How to Make Cannabis Gummies (Weed Gummy Bears)

by Sirius Fourside & Nebula Haze (based on this magical gummies recipe) 

If you know how to make cannabis tinctures and hash oil, you can turn almost any regular food into a weed edible. Of all the edibles I’ve tried, my favorite is the cannabis gummy (aka the “Weed Gummy” or “Ganja Gummy”) for a few reasons.

Weed gummies taste good, travel well, and hit hard.

For starters, weed gummies are small, easy to eat, don’t make a mess, and can be made in countless flavors. And since they’re made using hash oil, you can fine-tune their potency to be insanely high, delicately subtle, or anywhere in between.

The Magical Butter Machine can take a lot of the work out of making gummies.

You can sit a cannabis gummy on the counter, at room temperature, and it won’t melt because it isn’t just Jell-O. That makes these gummies much easier to pack and take elsewhere since they don’t need refrigeration.

Plus, they’re just plain fun-looking. Seriously, look at these while saying “Ganja Gummy” out loud and I bet your day will get 5% better.

What’s So Great About Making Cannabis Gummies?

Gummies have recently surpassed high-potency weed brownies as my favorite edible. [Edit: It’s my favorite now, too! ~Nebula]

You can make drastic changes to the gummies’ flavor with little effort (more on that in the FAQs toward the end). Plus, people love them! When you make cannabis gummies, they don’t tend to last very long, especially with other people around. I had to call dibs on the 4 in the picture below so Nebula wouldn’t eat them before I got the shot!

I convinced Nebula not to eat these so I could take pictures. It was a shaky truce.

Additionally, it’s worth noting that you can’t legally purchase strong cannabis gummies in the state of California. By CA law, edibles have to be limited to just 10mg per portion. That means that the most potent edibles in CA are the ones you make at home. The law is a bit backward in my opinion, but it highlights the importance of making your own weed edibles.

On top of that, you can’t get cannabis gummies in fun shapes (by law) if you live in California, Colorado, or Washington. So if you want potent, fun-shaped gummies, it’s all about doing it yourself.

I’ve tried many recipes for making gummies, but this recipe (based on the one from the folks who make the Magical Butter Machine) is easily the best one of them all. Big thanks to MagicalButter.com for their great recipe!

Important Reminder:

Please do not keep your weed gummies in a place where a young person could get their hands on them. They look like regular candy and any kid (or pet) that finds them will likely eat them immediately!

Which Extract Do I Start With?

Cannabis gummies are made using hash oil. This makes it so that you get high levels of potency without as much of the strong “weed flavor” that accompanies some edibles. However, the extract you start with will further increase or decrease that undesirable weed flavor. There are two main choices when it comes to your starting extract:

Starting with tincture (good method)

• If you start with a tincture, you’ll still end up making it into hash oil during the process of making the gummies. That means you’re going to learn how to make hash oil, too. Most methods of making tincture capture a lot of chlorophyll from your weed which gives the resulting gummies more of that weed/green flavor. It’s much better to make a clean tincture specifically for these gummies using a method like this (The Quick Wash). This method leaves you with a golden tincture as opposed to the brown/black one you’d get with methods like this (Magical Butter Machine – easiest), this (blender – medium), or this (old-school method – which still works great). There’s nothing wrong with tinctures made with the last three methods, they’re just not as good for this purpose.

Starting with hash oil (best method)

• Well-made hash oil has very little green matter in it, so the taste is way more enjoyable. If you have the weed, time, and patience, I strongly recommend making gummies with pure hash oil. See these steps for info on how to make high-grade hash oil which is great for making gummies. I strongly suggest you use the quick wash method whenever you make hash oil. You can also use the Source Extractor to effortlessly create high-grade hash oil with these instructions. Note: Pure hash oil also comes from a tincture, but the method of making that tincture makes a world of difference.

Supplies

The supply list below makes a relatively small batch of gummies. Once you have your potency and flavor preferences locked in, you can make much bigger batches at once by multiplying the ingredients by 2…or more!

Supply List:

• 3 ounces flavored gelatin (any flavor)
• 2.5 envelopes (of ¼ ounce each) of unflavored gelatin
• 1/4 cup fruit juice (ex: apple juice, grape juice, etc., avoid citrus if possible)
• 1 tablespoon honey
• ½ teaspoon flavor extract
  • Go crazy! I’ve tried Vanilla, Maple Syrup, Butter, Lemon, Lime…
• Gummy molds (like these, or these, or even these)
• 1 large bowl
• 1 small bowl or container (for mixing liquids)
• A large non-stick pan
• Cannabis Extract – One of these two cannabis extracts…
  • Cannabis tincture: 1/4-1/2 cup made by any of the methods mentioned on this page, preferably the Quick Wash Method.
    • Tincture isn’t as good for gummies, as alcohol makes them come out more sticky or soft. 
    • How to make tincture: Magical Butter Machine – easiest, blender – medium difficulty, or the old-school method – which still works great
    • Don’t skip the step where you evaporate the tincture to reduce the amount of alcohol going into the recipe.
  • Hash Oil (recommended): The amount needed depends greatly on hash oil potency and viscosity. I would recommend starting with 7 drops of hash oil and eating more gummies as needed. If 7 drops is too many, use fewer drops in the next batch. You can also add more hash oil for stronger effects. For reference, I use 15 drops of oil when making a batch this size.

Step-by-Step: How to Make Cannabis Gummies

Directions:

1. In the large bowl, empty the entire 3oz package of flavored gelatin.
2. Pour 2.5 (1/4oz) envelopes of unflavored gelatin into the same large bowl.
3. Whisk the 2 gelatins until they blend. Set the large bowl aside.
4. In the small bowl, combine the fruit juice and honey, then mix until the honey is dissolved.
5. Slowly pour the juice/honey mixture into the large bowl with the gelatin mixture, and whisk the mixture until it’s thoroughly combined.
6. Set this mixture aside. It needs 5-10 minutes for the gelatin to fully absorb the liquid. (“Bloom the gelatin”)
7. If you started with tincture:
   1. Place your non-stick pan on the stove. Add your tincture to the pan and cook tincture down (on very low heat) until the tincture has the consistency of molasses or glue. This step evaporates most of the alcohol still left in the tincture and leaves you with hash oil. Make sure there’s good air circulation.
   2. Add your flavor extract to the pan and keep cooking until the mixture has a glue-like consistency again.
8. If you started with hash oil:
   1. Place your non-stick pan on the stove. Add your hash oil to the non-stick pan, and pour your flavor extract right on top of it.
9. Pour the gelatin mixture into the non-stick pan with your flavor extract and hash oil, and mix everything together.
10. Cook the combination over medium-low heat until the gelatin has completely dissolved (7-10 minutes).
    1. You can tell it’s done when you can’t see gelatin granules in the mixture.
11. Carefully pour the finished mixture into a measuring cup with a pour spout.
12. Pour the mixture into your molds, and refrigerate them for 1 hour.
13. Once they’re set, the gummies can easily be removed from the molds and eaten.

That’s it! If you followed those steps, you now have a bunch of potent weed gummies waiting to be eaten.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What about dosing? How much should I eat?

If you don’t know your tolerance, eat one gummy (or even half a gummy if you’re new to edibles) and wait 2.5 hours. That’ll give you enough time to digest the gummy and feel its effects. If it’s not strong enough, you can eat more at once next time. For your next batch, you can make them even stronger by adding more hash oil.

Conversely, if you eat a gummy and the experience is too intense, cut the dose down to 1/2, or even 1/4 the next time. When you make gummies next time, you can use 1/2 or 1/4 of the amount of hash oil in the same recipe.

How long do these gummies last?

These gummies supposedly last 2 months in a refrigerator or a full year in a freezer. That being said, I’ve never tested these limits as these gummies haven’t lasted longer than 7 days in my house.

Can I make layers?

Yup. It’s a lot of work, but it sure does look neat! Just repeat the instructions above with two visibly different colors of flavored gelatin. In your molds, pour some half-full with one color, then finish with another color. You can even have gummies with 3+ colors!

Or, you could separate your gelatin mixture into several parts and use food coloring to make each portion of gelatin look different. There won’t be extra flavors, but you’ll significantly reduce the work needed to get the layered look.

Yes, that’s a real 3-layered gummy we made, and each layer tastes different. It was an awesome experience.

Can I switch up the flavor?

Definitely! In fact, you should try switching out some of the ingredients to see how it affects the taste. Below, I’ve posted the ingredient list for the gummies, but I’ve noted which ingredients can be switched out, and a few tasty options to consider.

Ingredient List for Different Flavors:

• 3 ounces flavored gelatin (any flavor)
  • Try changing the flavor of the gelatin!
  • We’ve used: Orange, lemon, lime, strawberry, and “Berry Blue”
• 1/4 cup fruit juice (nothing that contains citrus)
  • Changing the fruit juice also makes a difference.
  • We’ve tried: Minute Maid fruit punch, Minute Maid watermelon juice, and Capri Sun
• 2.5 envelopes (of ¼ ounce each) of unflavored gelatin
  • Don’t alter this one…or, I guess you could try! If you find something interesting, let us know.
• 1 tablespoon of honey
  • You can try different types/flavors of honey or even substitute honey for agave nectar.
• ½ teaspoon flavor extract
  • You only use a little flavor extract but it goes a long way!
  • We’ve tried: Lemon extract, lime, vanilla, orange, maple, and butter!
• Gummy molds
  • It won’t make a difference in taste or potency, but who doesn’t like variety?
  • We’ve used: Weed gummy molds, cute animal gummy molds, and the Magical Butter Machine molds
• One of these two cannabis extracts
  • Cannabis tincture: the shade of tincture you use impacts the flavor! Try different darker/lighter tinctures to see how it tastes. Hint: Lighter tinctures seem to let the other flavors come through more.
  • Hash Oil: A golden-colored tincture is seen as perfect, but experimentation might prove otherwise…

I hope this article has helped you to make some delicious, powerful edibles! Have a good one!