By Eric Miller
IG: @medicatedeveryday
Medicated Every Day The Blog is the smaller, portable version of Medicated Every Day, a cookbook series written by Chef Eric Miller that is available for download here.
In the previous posts, I talked about selecting concentrates and understanding the chemical interactions within the body. Today we get down to the nitty-gritty, the reason most of you have read this blog is how to make edibles, most importantly, edibles that work, and if you want your edibles to work there’s only one way to make that happen. It’s Stoner Chemistry time, cue the music.
STONER CHEMISTRY AT HOME
I’m speaking of the process of decarbing (or in technical terms decarboxylation) our concentrate, the process of removing a carboxyl group (written as COOH) from the molecule THCA. Carboxyl groups are weak acids that dissociate partially to release hydrogen ions from THCA molecules through an exothermic reaction. This, in turn, causes the release of CO2 (carbon dioxide) from our concentrate. What that does is it not only removes excessive chemical leftovers, it also turns non-psychoactive THCA into psychoactive delta-9 THC. By applying low amounts of heat we can ensure that when we start cooking we will have no wasted THC.
With cleaner ingredients and fully activated THC molecules, we can create edibles that impact us longer, with more intensity and exit the system with fewer negative effects. It will also make sure your concentrates actually seize a hold of you on a chemical level. If you’ve ever had an edible that never worked on you, chances are the THCA wasn’t transformed into delta-9 THC. The edible was fundamentally a brownie with yard trimmings in it.
Decarbing is easy, arrange your concentrate in low heat convention oven, wait a bit, then freeze. How long and how hot do we have to keep the oven? The longer you let your concentrate decarb the better. My personal recommendation is between 175-200°F for 3 hours. If you can’t wait that long, 1 hour is acceptable.
Here’s a simple decarb set up in the oven:
- Wrap a baking sheet in parchment paper.
- Place concentrates at the center of the baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheet in the center of the oven with as much open space around for constant air flow.
- DON’T ADD WEIGHT there’s no need to add pressure we need HEAT.
- Freeze your concentrate after decarbing is complete.
Feeling good yet? Feeling excited? Then let’s put your newly decarbed THC into something before you lose all that nervous energy.
710 IS YOUR BAE
With our THC ready we need to set aside a few pages and talk about safe dosing, from theory to practice. We’re going to be focusing heavily on olive oil for a bit because I love the stuff and it’s beyond useful. To dose properly you need to know how much THC you have and the serving size of your product. Here’s how a simple 600 mg of THC (the best approximated middle ground for 1 gram of concentrate when lab testing is unavailable) breaks down in the most common olive oil bottle sizes:
***ALL NUMBERS APPROXIMATED***
***ALL SERVINGS SIZES 1 TABLESPOON (TBSP)***
- 5 fl oz: 10 servings, 60 mg each
- 8.5 fl oz: 17 servings, 36 mg each
- 17 fl oz: 33 servings, 18 mg each
- 25.4 fl oz: 50 servings, 12 mg each
- 32 fl oz: 64 servings, 9.5 mg each
It’s all incredibly simple math but necessary, by dividing the serving size by total THC content produces the serving size amount of THC. Please note that when using multiple servings or multiple infused ingredients in a single recipe you must account for all the THC. If you’re making a recipe that contains both infused oil and vinegar, combine the serving size totals of each to achieve the absolute amount.
So now let’s infuse an entire bottle of olive oil and prepare something with it. Theory to practice.
OLIVE OIL PANTRY ITEM & BALSAMIC VINEGAR APPETIZER
INGREDIENTS
- 17 fl oz virgin olive oil, ¾ cup for the recipe
- ¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar
- ½ gram of frozen decarbed concentrate, ¼ gram for those with weaker tolerances
- Pinch of salt and pepper
- ½ loaf of European style bread (sliced diagonally)
- EXTRA: Fresh rosemary, Italian parsley, oregano leaves, chopped and mixe
INFUSION
Begin by emptying the bottle of olive oil in a mason jar.
Place the jar of oil inside a sauce pot with a few cups of water, THEN set over a medium-high flame on your stove top.
Slowly raise the temperature of the oil to 100°F within the mason jar with a basic probe thermometer.
You must be careful so as not to heat the oil too high as you will greatly alter the color and flavor of the oil.
Add half a gram of concentrate to produce an average serving size THC content of 10 mg and the quarter gram content is 5 mg. If you want to add a whole gram, you’re going to end up with approx. 20 mg but I only recommend that for those who are already consuming 200 mg or more on a periodic basis.
Thanks to the lack of chlorophyll in the product and the decarbing process described earlier, the taste of the olive oil is preserved. Once the oil is infused, place the mason jar in the fridge and it’ll keep for about a month.
RECIPE
Combine ¾ cup infused olive oil, ¼ cup Balsamic Vinegar in a bowl, add salt and pepper to taste, I suggest utilizing roughly ¼ teaspoon of both. Mix all the ingredients together with a wire whisk.
Indicated by our serving size of a tablespoon, this recipe calls for 12 servings so keep in mind your math. The AVERAGE serving size THC amount is between 5 — 10 mg so in this case, you’re looking at a total of between 60 — 120 mg for the ENTIRE RECIPE based on the amount and type of a concentrate that you purchase. If you infuse the vinegar as well you must add the total serving amount from that as well.
If you wish… The EXTRA TASTY METHOD involves whole sprigs of rosemary, Italian parsley, and oregano, mixed into your oil prior to decarbing and let soak overnight.
And in case you’re wondering European style bread is any bread with a crunchy brown crust and a soft inside, sandwich bread and bagels are no substitute.
Dip the bread into the oil and vinegar and ENJOY!
With so much science thrown around, it’s about time we move into more culinary-minded endeavors, nearly all that we need to know is learned. Except for one very important fact, that will arrive fresh, hot and ready next week as we need to talk about the water.
