Understatement
By Andrew Davidson
on April 1, 2022
Here's my tried and tested weed lollipops recipe for the home confectioners who'd like to dabble in the edible arts! This recipe nets about two dozen lollipops with about 50mg of THC in each.
As with all edibles, you must decarboxylate the THC concentrate before cooking, otherwise you lose the psychedelic effects! I'd suggest you batch produce the THC doses, as they can be stored indefinitely for later use once decarboxylated. Put your measured dose of shatter/wax/butter in a silicone dab container (inset) in the oven at 235° for 45 min. Silicone is heat resistant to 500 degrees, and with easily withstand the extreme temperatures we'll be subjecting it to. Open some windows and put a fan in one - it will reek of weed for the next hour. Once finished, allow to cool, then freeze the doses in the silicone dab containers for later use. Freezing allows for easy dispersal out of the silicone container, turning a mushy liquid into a shatter-able solid. Keep frozen until needed, and beware as soon as it starts to 'melt' it gets extremely sticky!
Combine the sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then brush down the sides of the pan with water and a wet pastry brush to prevent crystallization - an unstable state. The sugar molecules will begin to crystallize back into small cubes at the least provocation. A speck of old sugar can ruin the whole batch by crystallizing it. The cream of tartar helps encourage the sugar to combine into long strings of molecules that make the final product a solid cube of sugar.
The more natural the sugar (browner - with molasses), the higher chances it will boil over the edges of your pan during the boiling process. White processed sugar rarely does, whereas less processed sugar has more to boil off. If you prefer a more natural sugar as part of your marketing, you'll need a silicone boil over protector (inset) to cover the pot to prevent the hot sugar from boiling over, and divert your mix back into the pan and not all over your stovetop. Professional candy makers use very high-sided pans to prevent this.
After the initial boil over, the mixture will settle and drop into the pan, turning from creamy to clear. Clean the sides of the pan with your wet pastry brush to prevent crystallization while we wait for the water to be evaporated from this mixture. Insert the clean candy thermometer (Don't allow the tip to touch the bottom of the pan, but rather just above it), allowing the mixture to boil, without stirring, until candy reaches 305 degrees F. Remove it from heat (at 295) - it’ll continue to rise! Allow it to sit until it stops bubbling completely. Wait until the mix is under 300°, the vaporization temp of THC before you add any flavors.
Stir in the THC/flavor/color of your choice. The hot sugar will bubble (froth) wildly. Generally, expect a bunch of steam (and a ton of smells) when flavors are added. In small batches like this, I use a wooden chopstick to stir, as it won't burn, and has less surface area for sugar to stick to. Stir until completely mixed, then quickly dispense the mix into molds or forms. I'll use cold metal spoons to scrape the sides of the pan and extract as much sugar mix as possible, but certainly you can expect you'll leave some behind. Fill the pan with water and bring to a boil to clean the pan of the hardened sugar mix.
If you're making lollipops, make sure to cover the back of the stick when pouring the mix - exposed lollipop sticks come loose! Work quickly, you’ll be good if you get 24-28 pours out of a batch this size before it solidifies. Once the candy has hardened and cooled, plunge each lollipop into 10x powdered sugar (corn starch & sugar mix) before wrapping, to alleviate sticking to the wrapper.