What are edibles?

Edibles are cannabis-infused products that offer delayed, yet extended, effects. Offering a tasty alternative to smoking or vaporizing flower, cannabis edibles are food and beverage products that have been infused with cannabis. Consumers who enjoy edibles typically prefer the extended and more intense effects that they offer compared to other types of cannabis products.

How are edibles made?

Food edibles like cookies or brownies are made with canna-butter or canna-oil. Canna-butter is unsalted butter that’s been blended with ground cannabis flower and water. The canna-butter can then be added in place of regular butter in any baking recipe.

Canna-oil, which blends ground cannabis flower with any type of cooking oil, can also be used for baking dessert foods, but is generally used for blending into homemade sauces or salad dressing, sautéing veggies, or low temperature frying on the stove.

Cannabis-infused beverages are made using cannabis extract in liquid form, or a tincture. Cannabis tinctures can also be added to food products.

Determining the dosage

The potency of an edible is measured differently than cannabis flower or concentrate. Instead of stating the percentage of cannabinoid strength, the potency of an edible product is indicated by the milligrams of cannabinoids contained in the product. An edible’s package will typically state the milligrams of THC and/or CBD per serving, plus the total milligrams in the entire package. For example, an entire chocolate bar may have 50 milligrams of THC. If the desired dose is 5 milligrams, the bar can be divided into 10 pieces of 5 milligrams each.

How long do edibles take to kick in?

THC is metabolized in the liver into a compound called 11-hydroxy-THC. This compound is more potent than THC, has a longer half-life and can be very sedating. It’s this mechanism in the liver that causes edibles to have different effects in most people. This entire process can take between 30 minutes and and 3 hours.