Infused Honey, playing with different methods and recipes

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
It's been a while since a thread on THC infused honey...so why not.

I have some honey this year. Started out with 132lbs at the end of September to be exact. Half of it was 'early harvest' done in early July (think spring flowers, apple/pear blossom and larger tree/plant nectar & pollen), the second half was fall harvest. That ends up being about 2 and 1/3 5 gallon buckets worth.
A shot from mid-fall harvest. I run it through a fine sieve twice, but no other heating or filtration.
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Yes...I have a couple hives, and yes it's both fun & work; and sometimes like having 80,000 mostly annoyed ex-girlfriends living in the corner of your yard.

I also happened to have a half pound of newly harvested/dried/cured cannabis on hand plus almost an ounce of trim. So, you know... time to play.

One of the prevalent online types of infused honey recipes is two-ingredient...just honey & cannabis; decarbed and then slow heated (crockpot or double boiler) for a number of hours. The second is the more traditional infuse oil, use an emulsifier, then add to honey and heat method.

I decided to try the first to see what would happen. There's all sorts of guarantees that you don't need fat to bond with the THC and the honey will deliver. I'm interested in if anyone has had luck with this method. Have YOU done it; how did you find it?

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So here it is. You'll notice that the honey is dark amber/orange. Anytime you heat honey (or beeswax) up past about 180-185 it darkens and in the honey, you lose some of the other beneficials. Not too worried about that, I have plenty of unheated honey in my life. The cannabis (trim plus a little small popcorn bud, amounting to about 2/3 of an ounce) was decarbed at 240f for about 45 minutes in the oven in a mason jar. Shaken a few times during. In retrospect I think I didn't de-carb enough to really 'activate' the THC. The decarbed cannabis was combined with 2 cups (by volume) of honey, and put in a crockpot water bath for 6 hours.

Findings: Don't know if it was a botched de-carb, or if its the 'THC can't bond with sugars (though it has a low water content)' thing...result after a week of moving from 1/4 teaspoon all the way up to 2 teaspoons...was none of the THC related stuff...no cerebral/mental high, no body effects, etc. BUT (and this is actually a great thing too)...a half a spoonful of this and you'll go to bed and feel nuthin' special then sleep like a deadman/woman for 8 hours and wake up feeling great. I've never slept as good as when testing this out. We'll actually use the crap out of this on 'work week' nights.


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Next up...trying one of the other recipe styles... this time with coconut oil, sunflower lecithin, etc. So yeah...Here we go again. Decarbed about 9g each of Tangerine Dream (auto, sativa leaning), and Blueberry (auto, indica leaning).

This time it was 250f for just over an hour, same mason jar method, shaking it ever 15 minutes. Next I dropped in a half cup of 'virgin' coconut oil...that's what the label says anyway, and there were no signs of molestation or appendage prints in the solidified oil, so I'll assume that no one had deflowered it. And a good tablespoon plus of lecithin each jar (shake well to combine).

The next 3.5 hours each jar went into the water bath at ~185F give or take. At this point I pulled it, cooled the jars and stashed them in the 'deep freeze' overnight. In the morning I let the jars warm up and then they went back into the heat bath at ~185f for another hour and 15 or so. Towards the end of the oil's time in the bathI warmed two more jars with 400g (about 1.5 cups) of honey each so it would be liquid; just about 10 or 15 minutes.

Once both were out of the bath and cool enough to handle, strained the oil/cannabis/lecithin mixture out of each jar into new jars. I used my fine mesh strainer with a couple added layers of cheesecloth and used some pressure to push as much of the free oil through as possible. After that I took the spent cannabis solids and wrapped and twisted/squeezed out any last oil remnants into each jar..discarded the leftover out in the wilderness behind the house.

Next I poured the honey into the mixture, and spent a good amount of time shaking and reshaking across a few hours. As it cooled and I could see a little bit of oil separating, I added a bit more lecithin and shook well and that took care of that.

Jar with fine strainer & canning funnel ready to go:
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Before the straining begins:
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Looks good, but you can see the oil separating at the top a bit:
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More Lecithin added, lookin' good:
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And here with a little stir is where we end up when cool:
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Definitely a funky texture...closer to those 'whipped creamed honey' products. Herbal smelling (but not awful), and with pretty dominant coconut flavor happening. Took about half a teaspoon (Tangerine Dream jar) an hour after dinner last night (big bowl of chili with melted cheddar), and after about 90 minutes I wasn't getting much. Throwing caution to the wind and knowing I would be climbing into bed soon, I took another 1/4 of a teaspoon. Lucky that bed was happening because I was safely under the covers when it all came crashing in. Boom, the kind of full body & slightly psychedelic high that says you've really taken 2 or 3x as much as you need.

I'm going to play with this second recipe some more. I think the half cup of coconut oil is too much and it could possibly come down to 1/4 cup or maybe less, and retain more of the honey vibe and less of the fatty frosting like texture. That probably would also allow me to use less lecithin. I'll also play with less cannabis. Ideally, it would be perfect to get a light but present buzz with a teaspoon and something heftier with two. Then you can use it more like you'd do when snacking, or in tea, etc.

Thoughts, ideas and/or anything you've tried that worked?
 

shredder4

Well-Known Member
Thoughts, ideas and/or anything you've tried that worked?
I've made whipped honey butter using creamed honey and ghee and whipping in a bowl with a hand mixer. I used 2 parts cannabis infused ghee to one part honey. Keep it cool and it chystalizes and makes a nice texture. Store it in the fridge for a medicated spread that tastes yummy. It's thick enough that it doesn't separate. I make the canna butter a little strong and don't load the honey itself.

I've also used decarbed rosin and lecithin in maple syrup. It works pretty well but before using I warm it in a microwave for 15 seconds to warm and shake to reincorporate the rosin. It does separate after a while. BTW rosin doesn't taste great so if I do this again id use feco/rso.

On your honey something ive read about using to suspend canna oil in a syrup is 210S powder. But I have no personal experience with it. Tinctures in honey are popular as well.

Your post reminds me, I have some bottles of 10-15 year old homemade mead. I should use a strong tincture in some to try.
 
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LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
I've made whipped honey butter using creamed honey and ghee and whipping in a bowl with a hand mixer. I used 2 parts cannabis infused ghee to one part honey. Keep it cool and it chystalizes and makes a nice texture. Store it in the fridge for a medicated spread that tastes yummy. It's thick enough that it doesn't separate. I make the canna butter a little strong and don't load the honey itself.

I've also used decarbed rosin and lecithin in maple syrup. It works pretty well but before using I warm it in a microwave for 15 seconds to warm and shake to reincorporate the rosin. It does separate after a while. BTW rosin doesn't taste great so if I do this again id use feco/rso.

On your honey something ive read about using to suspend canna oil in a syrup is 210S powder. But I have no personal experience with it. Tinctures in honey are popular as well.

Your post reminds me, I have some bottles of 10-15 year old homemade mead. I should use a strong tincture in some to try.
Yeah, I need to play around a bit more. And try some other options.

What I do have tastes good and it's definitely more of a whipped honey vibe. I think to get it back closer to true 'honey' I'll try again and use half or less of the coconut oil and adjust the lecithin as well. I may also try the cannabis/honey only recipe again just to see if indeed it doesn't work at all.

I did test the honey/coconut oil batch that was done with the blueberry cannabis...and even at half a teaspoon it was 'can't get off the bed' strong. Another one to be careful with!
 

Milky Weed

Well-Known Member
I think the best way to get close to honey would be melting home-made concentrate into it, could possibly even do it around 170f to avoid changing the honey too much or something like that.

Like an alcohol extraction of some bud, evaporate the alcohol and mix it into the honey after decarb.
 

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
I think the best way to get close to honey would be melting home-made concentrate into it, could possibly even do it around 170f to avoid changing the honey too much or something like that.

Like an alcohol extraction of some bud, evaporate the alcohol and mix it into the honey after decarb.
This is on my future try list. I've got a place that carries everclear down the road so, that would be easy enough. I haven't done the process and I'll have to do it DIY kitchen counter style, but it's do-able. In the meantime, One of these minutes I'm going to do a run and just short the coconut oil (note to get the uber-processed oil that has no coconut flavor) to see what that does.

The good news is that I have plenty of honey and enough cannabis on hand to try a few things. I also have a new grow a few weeks in and will have plenty more coming...
 

Milky Weed

Well-Known Member
Hey man you inspired me to make some honey lemon weed candy. I put about an oz worth of bud in this, ran out of molds so I just poured it on a parchment paper. First time making candy. It’s pretty potent just tried a piece but DOES NOT taste the best. I carmelized it too much lol. Glad I got it to hard crack though.3FEFEA3C-7D5F-4116-BCBB-C1C43A1C2A01.jpeg
 

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
Hey man you inspired me to make some honey lemon weed candy. I put about an oz worth of bud in this, ran out of molds so I just poured it on a parchment paper. First time making candy. It’s pretty potent just tried a piece but DOES NOT taste the best. I carmelized it too much lol. Glad I got it to hard crack though.View attachment 5037287
Nice! What's your recipe like?

I'd guess that the doesn't 'taste the best' is more burnt sugar than it is the cannabis side? The batch of really green coconut/honey smells pretty funky green, but actually tastes more of sweet and coconut than herbal.

Lemon/honey is a great combo, I can see next summer diving into making Bee's Knees cocktails with cannabis infused honey; Gin, honey (made into simple syrup), lemon juice...can be had just like that, or for something lighter, add soda water and put in a highball over ice. Also solid with vodka and if you want, infuse the booze with your choice of other flavors (we've done: lavender, rosemary, ginger and grapefruit infusions in the past).

Of course it may be just as easy to make cannabis infused vodka and use regular honey.

Ideally I'd like to work on a honey that's not terribly herbal, can be used normally as you would honey, but also has a milder dosage. Having a nearly 'religious' experience at half a teaspoon is way too strong for daily use for most people. The idea is to make it so it's mild but noticeable at a teaspoon, which is a reasonable serving size for casual use. Then if someone wants to go heavier it's about doubling or tripling the amount to whatever intensity.

One thing I really hate about the edibles side of things is that they're generally just dosed too strongly. No one wants a 50th of a fruit roll-up, or the head off a gummi-bear or a quarter of a square of chocolate. You want a reasonable serving size to equal a reasonable dose. Or maybe that's just the LeastExpectedGrower household. ;) We don't need a single rice-crispy treat to last us a week... we'd like to have one decent sized treat to be a night's worth of effect per person.
 

Milky Weed

Well-Known Member
Nice! What's your recipe like?

I'd guess that the doesn't 'taste the best' is more burnt sugar than it is the cannabis side? The batch of really green coconut/honey smells pretty funky green, but actually tastes more of sweet and coconut than herbal.

Lemon/honey is a great combo, I can see next summer diving into making Bee's Knees cocktails with cannabis infused honey; Gin, honey (made into simple syrup), lemon juice...can be had just like that, or for something lighter, add soda water and put in a highball over ice. Also solid with vodka and if you want, infuse the booze with your choice of other flavors (we've done: lavender, rosemary, ginger and grapefruit infusions in the past).

Of course it may be just as easy to make cannabis infused vodka and use regular honey.

Ideally I'd like to work on a honey that's not terribly herbal, can be used normally as you would honey, but also has a milder dosage. Having a nearly 'religious' experience at half a teaspoon is way too strong for daily use for most people. The idea is to make it so it's mild but noticeable at a teaspoon, which is a reasonable serving size for casual use. Then if someone wants to go heavier it's about doubling or tripling the amount to whatever intensity.

One thing I really hate about the edibles side of things is that they're generally just dosed too strongly. No one wants a 50th of a fruit roll-up, or the head off a gummi-bear or a quarter of a square of chocolate. You want a reasonable serving size to equal a reasonable dose. Or maybe that's just the LeastExpectedGrower household. ;) We don't need a single rice-crispy treat to last us a week... we'd like to have one decent sized treat to be a night's worth of effect per person.
I followed a recipe for “Italian” lemon honey candy And combined it with a hard candy cannabis recipe. Yeah I heated It for abit too long because I added too much water. Tastes like weak caramel and skunk.

i Did not follow the recipe really lol. I put in 4 cups of sugar, 1 cup of corn syrup, 6tbs of honey and lemon concentrate and was suppose to do about 1/2 cup of water but did like 2 by accident.
 

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
I followed a recipe for “Italian” lemon honey candy And combined it with a hard candy cannabis recipe. Yeah I heated It for abit too long because I added too much water. Tastes like weak caramel and skunk.
Accidents happen. ;) But even so, you learn from a bad result and can apply that to the future.
 
I followed a recipe for “Italian” lemon honey candy And combined it with a hard candy cannabis recipe. Yeah I heated It for abit too long because I added too much water. Tastes like weak caramel and skunk.

i Did not follow the recipe really lol. I put in 4 cups of sugar, 1 cup of corn syrup, 6tbs of honey and lemon concentrate and was suppose to do about 1/2 cup of water but did like 2 by accident.
There will always be a room for improvements. Im certain you will hit the jackpot on your next try
 

shredder4

Well-Known Member
One thing I really hate about the edibles side of things is that they're generally just dosed too strongly. No one wants a 50th of a fruit roll-up, or the head off a gummi-bear or a quarter of a square of chocolate. You want a reasonable serving size to equal a reasonable dose. Or maybe that's just the LeastExpectedGrower household. ;) We don't need a single rice-crispy treat to last us a week... we'd like to have one decent sized treat to be a night's worth of effect per person.
I run into that all the time as a caregiver, what's too strong for one patient isn't enough for another. I generally stay between 30-50mg doses, but I make chocolates at 17mg for some. But ultimately weed capsules (or rosin, hash, rso, feco capsules) solves everything, take your dose, whatever strength you like, with little to no weed taste and eat whatever you like. win win
 

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
I run into that all the time as a caregiver, what's too strong for one patient isn't enough for another. I generally stay between 30-50mg doses, but I make chocolates at 17mg for some. But ultimately weed capsules (or rosin, hash, rso, feco capsules) solves everything, take your dose, whatever strength you like, with little to no weed taste and eat whatever you like. win win
I always feel like for things like chocolates, I'm happy to have one, or two...even a few is reasonable if you think about how people eat chocolate. Or Brownies...Easy enough and natural to have one or two as a snack...but no one ever decided to have 1/5th of a regular brownie as a snack. ;)

Gearing up to give the 'no oil' version of the honey recipe one more final test though I don't think the science is behind it. I have the honey and I have the cannabis. Interesting to me that SO MANY listings for it online with people saying that it works, and I just don't know why it would. This time I'm going to get out my little spice grinder and really pulverize the crap out of the cannabis and see if it's just a matter of super small decarbed particulate that makes people think its a viable recipe.
 

TheManicOrganicDK

Well-Known Member
Thoughts, ideas and/or anything you've tried that worked?
I am a danish beekeeper and a "florist" that has experimented a bit with this too and only found 1 really good way ( for me ) to do it.

We do have a lot of cruciferous nectar crops in DK, so our honey is easily crystalized.
That brings us to do a gentle stirring for several days to a week, to get it to a consistency of a "spreadable" honey.

So i do decarb, then bho extraction of the herb, winterize and last i destill out the alcohol.
Then i start an batch of honey for stirring, stir for a few days, till i get a nice crystalization going and then i add the oil, maybe 1-2 days before the honey is put in their containers.

In this example, i did put the honey into the jar, then added the oil and used a small stirring tool to get it finished.

Works well and has no foul taste from either hot oil or green stuff. No terps, but lots of hitting power.

And i do send my oils for analyzing, so i make the jars according to caretakers needs, but most prefer 2mg/g ( 500mg thc pr 125 grammes of honey)
 

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LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
I am a danish beekeeper and a "florist" that has experimented a bit with this too and only found 1 really good way ( for me ) to do it.

We do have a lot of cruciferous nectar crops in DK, so our honey is easily crystalized.
That brings us to do a gentle stirring for several days to a week, to get it to a consistency of a "spreadable" honey.

So i do decarb, then bho extraction of the herb, winterize and last i destill out the alcohol.
Then i start an batch of honey for stirring, stir for a few days, till i get a nice crystalization going and then i add the oil, maybe 1-2 days before the honey is put in their containers.

In this example, i did put the honey into the jar, then added the oil and used a small stirring tool to get it finished.

Works well and has no foul taste from either hot oil or green stuff. No terps, but lots of hitting power.

And i do send my oils for analyzing, so i make the jars according to caretakers needs, but most prefer 2mg/g ( 500mg thc pr 125 grammes of honey)
Thanks for sharing this...I appreciate it.

For now this is beyond my abilities, but I am looking to start working with alcohol rather than futz around with butters/coconut oil, so this may be a technique/system that I can play with along the way.

Our fall honey is prone to easy crystallization (in our area that's due to the large quantities of goldenrod and ragweed that the bees harvest heavily from at the end of summer), but our spring honey is driven by lots of apple/pear/fruit and other flowering trees as well as flowers and field crops.

I only have a couple hives but netted about 65 pounds per hive this year.
 

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
@LeastExpectedGrower could a colony create a specific "hemp honey" similar to "clover honey?" Great topic, very informative.
Probably not in a useful fashion. They'll collect nectar from flowers but THC isn't in the plants' 'nectar' so you're not really getting much that people generally want from bees harvesting the nectar. They may use resin from plants to create propolis though. They will certainly collect pollen from male plants...but again, not many people want to have a bunch of male cannabis plants unless they're breeding. ;) The more direct thing is that hemp cultivation does appear to help support bee diversity (more types of wild bees), and hive survival (since cannabis flowers late in the season, it's one of the few viable flowers after the fall nectar flow).

There's an interesting podcast episode for those who are interested in finding out more:

And her academic paper on bees and cannabis: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337741189_The_Bee_Community_of_Cannabis_sativa_and_Corresponding_Effects_of_Landscape_Composition
 

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
i'll put this here.....hope this helps in your future endevours.....

Thanks! Similar to what I did... But the video is unclear about the oil. It says 'half a cup of coconut oil' but then once it's been infused/decarbed he says "add the one ounce of coconut oil" but it appears that he's pouring the whole half cup in.
 

LeastExpectedGrower

Well-Known Member
Let me ask this question, does anyone know how little coconut oil I can use to make this work? Ideally to be as 'honeylike' as possible I'd use the least amount of oil but have it higher in potency. Then it will not only mix easier but also retain the original honey texture better. Before I bootstrap my way through a bunch of jars and tests and a few ounces...

I'm also going to pick up some overproof alcohol and do my first tincture projects. Looks like I can get not only 190 proof everclear but also Spirytus, which is 192 proof. Making it 94% pure.
 
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