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Making Your Own Marijuana Extracts Can Be a Fun, Rewarding Way to Get Natural Relief
Learning how to make your own cannabis extract is some next-level, pioneer-style DIY self-sufficiency that may seem only suitable for advanced marijuana aficionados. We promise, it works for beginners, too.
If you are just getting started growing your own medical marijuana and feeling intimidated about what to do with the buds once your plants have matured, you are not alone. Thousands of Missouri residents are trying their hand at cultivating cannabis this year, for the first time ever, because they qualify for a medical marijuana card and have added a cultivation license to their registration
In this guide, we are going to help you understand the steps you need to take to prepare your homegrown marijuana plants for consumption after harvesting, and we’ll share two simple extract recipes to get you started. By the time you’re done reading this, you’ll be well on your way to creating your own path to the natural health you deserve!
Curing Your Missouri Homegrown Buds
Unlike a beautiful ripe tomato that you can pluck and eat off the vine, cannabis buds aren’t ready to give you the experience you’re probably used to until they are cured. This helps turn the THCa into THC, preserves the terpenes and other elements while eliminating the grassy taste and smell, and it mellows out the flavor and the burn.
Whether you are making edibles, tinctures, or other types of extracts, most of the time you will start with the curing process first. For all the details you need to cure your buds just right every time, check out this guide, but here are the basics:
Step One - Drying Your Buds
Pick your stems. There are some limited benefits to cleaning off the excess plant material before curing, but beginners will find it much easier to wait.
Hang stems uncrowded on a drying rack. Keep them in a dark room where you can maintain a temperature of about 70 degrees and humidity of about 50%. This is the step where you may need to have additional equipment like an air conditioner, and a dehumidifier or a humidifier depending on environment. You want your buds to get dry without growing mold, but not so dry they start to crumble.
Dry time is typically 3 - 7 days, until buds are dry to touch and stems snap when bent.
Step Two - Mason Jars
When you put your buds into jars, you want the room temperature to be about 70 degrees, and humidity to be 60-65%. The best container for this step is a one-quart wide-mouthed mason jar. Fill jars to about 75%, leaving room at the top and avoiding packing your buds too tightly.
Open your jars once a day for the first couple of weeks. Your buds should be just right after about 3 - 6 weeks. They will continue to improve in quality from the curing process for about 6 months.
Cannabis Decarboxylation: Less Sciency Than it Sounds
Once your buds are cured, they are ready to smoke or dry-vape. However, if you want to turn them into an extract or edible, you’re going to want to take this additional step to prepare your cannabis for the most complete use of all the good stuff. (In the most technical terms of course.)
Fortunately, decarboxylation is as simple as putting it in the oven and waiting. You can buy more advanced machines that give you precise results, but they are not necessary. This quick YouTube video shows you how to decarboxylate your cannabis using a baking sheet, aluminum foil, and your oven set at 225 degrees.
Finally - It’s Time to Make Your Own Cannabis Extracts!
Making cannabis extracts can get complicated. Some people like to keep every single detail under absolute control, using solvents that make the process more dangerous, or processing products into dabs or shatter. At Missouri Marijuana Card, we are keeping things simple. So we are going share with you two basic formats that you can make with minimal investment and less room for error: Edibles and Tinctures.
How to Make Your Own Marijuana Edibles
No longer just for magic brownies, cannabis edibles are a classic that you can make at home with ease. You can even make your own delicious, fruity gummies! The trick to making the most of your homegrown marijuana in these edibles, is to start with a food-based extract.
There are two main base extracts that get used in almost every cannabis edible recipe you’re going to find. Cannabutter and Cannabis-infused cooking oil. The preparation is essentially the same for both, and you’ll want to play around with ratios to get your ideal potency.
How to Make Cannabutter
Ingredients:
2 cups high-quality butter
1 ounce ground, decarboxylized cannabis
Enough water to prevent burning
Melt butter with a small amount of water in saucepan
Add cannabis and stir
Keep butter at just below simmering for 2-3 hours. Add a little water if necessary, and stir regularly.
Strain butter into a glass jar for storage. You can use a cheesecloth or other similar strainer to remove solids from the butter.
Use in your favorite recipes!
How to Make Cannaoil
Ingredients:
2 cups high-quality oil (olive, coconut, vegetable, etc.)
1 ounce ground, decarboxylized cannabis
Enough water to prevent burning
Steps:
Combine all ingredients in small saucepan and stir.
Keep oil at just below simmering for 2-3 hours. Add a little water if necessary, and stir regularly.
Strain oil into a glass jar for storage. You can use a cheesecloth or other similar strainer to remove solids from the butter.
Use in your favorite recipes!
How to Make Your Own Marijuana Tinctures
Tinctures are probably the most flexible kind of extract you can make. You can put them into your edibles, take them sublingually, or even infuse them into your own cannabis topicals, for targeted, fast-acting relief.
Keep in mind that true tinctures are alcohol-based, and they burn a bit if you take them sublingually. You can use the cannaoil recipe sublingually as well for a more pleasant experience, but it may not be quite as effective.
Ingredients:
1 ounce decarboxylized cannabis
300mL high-proof alcohol, like Everclear
Steps:
Place alcohol and cannabis into a mason jar, and give it a good shake.
Place in cool, dark place for about three months, shaking it when you think of it.
Alternatively, you can shake the heck out of your jar for about an hour. This may not be quite as effective—but it will create a product you can use right now, rather than having to wait.
How to Make Your Own Marijuana Rosin
Rosin is one of the easiest extracts to make, but it is also one of the stickiest. The nice thing about making live rosin, is that you don’t have to cure or decarboxylate the flower. Once you’ve got your product, it’s pretty versatile as long as you can manage the goo. You can dab it, put it in your waterpipe or bowl, dry it and add it to a joint, even use it in food. What you need:
Raw or cured (not decarboxylated) cannabis flower
Parchment paper
Hair straightener
Dabbing tool
Heat-resistant gloves
Steps:
Break down your product so more surface area is exposed.
Heat hair straightener to between 250 and 335 degrees (the right temperature will vary based on strain and your desired outcome).
Place between two sheets of parchment paper (do not overfill).
Press in hair straightener up to 30 seconds - be careful not to go too fast or too long (this will also vary based on strain and desired outcome).
Repeat the process if necessary.
Use a dabber or other scraping tool to remove extracted rosin from parchment paper and store in a wax or parchment paper envelope.
Get a Missouri Marijuana Card to Grow Your Own Medical Marijuana and Make Your Own Cannabis Extracts
Missouri is full of people who love their independence (and their cannabis). Having a Missouri marijuana card gives you the ultimate independence, because you can get a cultivator permit, grow your own medical marijuana, and make your own extracts. You have complete control over the strains you use, the potency of your finished product, and the form it comes in. If you don’t yet have a medical marijuana card in Missouri, schedule an appointment today with one of our understanding doctors. We can help you get started on a new journey to wellness, and give you the information you need to create the treatment plan that works for you!
Doctors Who Care. Relief You Can Trust.
At Missouri Marijuana Card, our mission is helping everyone achieve wellness safely and conveniently through increased access to medical marijuana. Our focus on education, inclusion, and acceptance will reduce stigma for our patients by providing equal access to timely information and compassionate care.
Call us at (877) 303-3117, or simply book a medical marijuana evaluation to start getting relief you can trust today!
Check out Missouri Marijuana Card’s Blog to keep up to date on the latest medical marijuana news, tips, and information. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to join the medical marijuana conversation in Missouri.