My fruitful lemon trees are dotted with bright yellow orbs, offering a welcome reminder of the bright California sun in the middle of what’s turning out to be a dark and stormy January. I love to make gummies, tailoring each batch to my current desires by choosing the tincture that has what I need. It all starts with the cannabis variety – and then the decision tree led by your goals for what you want from your homegrow.
I have quite a stable of tinctures in my fridge. Each is a simple concoction of homegrown cannabis and high proof alcohol, strained and bottled. I decarb most of my weed, but some I leave raw before crafting the tincture. I have one unique tincture that I made at harvest, with fresh, terpy cannabis that I’d harvested that same day. Each of these dozen or so bottles holds the magic ingredient that makes every batch of gummies both delicious and effective.
A group of friends came over last night, and I led us in a casual gummy making time. We each made our own batch of Fresh Lemon Gummies and customized the tasty treats by choosing the tincture that offered what we wanted to experience: getting high, feeling energetic, help with sleep, easing pain, or supporting our immune health. My tinctures are varied, offering all THC, all CBD, a blend of both, or the immune boosting anti-inflammatory help of THCa and CBDa found only in raw preparations.
Here’s the recipe I used for us to create our own gummies. All ingredients are simple to source, but you’ll need to craft your own tincture as this particular type is not sold in dispensaries. I hope this gives you a bit of inspiration for your own mid-winter cannabis crafting. Enjoy!
Fresh Lemon Gummies
makes 50 gummy bears
4 TB sugar
2 tsp gelatin
3 TB fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 TB water
1 TB cannabis tincture (may use a little more/less)
(Optional) pinch Lemon zest, fine grate
- In a microwave safe glass container, mix sugar and gelatin, then add remainder of ingredients and mix again.
- Allow the mixture to rest at room temperature for one minute to bloom the gelatin.
- Heat in the microwave for 45 seconds. Stir, then heat on high for more time if needed.
- Stir mixture again and pour into gummy mold.
- Place filled gummy mold into the fridge to cool – at least 30 minutes.
- When the gummies are cold, unmold the gummies and put them in an airtight container.
- Gummies will remain fresh for several months if stored airtight in the fridge.
Penny Barthel 