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PL CANNABIS GUMMIES RECIPE
How to make cannabis gummies: warm fruit juice, dissolve gelatin in it, whisk in decarboxylated cannabis-infused coconut oil with a little lecithin so the oil stays mixed, pour into moulds and chill. The strength of each gummy is simple division: the milligrams of THC in the oil you used, divided by the number of gummies. Two steps decide whether that number is right. The flower must be decarboxylated first, because raw cannabis holds THCA and converts slowly at infusion temperatures [1]. And the oil must stay evenly mixed, or some gummies get more than others.
What you need
A gummy is a gel: juice and sugar set by gelatin, with the cannabis carried in a fat. THC dissolves in oils and barely in water [4], so it has to arrive in the oil, and the oil has to be held inside the gel.
- 120 ml fruit juice (apple, grape or cherry; pulp-free sets more cleanly)
- 60 ml cannabis-infused coconut oil, melted
- 4 tablespoons unflavoured powdered gelatin (or agar for a vegan batch)
- 2 tablespoons honey or sugar
- 1 teaspoon sunflower lecithin, liquid or powder
- Optional: a few drops of flavouring or a little citric acid for a sour taste
Tools: a small saucepan, a whisk or milk frother, silicone gummy moulds, a dropper or a jug with a spout, and a kitchen scale for the oil if you made it by weight. Make the oil first with the cannabis coconut oil recipe; the decarb temperature chart gives oven times and temperatures for the flower.
How to make cannabis gummies, step by step
1. Warm the juice. Heat the juice and honey in a small pan over low heat until it is warm and steaming, not bubbling. Gelatin sets less firmly after a hard boil, and there is no reason to put more heat on the cannabinoids than the gummy needs.
2. Dissolve the gelatin. Sprinkle the gelatin over the warm juice a spoonful at a time and whisk until no grains are left. For a vegan batch, agar has to come to a simmer to dissolve; the vegan cannabis gummies recipe covers it.
3. Emulsify the oil. Take the pan off the heat. Add the melted infused coconut oil and the lecithin and whisk hard for a full minute, or run a milk frother through it. The mixture should turn smooth and slightly cloudy. Lecithin is an emulsifier authorised as a food additive in the EU [2]: it holds droplets of oil inside the watery juice, so the THC is spread through the whole batch rather than floating on top.
4. Fill the moulds quickly. Pour or drop the mixture into the moulds while it is still warm. If you see oil gathering on the surface, whisk again between moulds.
5. Chill. Refrigerate for at least an hour, until the gummies are firm, then press them out of the moulds.
6. Count, label and store. Count the gummies, write the THC per gummy on the container (the next section shows the sum), and keep them cold and out of reach of children.
How much THC is in each gummy
Every homemade gummy follows one line of arithmetic. THC per gummy = THC in the oil you used, divided by the number of gummies. The work is in knowing the THC in the oil.
Start from the flower. Multiply the grams of flower by its THCA percentage to get milligrams of THCA. Multiply by 0.877, because decarboxylation removes carbon dioxide and THC (314.5 g/mol) weighs less than THCA (358.5 g/mol) [3][4]. Divide by the millilitres of oil you made, then multiply by the millilitres that go into the gummies.
A worked example: 7 g of flower at 20% THCA holds 1,400 mg of THCA, which can become at most 1,228 mg of THC. Infused into 250 ml of coconut oil, that is about 4.9 mg per ml. The 60 ml in this recipe then carries at most about 295 mg of THC, and 30 gummies come out at about 9.8 mg each. That is a ceiling, not a measurement: decarboxylation and infusion are never complete at home, so the real figure is lower and cannot be known without a lab test [1]. The potency calculator runs the same sum from your own numbers, and how to calculate the potency of homemade edibles explains each step.
The table shows the ceiling per gummy for 60 ml of oil at different oil strengths and gummy counts.
| Oil strength | 30 gummies | 40 gummies | 60 gummies |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 mg THC per ml | 2.0 mg | 1.5 mg | 1.0 mg |
| 2 mg THC per ml | 4.0 mg | 3.0 mg | 2.0 mg |
| 4 mg THC per ml | 8.0 mg | 6.0 mg | 4.0 mg |
| 5 mg THC per ml | 10.0 mg | 7.5 mg | 5.0 mg |
To make weaker gummies without making new oil, replace part of the infused oil with plain coconut oil and keep the total at 60 ml: half and half halves every figure in the table. For comparison, researchers have proposed 5 mg of THC as a standard unit for describing the strength of cannabis products [5]. The edible dosage calculator converts a batch into milligrams per piece.
Even mixing matters as much as the sum. When 75 commercial edibles were tested, only 17% held within 10% of the THC on the label, 23% held more and 60% held less [6]. A home kitchen has no lab to check it, which is why the lecithin and the hard whisking in step 3 are there.
Why cannabis gummies go wrong
| Problem | Likely cause | What to change |
|---|---|---|
| Oily layer on top | Oil separated before the gel set | Add lecithin, whisk harder, fill the moulds faster |
| Soft gummies that will not set | Too little gelatin, too much liquid or oil, or the gelatin was boiled | Use the full 4 tablespoons and keep the juice below a simmer |
| Sticky or wet surface | Moisture from the fridge or a humid room | Let them air-dry on a rack before storing |
| Grassy taste | Strong-tasting oil | Use a strong-flavoured juice or a cleaner, refined coconut oil |
| Gummies feel uneven in strength | Oil not evenly mixed | Re-whisk between moulds; read capsules vs gummies on dose accuracy |
Timing, storage and children
Eaten cannabis acts slowly. After oral intake, effects set in after 30 to 90 minutes, reach their peak after 2 to 3 hours and last about 4 to 12 hours, depending on dose [7]. That delay is the usual reason people eat a second gummy too early; the edible dose guide covers it.
No study has tested how long homemade cannabis gummies keep. They contain juice and no preservatives, so treat them as a fresh food: an airtight container, the fridge, and the freezer for anything you will not eat soon. Throw away any gummy that shows mould.
Gummies look like sweets, and children find them. In the United States, reported edible cannabis exposures in children under 6 rose from 207 in 2017 to 3,054 in 2021, and 90.7% happened in the child's own home [8]. Keep homemade gummies in a labelled, locked or high container, never in a sweet jar.
Frequently asked questions
How much THC is in a homemade cannabis gummy?
Divide the THC in the oil you used by the number of gummies. For example, 60 ml of oil at 4.9 mg per ml carries at most about 295 mg, which is about 9.8 mg per gummy across 30 gummies. That figure is a ceiling; the real amount is lower [3][4].
Why do my cannabis gummies separate or leak oil?
Oil and juice do not mix, so the oil rises before the gel sets [4]. Add a teaspoon of lecithin, whisk hard off the heat and fill the moulds quickly.
Can I make cannabis gummies with cannabutter or a tincture?
Yes. Cannabutter works in place of coconut oil, though it sets softer and tastes of butter; see the cannabutter recipe. An alcohol tincture can be used if the alcohol is evaporated first, away from any open flame, because alcohol stops the gummies from setting firmly.
How long do homemade cannabis gummies take to kick in?
After eating, effects usually begin after 30 to 90 minutes and peak after 2 to 3 hours [7]. Wait for the full effect before eating more.
How long do homemade cannabis gummies last?
No study has measured it. Keep them sealed in the fridge, freeze what you will not eat soon, and discard any gummy with mould.
Can I make cannabis gummies without gelatin?
Yes. Agar sets a vegan gummy, but it must be simmered to dissolve and it sets faster, so pour quickly. The vegan cannabis gummies recipe gives the method.
Sources
- Wang M, Wang Y-H, Avula B, Radwan MM, Wanas AS, van Antwerp J, Parcher JF, ElSohly MA, Khan IA. Decarboxylation study of acidic cannabinoids: a novel approach using ultra-high-performance supercritical fluid chromatography/photodiode array-mass spectrometry. Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research. 2016;1(1):262-271. doi:10.1089/can.2016.0020
- EFSA Panel on Food Additives and Nutrient Sources added to Food (ANS). Re-evaluation of lecithins (E 322) as a food additive. EFSA Journal. 2017;15(4):4742. doi:10.2903/j.efsa.2017.4742
- PubChem. Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid, CID 98523 (molecular weight 358.5 g/mol). National Library of Medicine. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/98523
- PubChem. Tetrahydrocannabinol, CID 16078 (molecular weight 314.5 g/mol; solubility). National Library of Medicine. pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/16078
- Freeman TP, Lorenzetti V. "Standard THC units": a proposal to standardize dose across all cannabis products and methods of administration. Addiction. 2020;115(7):1207-1216. doi:10.1111/add.14842
- Vandrey R, Raber JC, Raber ME, Douglass B, Miller C, Bonn-Miller MO. Cannabinoid dose and label accuracy in edible medical cannabis products. JAMA. 2015;313(24):2491-2493. doi:10.1001/jama.2015.6613
- Grotenhermen F. Pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics of cannabinoids. Clinical Pharmacokinetics. 2003;42(4):327-360. doi:10.2165/00003088-200342040-00003
- Tweet MS, Nemanich A, Wahl M. Pediatric edible cannabis exposures and acute toxicity: 2017-2021. Pediatrics. 2023;151(2):e2022057761. doi:10.1542/peds.2022-057761
Part of the edibles section. See also the cannabis coconut oil recipe and the potency calculator.
Educational information about food preparation and plant chemistry. Not medical advice or guidance on use. Follow the law where you live.
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