How To Store Edibles: Keep Your Edibles Safe & Fresh
- Education
- Cannabutter Digest
Flower edibles have been a popular consumption method for decades because of their long-lasting, full-body effects, but they’re not exactly something you want lying around the house. While other consumption methods, like flower or tinctures, are obviously flower, edibles aren’t quite as transparent. They look exactly like what they are—food. And if you’ve got children or guests in the house going through your kitchen, it only takes one wrong move for them to accidentally eat your THC cookies instead of the regular ones.
Fortunately, learning how to store your edibles can help you avoid this scary scenario. Plus, with the right storage, your edibles will last longer too.
Safely Store Your Flower Edibles
When it comes to storing your flower edibles safely, there are a few steps you should take to keep them separate from your regular food.
- Label your edibles: This is an obvious, easy step. Label either the wrapper or the container the edibles are in so people know they contain flower. You can also include the date you made them, potency details, and an ingredients list. Since you may not come back to them for a couple months, it’ll be a helpful reminder to you about the high you should expect. Our Gummy & Candy Molds and Herb Block Trays can be written on with dry erase markers.
- Lock your edibles up: The safest way to keep unwanted hands off your edibles is to store them in lockable containers. You can also try “locking them up” by putting them in specific cupboards in the house that are physically unreachable for children, though that doesn’t mean unwanted hands won’t be able to get in, so an actual lock is always best.
- Color your edibles: Add some color to your flower-infused foods. (Bonus points if you use green!) Color makes it easy for people to know which cookies, gummies, brownies, etc. have flower and which don’t.
How to Store Edibles: Gummies
Sugar is a natural preservative, so you can definitely get some miles out of your flower gummies, but there are still some measures you can take to keep them fresh.
For starters, keep your gummies in an airtight container in a cool, dark place with minimal humidity and moisture. If you keep them in an airtight container but don’t store them in a place away from light, you may experience “weeping,” or when gummies start to leak but don’t necessarily lose shape.
One way to avoid weeping, other than steering clear of moisture and light, is to dust your gummies in a 2:1 corn starch to powdered sugar mixture. This acts as an edible desiccant and helps to wick away moisture. (It’s the same idea as the silicone desiccant packs you find in beef jerky packages or shoe boxes, but you can eat it.)
When stored properly, gummies can last anywhere from six to nine months.
How to Store Edibles: Baked Goods
Baked edibles like infused cookies or brownies store similar to their non-infused versions—airtight containers away from heat and light. Keep in mind that just because a container is sealed airtight doesn’t mean there isn’t oxygen already in the container, so the less room for air, the better. (Oxygen can breakdown THC and other c-nnabinoids over time.) A sandwich or freezer bag is an effective alternative because you can press the air out by hand, but you’ll have the most success with a vacuum-sealed bag.
Once you’ve gotten out as much air as possible, you can keep them in the fridge for about a month or the freezer for about three months. Keep in mind that anything porous in the fridge or freezer will suffer from some moisture loss—even if vacuum-sealed—which can lead to cannabinoid loss, so be sure to enjoy your baked edibles before too long.
How to Store Flower Oils
Oils are very sensitive, whether or not they’re infused. Like the above edibles, your flower oils should be stored in a cool, dark place. If possible, keep them in a dark container, like the dark green bottles olive oil or wine comes in. Oils do not get better with age, and heat and light can degrade them quickly, so the darker the bottle, the better.
Also, keep in mind the type of oil you’re storing when choosing a container. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, so a screw-top, wide-mouthed container is better than a longneck bottle.
When stored properly, your flower oil can last from six months to a year. If flavor starts to degrade and it begins to taste bitter, it’s time to throw it out.
How to Store Cannabutter
The same general rule for other edibles also applies to cannabutter—keep it airtight. Wrap your cannabutter in parchment paper before putting it in an airtight container. For added protection, you can also add a layer of parchment paper across the top of the container before putting the lid on.
green bottles olive oil or wine comes in. Oils do not get better with age, and heat and light can degrade them quickly, so the darker the bottle, the better. Also, keep in mind the type of oil you’re storing when choosing a container. Coconut oil is solid at room temperature, so a screw-top, wide-mouthed container is better than a longneck bottle. When stored properly, your cannabis oil can last from six months to a year. If flavor starts to degrade and it begins to taste bitter, it’s time to throw it out. The same general rule for other edibles also applies to cannabutter — keep it airtight. Wrap your cannabutter in parchment paper before putting it in an airtight container. For added protection, you can also add a layer of parchment paper across the top of the container before putting the lid on.
From there, you can store your cannabutter in either the fridge or the freezer. (While regular butter is shelf-stable, it’s not recommended to keep cannabutter out since oxygen can degrade cannabinoids. Try to use your cannabutter within six months of putting it in the freezer. Even frozen, bacteria and mold love to attack fat.
Storing Flower Edibles Summary
No matter what type of flower edible you have, the same basic principles will apply:
- Store in a cool, dry, dark place
- Keep everything as airtight as possible
Different types of edibles have different shelf lives, but you can prolong them all by keeping things cool and airtight. Remember: oxygen can not only turn natural ingredients, it can degrade and destroy cannabinoids, so you’ll always want to enjoy your edibles sooner rather than later.
When it comes to keeping your edibles safe and away from the wrong hands, it’s important you label them and lock them up (literally). You can also add color to them to differentiate your infused batch of goodies from your regular batch.If you’re not sure how to get started with flower edibles, the LEVO II and some full-spectrum flower is a great place to start. All that’s left is to pick your recipe!
