Dear Cheri,

Can I infuse Corn Syrup with THC?

Well, I guess you can.  Or I should say you can try to.  But that does not mean you should. 

I get variations on this question all the time with cannabis infused honey, maple, syrup, and molasses standing in the for the corn syrup component. 

And the answer is, none of them make great vehicles for cannabis infusions!

Why aren't syrups and honey good things to infuse?

Why?  Because cannabinoids like THC and CBD bind to fats and corn syrup, honey, maple syrups, and molasses are all fat free foods. 

The cannabinoids cling to fats like butter and oil. 

Alcohol is a fat-free solvent that is effective at extracting cannabinoids.  But corn syrup, honey maple syrup, molasses, et al are not.

Ardent cannabis even put it to the test in their excellent article The Truth About Cannabis Honey. The also give better methods for infusing honey and other syrups, which I will outline below.

If they're ineffective, why do I see fat free edibles at dispensaries?

The short answer?  Because people will buy them. 

But this does NOT mean they are the most effective edibles.  But greed and making money seems to trump all in today’s cannabis industry.

Be a savvy cannabis consumer and for best edibles results, choose edibles that contain some kind of fat.

If you have had a different experience, drop it in the comments, but I find more often than not I get no effects at all from fat-free edibles. 

If I take them with a food or drink that contains fat, which is the best strategy when it comes to making fat-free edibles effective, I find there are some effects.  However, they come on quickly, do not last long, and leave me with a headache afterwards.

How to effectively infuse corn syrup  with THC (or CBD)

These techniques will work for infusing corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, and molasses. 

I have to say though, even when infusing with concentrates, I like to consume the syrup with something containing fat, or use it in a recipe that contains fat, for the best results.  For instance, pancakes with infused syrup and butter.

Use Concentrates 

If you want to infuse corn syrup with THC using concentrates, know that it does not require a long infusion.  Simply gently heat the corn syrup, honey, maple syrup, etc. over warm heat and stir in a cannabis concentrate until dissolved. 

Why does this work?  Because you are not infusing the cannabinoids to the syrup, you are simply adding them in.  You will not want to strain the mixture, but rather consume all of the concentrate you add.

This method will work with kief, hash, rosin, hash oils, FECO, etc.

Stirring in a little lecithin will help everything emulsify.  I prefer powdered Sunflower lecithin to soy as it has been minimally processed but either will work.

Use Cannaoil

You can alternately add small amount of cannabis infused oil, such as infused coconut oil, to corn syrup, honey, maple syrups etc.  In this case you will definitely want to add lecithin about 1 tablespoon per cup of corn syrup, more if it separates.  If you don't already know how to make it, check out my tutorial: 4 Foolproof Methods for Making Cannaoil.

The bottom line on "Can You Infuse Corn Syrup with THC?"

So the bottom line when it comes to the question of can you infuse corn syrup with THC is yes, you can.  But to do so effectively, you must use one of the methods above.  Trying to infuse cannabis flowers into corn syrup just won't work.

But, it can be done if you use one of the methods above.

That said, for maximum effectiveness, I far prefer edibles recipes that naturally contain some kind of fat.