How to Decarb Weed and Make Edibles: Cannabutter, Oil and Gummies

Raw cannabis is mostly THCA, which doesn't get you high. Heat turns it into THC, a step called decarboxylation, or "decarbing". Smoking and vaping do it instantly. For edibles you have to do it yourself first, or your butter, oil and gummies will barely work.

Step 1: Decarb your weed

1. Preheat the oven to about 115 °C. Anywhere from 110 to 120 °C works. Home ovens often run hotter or cooler than the dial says, so an oven thermometer is worth having.
2. Break the buds into small pieces with your fingers. Don't grind them to powder; that makes the butter taste grassy and is harder to strain.
3. Spread the pieces in a single layer on a baking tray lined with baking paper.
4. Bake for 30–45 minutes, stirring halfway. It's ready when it's dry, crumbly and turned from green to light golden-brown.

Hotter isn't faster. Above roughly 150 °C, THC starts breaking down and the terpenes that carry flavour boil off. Decarbing also smells strong; covering the tray with foil or using an oven bag helps.

Kief, hash and rosin need decarbing for edibles too. They're more concentrated, so check them after about 20 minutes.

Step 2: Make cannabutter or infused oil

THC dissolves in fat, not water, so butter and oil carry it into food.

Cannabutter

1. Melt 250 g of butter with 250 ml of water in a saucepan on the lowest heat. The water stops the butter scorching.
2. Stir in your decarbed weed. 3.5 to 7 g makes a usable batch; the dosing table shows what that means per piece.
3. Keep it at a gentle 70–90 °C for 2–3 hours, stirring now and then. It should never boil.
4. Strain through a fine sieve lined with cheesecloth into a bowl. Press lightly; squeezing hard pushes bitter plant matter through.
5. Refrigerate until the butter sets on top, then lift it off and pour away the water underneath.

Infused coconut oil

Same method, using 250 ml of coconut oil instead of butter (you can skip the water if you keep the heat very low). Coconut oil stays liquid when warm, which makes it the better choice for gummies, and it keeps longer. A slow cooker on low works well for either.

Keep cannabutter in the fridge for up to two weeks, or freeze it. Label it clearly and keep it where children can't reach it.

Searching for how to make cannabis oil? This infused oil is the safe home method. Don't try extracting with butane or high-proof alcohol at home: the fumes are highly flammable, and home extractions have caused serious fires and burns.

Step 3: Work out the dose

Do this before you cook. Multiply grams by the THC percentage by 1,000 to get the THC in your flower. For example, 7 g at 20% is 7 × 0.20 × 1,000 = 1,400 mg. Home decarbing and infusing lose some of it, so assume roughly two-thirds ends up in your butter or oil. Then divide by the number of pieces you'll make.

Even the "mild" rows are several first-timer doses per piece. To get pieces closer to 5 mg, use less flower or make more, smaller pieces. Home-made edibles are always an estimate: stir the mixture well so the THC is spread evenly, and treat each piece as possibly stronger than the maths says.

Step 4: Easy THC gummies

You'll need:

• 125 ml fruit juice
• One 80 g packet of flavoured jelly powder
• 2–3 tablespoons (about 20–25 g) unflavoured gelatine
• 2–4 tablespoons of your infused coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon sunflower lecithin (optional, but it helps the oil mix in evenly)
• Silicone gummy moulds and a dropper

1. Warm the juice on low heat. Don't let it boil.
2. Whisk in the jelly powder and gelatine until fully dissolved.
3. Add the infused oil and lecithin, and whisk constantly for 2–3 minutes until it looks even, with no oil floating on top.
4. Fill the moulds with the dropper, stirring the pot between fills so the oil doesn't separate.
5. Refrigerate for 1–2 hours until set. Store in an airtight, clearly labelled container in the fridge.

To dose them, take the share of your batch you used. If your oil batch was 250 ml (about 17 tablespoons) and you used 4 tablespoons, that's roughly a quarter of the batch's THC, split across however many gummies you made.

Cannabis tea

Steeping buds in hot water extracts very little THC, because THC needs fat to dissolve. For a tea that works, stir a measured teaspoon of cannabutter or infused coconut oil into your usual tea, or brew with full-cream milk. 250 g of butter is about 50 teaspoons, so divide your batch's THC by 50 to know what one teaspoon holds.

Dosing and safety

• Start low: 2.5–5 mg of THC if you're new to edibles.
• Go slow: edibles take 30 minutes to 2 hours to kick in (longer on a full stomach) and can last 4–8 hours or more. Wait at least two hours before taking more.
• Don't drive or operate machinery, and allow longer than you would after smoking.
• Skip the alcohol: it makes the effects stronger and less predictable.
• Lock edibles away and label them. They look like ordinary sweets. If a child or pet eats one, treat it as an emergency and call the Poisons Information Helpline on 0861 555 777 or go to a hospital.
• Avoid edibles if you're pregnant or breastfeeding, and check with a doctor if you take medication.

Taken too much? It usually means several uncomfortable hours of anxiety, a racing heart and dizziness. Go somewhere calm and safe, drink water, and wait it out. Get medical help if you have chest pain, trouble breathing, or you're worried.

On the law: making edibles at home for your own private use falls under the private-use protection; selling them does not. See our guide to South Africa's cannabis laws.