it is a smelly process. You can also try the sous vide method if you happen to have an immersion circulator. Do note that if you do it that way, it usually takes quite a bit longer. That is the one drawback to using a sous vide method. If you have one of those devices already, they are great in the kitchen for a whole wide range of cooking applications. So if you do happen to have one, it's great for decarbing and of course there's all kinds of devices on the market that will do it for you and virtually eliminate the smell, if that's a real concern for you and for some people.

Speaker 1: 11:44

Naturally, it is Now mistake number two incorrect dosing, and I know I hear this all the time that when edibles makers are starting out and even further along down the line. Dosing is something that really gets people and I can understand it, because it's really important. You want to know how potent the edibles are that you're making, because otherwise you're pretty well flying blind and that's not a great feeling. It doesn't give you any context, any frame of reference. When you have calculated the potency of your homemade edibles and you can say, well, you know, I think they're about 25 milligrams, suddenly you have a point of reference and if you are fortunate enough to live in a place where you have access to a legal market, sometimes you can even go to a dispensary and see how those compare to dispensary made edibles. Does this sort of does the high from a dispensary like 25 milligrams of a dispensary edible seem similar to what you just created?

Speaker 1: 12:43

There are limitations, of course, of dosing your homemade edibles, but if you recognize what they are, then it's not going to be as big of an issue. But you definitely want to make sure that you know how potent they are and, of course, skipping that step altogether not a great idea. And that also can mean that you're not measuring the starting plant material properly or paying attention to portion sizes, and these all obviously come into play when you're trying to dose. Your edibles obviously come into play when you're trying to dose your edibles. So one of the best ways to to figure out the potency of your edibles is to use an online calculator. There's plenty of them online. There happens to be one at bitemepodcastcom. You'll find it in the cannabis resources section. That's free to use and you can just plug everything into that and it'll give you the potency per infusion and per batch as well. So you might just want to be wanting to figure out how potent your olive oil is. You can use the calculator for that, and then once you use a portion of that olive oil to make a batch of cookies or two or whatever it is that you're making, then you have the port. This is where portion sizes comes in as well. Then you can figure out how potent they are per dose or per serving.

Speaker 1: 14:00

And another good practice around dosing is to keep a journal or note when you're creating edibles, because oftentimes I get I do get people who request that I get more specific about potency when I'm doing recipes, and one of the reasons I don't really is because tolerance ranges so widely from person to person. I am somebody who can consume 25 milligrams and that's a good dose for me. A little bit higher than that, I'd probably just be couch locked and I know people who would take that dose and it would obliterate them. And I have friends also who can easily eat 100 milligrams and go about their day like it's nothing, which would obliterate me. So it's really difficult to say these are the dosing guidelines you should be following, because it really is a trial and error kind of thing.

Speaker 1: 14:52

So if you can use an online calculator, that can really help you dial it down. Now, of course, if you're unsure of how potent the starting material is, that can be a bit of a drawback. It means that you are guesstimating a little bit and you have to keep that in mind when you are estimating the potency. I realize online calculators they're not perfect, but it's something. And, of course, if you want to try your hand at the math, my online calculator if you scroll to the bottom of the page, we'll show you the actual steps to calculate the math yourself, just so you know how it all works. You know, because the more you know, knowledge is power. You can, of course, also get a testing device like a T-check, but if you're just starting out, that's probably not something you want to spend your money on and something you want to spend your money on and it's really unnecessary at that point. Just get into the habit of figuring out the dosing.

Speaker 1: 15:39

And when I said, keep a journal or note whether that's a note on your phone, a paper journal, which I do tend to like because I'm old school like that One of the reasons I suggest that is because it is so easy to forget what it was that you did, and I've said this numerous times on the show. You think you'll remember how much weed you put into that cup or two cups of fat that you're doing, and then you come back later and you have no fucking idea. So that is why I suggest you write it down. Mistake number three uneven infusions or poor mixing. I guess poor mixing. Mistake number three poor mixing.

Speaker 1: 16:15

So it's essential to infuse or to put your cannabis infusion into your mix of whatever it is that you're making. Really well, and commonly you just people might not stir enough and this lack of homogeneity I don't I think you know what I mean can cause problems if you're trying to enjoy an edible, because if it hasn't been properly mixed into the batter or into the sauce or into whatever it is that you're infusing. You're going to end up with a portion size that is stronger or weaker than the rest of them and that's going to throw everything off and that's going to affect the dosing and that's going to affect the time that somebody has when they enjoy your edibles. So you want to make sure that you're mixing really well. Some tips for that sometimes to help with the mixing process using a little lecithin can be helpful, and I did a whole podcast episode on lecithin. I'll tag in the show notes as well or I'll link in the show notes so you can check that one out. And you just want to make sure that you're stirring really well. If you are using a stand mixer, that could be helpful. You just want to make sure that it is really evenly mixed.

Speaker 1: 17:35

And tip number four not thinking beyond baked goods and sweets. This is a big one for me, and not that that's really a mistake, it's just sort of a limitation in thinking when you're new to making edibles. Because when you think edibles, what's the first thing? Everybody thinks of Brownies or cookies. I love a good brownie and I love a good cookie, although I tend to make more cookies than brownies in my particular instance, but there's plenty of reasons why you might not want a brownie or a cookie right now, like you're trying to consume less sugar, maybe you don't like to bake I mean, there could be a bunch of reasons why somebody doesn't want brownies or cookies as their way to infuse their bodies with cannabis. And so the error is that you're thinking in terms of sweet treats when really the practice of making edibles and the beauty of making your own edibles is that literally the sky is the limit. It can be almost anything, with few exceptions.

Speaker 1: 18:27

If you don't like baking, don't bake, because you can add your infusions into just about anything. Maybe your favorite sauce, maybe you're infusing a barbecue sauce and then you're having it on your favorite chicken dish, or maybe you're infusing mayonnaise and making a tuna salad sandwich. Choose any recipe that you love making and find a way to incorporate cannabis into it, which is basically, if there's a fat in the recipe, you can add cannabis, because you can swap out some of that fat for a ratio of infused fat. And, of course, this is where knowing the potency of your infusion once again becomes important, because you want to know how much you're consuming in that portion that you're going to be enjoying. But if you love tacos and you want to make an infused, an infused salsa, what a beautiful way to enjoy cannabis that is not cookies or candies or gummies or brownies, and that really does open up a whole world of possibilities. And I know there's some savory people out there that loves things other than the sweet treats and I know I do a lot of sweet treats on the show, probably because, again, it is hard sometimes to think beyond the baked goods and sweets, cause that's sort of like the default and I have a sweet tooth, but there's so many other amazing recipes out there that are wonderful for infusing If that's what you are interested in making. So make edibles more accessible to yourself by focusing on the foods and the food types and the cuisines that you love, because if you don't love to bake, that doesn't necessarily have to be a prerequisite for making good edibles.

Speaker 1: 20:01

Mistake number five impatience. And this is a big one, because we all know that edibles take longer to kick in than other forms of cannabis and we've all seen those memes that are start out with these edibles ain't shit. And then, of course, it's usually followed up by an image or a video of somebody who is ridiculously high and they're funny. But of course, that impatient often leads newer edibles makers or consumers to get impatient when it comes to the onset time, because onset time can be 30 minutes to an hour, sometimes longer. It can depend on so many different factors as well. Just be patient. In fact, usually when I'm recommending people, if they're just starting out, I would say wait at least two hours before consuming more. Again, it's a very common mistake to make. I've done it. I know plenty of other people that have done it. That is one mistake that I hope that other people don't have to make, because it's probably the least fun one. I mean, if you've consumed, you know, consume some edibles and you consume more because you don't think you're going to feel anything off of them. It can be not great.

Speaker 1: 21:07

I remember being at a cottage with some friends a couple of years ago and I was there with some folks and they had some edibles with them and these were experienced edibles users. I distinctly remember one of them decided to eat an edible, which is totally fine. I think we were all enjoying enjoying the cannabis libations. She did the classic, which I was. Uh, I learned later she wasn't feeling anything off the edibles so she ate another one. And she was so high that night and really uncomfortable in her body. I mean, this was somebody who's used edibles pretty extensively. It was a fairly comfortable edibles user and you know it happens to the best of us. So just be patient.

Speaker 1: 21:46

She just didn't wait long enough, and for whatever reason, because sometimes something can happen Maybe you've eaten something that might slow up the edibles onset time. So you have to keep that in mind and you definitely don't want to eat that edible, second edible too quickly and realize, oh shit, the first one's starting to kick in, because that is not a fun realization to make. So just be patient. If you're the first time trying edibles as well, I would definitely start out with a session. If you don't feel anything, there's nothing wrong with saying, hey, let's just wait until the next day and then you can perhaps increase the dose incrementally from there. See how you feel. If you don't feel anything, do it again the next night. That's probably the safest way to do it.

Speaker 1: 22:25

That's start low, go slow mantra that you hear over and over and over again. The reason people repeat it over and over and over again is because it needs to be repeated over and over and over again, because people forget and it takes a lot of repetition for folks to learn that there is a reason why we say start low and go slow, because once you're on that ride, friends, you're on that ride for four to six hours, maybe sometimes longer, and if you're uncomfortable it's not a lot of fun. So be patient. That's probably the easiest one to rectify as well. So just to recap really quickly mistake number one not decarbing your cannabis properly or skipping it altogether. Mistake number two is incorrect dosing or not figuring out the potency of your edibles figuring out the potency of your edibles. Mistake number three is uneven mixing. Mistake number four not thinking beyond baked goods and sweets. And mistake number five is impatience. I've given you simple ways to sort of rectify each of these common mistakes that new edibles makers make and, of course, I would love to hear some of your own thoughts on this.

Speaker 1: 23:33

So next week we're going to be doing an episode on edibles trends for 2025. And I'm really excited about this episode because I got the opinions of quite a number of wonderful people in the edible space who have their ear to the ground on what's going to be happening. What are the hot. What are the hot new trends for edibles in 2025? So stay tuned for that. Next week and don't forget, you can get 45% off Magic Mind bundle with my link magicmindcom. Forward slash. Bite me, jan. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with somebody you think would also enjoy it. And I think that's it for this week, my friends. I am your host, margaret, and until next week, stay high and check out Bite Me Cannabis Club.