Bite Me The Show About Edibles
Helping cooks make great cannabis edibles at home.
Create your own tasty, healthy cannabis edibles and take control of your high life! Bite Me is a weekly show that helps home cooks make fun, safe and effective cannabis edibles. Listen as host Margaret walks you through an marijuana infused recipe that she has tested in her home kitchen or interviews with expert guests. New episodes every Thursday.
Bite Me The Show About Edibles
Unlocking the Secrets of Cannabis Infusion Times: Vanessa Lavorato Says 30 Minutes is All You Need!
Cannabis enthusiasts have been wasting hours in the kitchen unnecessarily. Vanessa Lavorato's scientific research proves what many never suspected - a 30-minute cannabis infusion extracts virtually the same amount of cannabinoids as a marathon 2-hour session. This revelation challenges one of the most persistent myths in cannabis cooking.
Want to transform your cannabis cooking experience and join a community of like-minded enthusiasts? Join us at the Bite Me Cannabis Club where we dive deeper into the science and art of making incredible edibles at home. Knowledge is power, especially when it gives you hours of your life back!
8000Kicks
Waterproof hemp shoes, boots, backpacks and more. Use code BITEME at checkout.
Visit the website for full show notes, free dosing calculator, recipes and more.
Welcome, friends, to episode 301. Today, we're talking about infusion times and why you may be infusing for longer than you need to, and the science behind it. Stay tuned. Welcome to Bite Me, the show about edibles, where I help you take control of your high life. I'm your host and certified gongja, margaret, and I love helping cooks make safe and effective edibles at home. I'm so glad you're here and we are back, friends. Welcome to the podcast that explores the intersection of food culture and cannabis. I am your host, margaret, and I just want to say thank you, friends, for being here. If you're joining us for the first time, this is going to be a great episode for you to tune into, because I'm going to save you some time in the kitchen while you're still making great edibles at home, which is what this podcast is all about. And if you've been listening for a while, I'm going to save you some time as well, and I am excited about the topic of today's episode. So, please, please, enjoy what's to come Now, before we do get into today's episode.
Speaker 1:As per the usual, I often like to do something fun beforehand and, as I've had no reviews lately, hint, hint, nudge, nudge if you feel like leaving a five-star rating or review, it would be much appreciated. Or share this episode with someone that you care about, because sharing is caring, and I think this information needs to go to more people. But in any case, before we get into the main topic of today's episode, I'm going to do a stoner trivia question. I'm going to pick a card from the deck at random, and the stoner trivia question today is a movie question. So for all you movie buffs out there, bridget Fonda plays a sexy stoner in what Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown, kill Bill, single White Female or True Romance? That is a question that I would not be able to answer with confidence if I didn't already know the answer. So the question is Bridget Fonda plays a sexy stoner in one Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown, kill Bill, single white female or true romance? Now, if you guessed Jackie Brown, you would be correct. You can now give yourself a good pat on the back and reward yourself with an edible or something to smoke or vape on me. So please go ahead and do that, and if you haven't already settled in to listen to this episode with something tasty, then by all means please do so now.
Speaker 1:Of course, what I've been making lately is popcorn. I have been obsessed with popcorn ever since I made that popcorn for the episode. Recently I've been making a lot infused, non-infused, both, it doesn't really matter. I've been loving popcorn. There's something magical about making it in a pot. It still gives me thrills. And there's a local shop where I pick up a lot of fruits and vegetables from area farmers and they have all these different types of popcorn popping. How many times can I say popcorn in one episode? This is one of these. Drink your cannabis infused beverage. Every time I say popcorn, then you would be getting pretty high right now. But in any case, the store carries a surprisingly large variety of GMO free popping corn and the different types are. It's kind of interesting to try the different types. I've noticed differences between them. What I'm on right now is this hull-less variety. I have been really obsessing with popcorn and I'm probably going to make those popcorn treats again sometime soon because they're really good and I'm going to be going in a few weeks.
Speaker 1:Actually, at the time of this recording is only a couple of weeks away, camp Canna. At the time of this recording is only a couple of weeks away, camp Cana, and that is an adult summer camp for stoners of all types. All are welcome and I'm really looking forward to that. The only thing I hope is that we have great weather. I went last year. It was a blast. Who knew that I was so good at archery? But the weather here lately has been pretty rainy this spring and I just hope that that does not extend to the weekend at Camp Cana, because that would be a bit of a disappointment. Canadians wait so long for good weather, so long In any case. That's what's exciting as far as what's coming up, and of course, there are always new fun things happening in the Bite Me Cannabis Club. I can show you more over at joinbitemecom and I have been there a lot and I'm really proud of the community that we're building over there. There's some really wonderful people who are contributing and making it a really special place, and I would love to have you there with me so we can talk further about all wonderful things around cannabis.
Speaker 1:This episode was really inspired by Vanessa Lavorato, author of how to Eat Weed and have a Good Time, and she was on my podcast very recently. If you haven't listened to that episode yet, I highly recommend it because there's a lot of really good information in that episode. One of the things we talked about was how infusion times are much longer than they need to and how you may be wasting your time a little bit, and I hate to say that. I mean, I've been doing the same myself, and so I decided to do a couple of experiments on my own in my own home kitchen, and I was really interested to see what those results were.
Speaker 1:We're going to take a big bite out of cannabis cooking myths and serve up the science behind better edibles and, as you already know, I'm your host, margaret, and today we are tackling a persistent myth in cannabis cooking, and I don't even know if it's a persistent myth. It's just sort of what everybody has done to this point or thinks that they need to do, and it's the idea that you need to infuse your butter or oil for hours on end to get maximum potency. You've probably heard it before you need to simmer butter or oil for at least a couple of hours to get all the good stuff out, and I'm here to tell you that I have learned. The science says otherwise, and we're going to explain why. A 30 minute infusion can extract just as many cannabinoids as a two hour marathon session and we'll dive into the chemistry behind the cannabinoid extraction.
Speaker 1:Look at what the research actually shows and save you hours of unnecessary cooking time. Like I said, I want to say thank you to Vanessa, who pointed this out not only in her book, but also in our episode together, which is what really got the wheels turning in my own mind of like, how can I save time? Because we're all busy and if you'd like to make edibles at home, being able to fit it better into your schedule will make it easier to make them when you want them. So, whether you're a seasoned edible enthusiast or you're just curious about making your first batch of can of butter, stick around and in the next 20 minutes you are going to learn how to work smarter, not harder, when it comes to your cannabis infusions. So let's start with the big question when did the idea come from that? I mean, that's what I've always done up to this point, and if any infusion device that I have also believes in this theory as well.
Speaker 1:I have three infusion devices I have an Ardent, I have a Levo 2, and I have a Magical Butter Machine and they all infuse for about two hours and, like many cooking traditions, it seems to be a mix of folk wisdom, cautious overkill and a misunderstanding of the underlying science. Now, back in the day, before cooking with cannabis was studied scientifically, people were just trying things out in their kitchen. If somebody made a batch of brownies that didn't hit very hard, they might think, well, maybe I just didn't cook the infusion for long enough, and next time they'd infuse for longer. And if that batch seemed more potent whether due to longer infusion time or just because they used better cannabis that idea would stick, which kind of makes sense. It's also worth noting that in the prohibition area, most people were making edibles with plant material that wasn't exactly what you consider premium, and they might be using shake, trim or low quality cannabis which could potentially benefit from longer extraction times to compensate for the lower potency. That is something I haven't tried in my own home kitchen yet, but I will be, hopefully after this season of my outdoor grow, which is going beautifully, as, as we speak, I'm optimistic. It's early days, but I'll have some trim, hopefully at the end of that season, so I can see how that works for infusion times as well. I'm going to be testing that out. But here's the thing we are not in prohibition area anymore, and even if you live in a place where it's still prohibited, the attitudes are really changing even in those places. So we still have access to better cannabis, better equipment and, most importantly, actual scientific research on how cannabinoid extraction works. What does that research tell us? That, with the right conditions, 30 minutes is plenty of time to extract the cannabinoids that you want To understand why short infusions can be just as effective as long ones. You need to understand a bit about the science of extraction, but don't worry, we'll keep this.
Speaker 1:Digestible. Canninoids like thc and cbd are fat soluble. That means they dissolve readily into fats and oils, but not in water, and this is why we infuse cannabis into butter, coconut oil, olive oil, all those other fatty substances, rather than just trying to make, say, cannabis tea with just water. When you heat cannabis in a fat source, you're creating the perfect environment for those cannabinoids to leave the plant material and dissolve into the fat, and this process is governed by a few key factors. One is temperature Heat speeds up the extraction process by making the cannabinoids more mobile. Two is surface area, and breaking up your cannabis increases the surface area exposed to the fat and I don't like to say grinding, because I find that grinding is a bit overkill. In my opinion, agitation stirring helps bring fresh fat into contact with the plant material and the fat itself. Different fats have different abilities to dissolve cannabinoids, though at the end of the day, I think you just need to infuse the fats that you want to use in your own cooking.
Speaker 1:But did you notice what's not on that list? Time Beyond a certain point. So let me explain why. Extraction is what scientists call an equilibrium process. The cannabinoids will move from an area of high concentration the plant to an area of low concentration the fat until they reach a balance. Once that equilibrium is reached, you can keep cooking for hours, but you won't extract significantly more cannabinoids. So don't just take my word for it.
Speaker 1:Let's look at what the scientific research actually shows. There's a fascinating study published in the Journal of Molecules in 2022, which I can also link in the show notes of this episode over on bitemepodcastcom and it examined cold ethanol extraction of cannabinoids. The researchers used a sophisticated experimental design to test different extraction times, ranging from about six minutes to 34 minutes, and what did they find? The optimal extraction time was just 10 minutes. At that point, they achieved extraction efficiencies of up to 102% at room temperature and 97.7% at colder temperatures. Wait, but how can you get more than 100% extraction? Well, that's likely due to small measurement variations, but the point is clear they extracted essentially all of the available cannabinoids in just 10 minutes. Another study published in the Arabian Journal of Chemistry found that varying sonication time between 10 and 30 minutes did not significantly affect the CBD and THC contents extracted. In other words, once they hit the 10 minute mark, continuing to 30 minutes didn't meaningfully increase the amount of cannabinoids. They got out.
Speaker 1:A comprehensive review in Frontiers in Natural Products examined industrial cannabinoid extraction techniques and found that contact time was just one of the many factors affecting extraction efficiency, and not even the most important one. Factors like solvent choice, temperature and the ratio of solvent to plant material had a much bigger impact on how much of the cannabinoids were extracted. Now I know some of you might be thinking, but these studies use specialized equipment and solvents, not just a pot on my stove with some butter. And that's true. But the underlying chemistry is the same. If professional extraction can happen in 10 to 30 minutes with the right conditions, your home infusion doesn't magically need four times longer. If time isn't the most critical factor. What should you be focusing on instead? Here are the factors that actually make a difference in your infusion potency.
Speaker 1:Decarboxylation this is the process of heating raw cannabis to convert THCA into THC, and it's separate from the infusion process and is crucial. If you skip proper decarb, it doesn't matter if you infuse for 30 minutes or three days. Your edibles won't be nearly as potent as they could be, and I've done episodes on decarboxylation which I will also link in the show notes. Then there's temperature For infusion. You want your fat to be hot enough to efficiently dissolve cannabinoids, but not so hot that you start degrading them. A gentle simmer, not a boil, is perfect, and you can aim for around 160 degrees to 180 degrees if you have a thermometer and I have noticed that's usually the temperature that is set when I use my infusion devices is 160 degrees Fahrenheit typically. Having said that, I almost never actually check the temperature of my infusions when I'm doing them on the stove, but that's another story. There's the surface area, too, so you can break up your decarbed cannabis into smaller bits. If you didn't already do that, when you're decarboxylating it, you don't need to grind it, you don't need to pulverize it into dust, but if you break it up, it will improve extraction efficiency.
Speaker 1:Then there's stirring. Regular gentle stirring helps bring fresh fat into contact with the plant material, speeding up the extraction process. Sometimes, when I'm doing my infusions on the stove, I'll just pick up the jar with an oven mitt, give it a little stir and put it back into the water. Some people do their infusions a little bit differently. When I'm doing it on the stove, I do it in a pot of water, and I have my cannabis and the fat that I'm using in a clean glass jar in the pot of water, and I simmer it. That way, your technique might be a little bit different, but the gentle stir remains the same.
Speaker 1:Then there's your fat choice. Some fats are better at dissolving cannabinoids than others. Coconut oil and butter are popular choices because of their high fat content. I also recently did an episode on why ghee makes a really good fat for infusing, because it also has a very high fat content MCT oil. So if you're looking for maximum efficiency again, at the end of the day, though, I think you can just use whatever fat that you are going to be using for whatever recipe you want to be making. I love having olive oil on hand, I've done avocado oil, I've also done duck fat, and then, of course, there's the ratio.
Speaker 1:So using enough fat relative to your cannabis is important. A good starting ratio is maybe a cup of fat to seven grams of cannabis. If you have a lower tolerance, you can always reduce that amount as well, and be sure to figure out the potency of that afterwards using an online calculator doing the math pen to paper, that kind of thing. So if you optimize for those factors, you'll get excellent extraction in 30 minutes. And here's a pro tip If you want to be absolutely sure that you're getting everything out, you could do a second wash with fresh cannabis in the same fat, and that will add to the potency and it's often more efficient still than a long infusion still than a long infusion.
Speaker 1:So why should you care about this? What's the benefits of knowing that 30 minutes is enough? Well, there's a few. There's several, first of all. First and foremost, you're going to save time. The most obvious benefit is that you'll save hours of your life, and if you make edibles regularly, like I do, this adds up to a lot of time that you can spend doing other things. It might also mean that you don't necessarily need to go out and get a fancy infusion device. I still use them pretty regularly, but keep in mind I have a whole show about making edibles. If you can make an infusion on your stove in 30 minutes, do you really need that fancy infusion device? And I say this as someone who really does love my devices. But I don't want that to be a barrier to thinking they can make great edibles at home.
Speaker 1:Then there's better flavor, but longer infusions will extract more chlorophyll and plant compounds that can make your edibles taste green, and a shorter infusion can result in a cleaner taste because it's just not pulling out so much of that stuff like the chlorophyll, plant compounds and all the things that make it taste a little grassy. There's less risk of cannabinoid degradation. Thc can degrade when exposed to heat for extended periods. By keeping your infusion time shorter, you minimize the risk of losing potency through degradation. More consistent results with shorter, more controlled processes you are likely to get more consistent results from batch to batch. And of course, there's the lower energy use. Less cooking time means less energy used, whether that's gas, electricity or whatever heat source you're using, and for some folks this is a pretty important consideration. I have friends in Europe who say that their energy expenses are a lot higher than what we might be accustomed to where I am. So that is an important consideration and I want to emphasize that. I'm not saying you can't infuse for longer if you want to. Like I mentioned, I still use my infusion devices as well as infusing on the stove, and if you have a method that works for you and enjoy the ritual of a long, slow infusion, by all means continue. Cooking should be enjoyable, but just know, scientifically speaking, you're probably not gaining much potency after the first minute 30 minutes if your other variables are optimized. Now, this is what I wanted to mention.
Speaker 1:I did some experiments on my own in my own home kitchen, and here is what I found. I was infusing flour into a couple of different fats, I did olive oil and I did butter. Now I did three and a half grams of three and a half grams. It was a pretty. They were pretty small infusions because I was going to be doing a few of them, but three and a half grams, it was a pretty. They were pretty small infusions because I was going to be doing a few of them, but three and a half grams into a half cup of olive oil, and I think that was the first one that I did. I'm trying to find the pictures on my phone.
Speaker 1:Why did I not get this out sooner? And here is what happened. So I did the method the same way. I did the pot of water on the stove when I put the three and a half grams of cannabis in a clean glass jar with the half cup of olive oil, and I did one of those for 30 minutes and one of those for two hours, and the results were really interesting. So so the one that was two hours, my extra virgin olive oil infusion using decarbed cannabis, three and a half grams to a half cup. I got a result. I used a tea check for this to make it as official as possible.
Speaker 1:In my experimentation I got 3.7 milligrams per milliliter as a result. And then, when you compare that to the 30 minute infusion of extra virgin olive oil with three and a half grams of decarbed cannabis, I got 3.5 milligrams per milliliters. So by infusing it for another hour and a half, I had a net return of 0.2 milligrams per milliliter. So I did the same thing with butter. I think I did the butter one first. I did the butter one first and I did the same thing. Let me see here. I did a bigger infusion because it was a CBD infusion and it was the same thing. In this case I used seven grams of cannabis to 127 grams of butter, using the same processes before. 127 grams is about a quarter pound of butter to seven grams of cannabis and, if I recall correctly, it was a CBD Charlotte's Angel cannabis infusion.
Speaker 1:Because I'd like to have CBD infusions on hand as much as THC infusions, I did a two hour infusion and a 30 minute infusion. For the two hour infusion I got a result of 3.2 milligrams per milliliter. The 30 minute infusion, three milligrams per milliliter a difference of 0.2 milligrams per milliliter. Once again, that hour and a half extra time netted me 0.2 milligrams per milliliter extra not a whole lot, which suggests that you can really do save yourself the time. I thought that was really interesting.
Speaker 1:I'm going to be trying the experiment with the next fat infusion that I try because I do believe I wanted. I do want to try it with the beef tallow that I picked up. I also tried it with the tinctures as well. The results were a little bit different with that, but of course alcohol is a completely different infusion medium. I did a 10 minute tincture which gave me 2.6 milligrams per milliliter, and then a 24 hour tincture doubled that 5.3 milligrams per milliliter. Now I have a freezer tincture in right now that I'll be taking out in a few days and I'll be interested to see how much extra milligrams per milliliter I get for that one. But leaving the tincture for an extra several hours in that case did net double almost double the infusion potency.
Speaker 1:But if you're looking to make something really quick and you want it to be alcohol-based, you can extract out cannabinoids in just 10 minutes. So that's really good to know. If you want to make something quick, you have friends over, you're doing something, an experiment in the kitchen. So those are my own personal experiments with trying this. So there you have it.
Speaker 1:There is the science-backed case for why you don't need to spend hours infusing your cannabis if you don't want to. The research clearly shows that with the right conditions, a 30-minute infusion can extract cannabinoids just as effectively as longer methods. I'll keep you up to date on that as I continue with my own experiments in the kitchen. And you remember cannabis, cooking is both an art and a science. That's what makes it so interesting.
Speaker 1:The science tells us that cannabinoid extraction reaches equilibrium relatively quickly, but the art is in finding the method and flavors that work best for you and then using those infusions into something creative that you're going to enjoy and that you're going to want to share with friends and family. So I hope this episode makes you more efficient, consistent, and that you end up with more enjoyable edibles. And if you've been spending hours on infusions, you've just gotten a big chunk of your life back, so use it wisely. Maybe consider joining us at the Bite Me Cannabis Club, where I'm sure we'll be talking about this more in depth. Thank you for listening to Bite Me. I hope you enjoyed this episode. As always, I am your host, margaret, and until next time, my friends, stay high.
