Dear Cheri,
I am making meals with my cannabis infused oil and I wanted to know if it's OK to freeze meals infused with THC oil? If so does it take away from the potency or quality? I am making hot pockets but would like to freeze them and microwave when ready to eat.
Adam
Hello Adam,
Yes! You can freeze foods made with cannabis infused oil or marijuana butter without compromising the potency or quality of the medicine. In fact I recommend doing so.
You can also freeze infused marijuana butter or cannabis oil for longer storage. Simply bring to room temperature when you are ready to use. Keep in mind that fats can still go rancid in the freezer, so try to use within six months.
Freezing medicated foods makes a lot of sense. Let's face it you probably don't want to, nor should you, eat an entire batch of medicated foods at once, and freezing allows you more flexibility with portion control and the luxury of saving your medicated foods for when you really need/want them. When I wrote The Cannabis Gourmet Cookbook, I purposely tried to design the recipes so they could be easily portioned and, whenever possible, frozen for longer storage, look for the "Freezer Friendly" notation throughout the book.
I consulted Dr. Jeffrey Raber at The Werc Shop (one of the world's premier testing labs) about your question. While he had no hard data on food cannabinoid stability when frozen, he did say that cold temperatures do slow chemical degradations so there shouldn't be any significant issues, although each food might react slightly differently.
Some foods do freeze better than others (for detailed instructions check out the non-cannabis cookbook I wrote, The Complete Idiot's Guide to Easy Freezer Meals), but the presence or absence of cannabis in the recipe's butter or oil is not a factor.
What you need to be concerned about more than cold is heat. While some heat is necessary to decarboxylize the cannabis -- the chemical reaction that turns the raw plant's THC-acid into THC -- remember that too much heat will destroy it. THC is rendered useless at 392 degrees F, but it starts to break down long before that. You can bake at higher temperatures of 400 degrees F or more, so long as the food itself does not get any hotter than, ideally, about 325 degrees F.
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I have heard freezing it actually increases the bioavailability of the product. Any truth to this?
This is not something I have heard. Could be. I would have to research this.
Does the butter need to be defrosted prior to use? I’ve been consuming frozen butter and haven’t had any effect from the marijuana.
No that should not have anything to do with it (you’re eating frozen butter?). It must not have been made strong enough for your tolerance level. I would increase the strength of the cannabis you are using and/or the quantity next time. My Free and paid classes at Cannademy (in cooking and dosing) include a lesson on how to determine your ideal dose so you can make infusions and cook according to your needs. Check them out at http://www.Cannademy.com
I would like to try making Leif. I know you make it using dry ice. Could you please tell me how to do this. Thank so much. Love all your info.
Gail
I think you mean kief? Yes, kief is the easiest concentrate to make. Find a tutorial here.
https://www.cannabischeri.com/lifestyle/growing/how-to-make-dry-ice-kief/
Great read. Thanks.
How long do oils like coconut oil last? How should it be stored? Crazy question, could you can the butter? Actually water bath it for long term storage?
Coconut oil is one of the longest lasting oils, up to 2 years. Other oils and butter have shorter shelf lives before rancidity sets in. I store infused oil and butter in the freezer for longer storage. See the link below for more info. I am not a canning expert so not sure on the butter, but I do know it would take more than water bath canning as there is no acid, so if you could do it (and I am not sure about that) it would probably need a pressure canner.
https://cannabischeri.com/food/cooking-basics/ask-cheri-freezing-marijuana-oil-butter/