Cannabis buds don’t always have the flavor you’re expecting. If your harvest lacks the aromatic punch you desire, there are many ways to enhance the weed flavoring! These methods include selecting the right strains, using fungal inoculants, and adding dried fruit peels to your storage jars. Keep reading to learn more.
What Gives Weed Its Taste?
To understand how to give weed flavor, you first need to grasp what gives weed its taste and smell. The answer lies in terpenes and terpenoids.
Terpenes and terpenoids are molecules found in the essential oils of plants, including cannabis, that provide the plant with its unique flavors and aromas. These compounds not only influence the smell of your weed but also affect the high it produces. Common terpenes in cannabis include:
Pinene Terpene
- Flavor: Pine
- Description: Pinene has a fresh, sharp pine scent and flavor, reminiscent of a forest.
Linalool Terpene
- Flavor: Floral
- Description: Linalool offers a floral, lavender-like aroma and taste, often associated with a soothing and relaxing experience.
Limonene Terpene
- Flavor: Citrus
- Description: Limonene provides a bright, zesty citrus flavor, commonly found in lemons and oranges, bringing a refreshing taste to cannabis strains.
Beta-Caryophyllene Terpene
- Flavor: Spicy and Peppery
- Description: Beta-caryophyllene has a distinctive spicy, peppery flavor, adding a bit of heat and earthiness to the profile.
Myrcene Terpene
- Flavor: Earthy and Musky
- Description: Myrcene delivers an earthy, musky flavor with hints of cloves, often contributing to a more sedative effect in cannabis.
The specific combination of these terpenes and other less common ones forms a strain’s terpene profile. This profile determines if a strain will be spicy, fruity, earthy, and more.
How to Add Flavor to Weed Before Harvest
If you want to enhance the flavor of your weed, it’s essential to start while your plants are still in the ground. Here are some of the best techniques to add flavor to weed before harvesting:
Use Low-Stress Training (LST)
Low-stress training (LST) helps redirect a plant’s growth, allowing it to focus more energy on producing bigger, more flavorful buds. Techniques include pinching, pruning, and de-leafing, all aimed at optimizing the plant’s growth for better flavor.
- Pinching: Removing the primary growing tip to encourage lateral growth instead of vertical growth.
- Pruning: Carefully cutting back parts of the plant where growth is wasted, redirecting energy to the main stems.
- De-leafing: Removing discolored or excess fan leaves.
It’s important to understand and correctly apply these techniques to avoid stunting your plant.
Cease Watering Close To Harvest
A common mistake among new growers is using excessive fertilizer up until harvest, which can leave unpleasant chemicals in the buds. To avoid this:
- Flushing: About two weeks before harvest, switch from nutrient water to plain water.
- Final Watering: Stop watering completely 1-3 days before harvest.
This process flushes out chemicals and fertilizers, resulting in a cleaner harvest. As the plant starts to wilt, it produces a final influx of resin and terpenes, naturally enhancing the flavor of your weed.
Lower Temperatures During the Final Stage of Flowering
For indoor growers looking to boost terpene production:
- Temperature Adjustment: Lower the room temperature by 5 degrees Fahrenheit every night during the last week of flowering.
This slight stress induces the plant to produce more trichomes and terpenes, thereby enhancing the flavor of your weed.
Hydrate Cannabis Buds With Flavored Water
We understand that this approach might seem unconventional. However, some cultivators believe it enhances the taste of their harvest. After harvesting, take a live branch with multiple colas intact. Fill a glass with water and add a few drops of your preferred essential oil. Submerge the branch in the water and allow it to absorb for a couple of days. Then, proceed with the regular drying and curing process. This method may sound unusual, but the best way to judge is to experiment firsthand!
Enhance Weed Flavor with Bloom Booster Supplements
Bloom boosters are designed to provide essential nutrients that cannabis plants need for robust flower development rich in cannabinoids and terpenes. These products vary in formulation but typically include the following elements. In addition to promoting flower growth, these minerals also stimulate terpene production, thereby intensifying the flavor of the buds.
Enhancing Flavor Profiles with Mycorrhizal Inoculation
Did you know that approximately 90% of terrestrial plants enter into a symbiotic relationship with fungi found in the soil? These plants essentially allow these fungi to attach themselves to their roots. Once attached, they initiate a mutually advantageous partnership. Plants produce sugars through photosynthesis and send them down to the roots, providing the fungi with carbon-based molecules to consume. In exchange, the fungi transport nutrients into the root system. However, mycorrhizal fungi provide more than just nutrients. They also assist in defending plants against root diseases and, as studies have shown, increase levels of valuable terpenes.
Enhance Flavor and Effects of Cannabis with UV Light
Exposure Standard indoor grow lights lack UV rays, yet these rays can induce plants to generate more trichomes as a defense mechanism. Incorporating UV lighting during the flowering stage intensifies the flavor and potency of your buds by boosting trichome production. However, it’s crucial to use UV light in moderation to prevent potential plant damage.
Enhancing Weed Flavor Post-Harvest: Techniques for Superior Taste
Even once you’ve harvested all your weed, it’s still not too late to add flavor. You can still enhance your marijuana’s flavor using these tried and tested methods:
Drying Weed
When exploring how to make weed taste better, the way you process your weed after harvest makes all the difference. When drying weed, make sure to do it in a cool place where the humidity is between 45-55%. Too much heat and dryness will degrade your trichomes during the drying process.
Curing Weed
The same goes for curing your weed. You need to do this properly if you want to improve your marijuana flavor. Make sure you keep your weed in a dark, cool area with humidity between 55-65% to maintain as many trichomes and terpenes as possible.
Ensure you adhere to a correct curing regimen by regularly opening the jars to allow your cannabis buds to aerate. It’s recommended to do this twice daily during the initial two days, followed by once daily for the next 2-8 weeks.
Flavoring Cannabis: Cotton Ball Technique
After drying and curing your buds, enhance their flavor effortlessly using the cotton ball technique. This involves saturating a cotton ball with your chosen food-grade extract or potent alcoholic spirit and securing it under the jar’s lid.
Ensure the cotton ball isn’t overly saturated to prevent drips onto your cannabis. Remember to periodically open the jar to release any excess moisture. Opt for food-grade extracts or robustly aromatic alcohols like rum for best results.
Blue OG Regular
This exceptional hybrid, meticulously developed in their laboratories, showcases the team’s passion and expertise in crafting premium strains, exemplified by the potent Blue OG Regular This strain blends renowned cultivars from the US West Coast and beyond, with roots extending to Blueberry and Blue Moonshine genetics. Notably, its lineage includes OG Kush, contributing unmatched potency and vigor.
Blue OG Regular offers a complex array of flavors. Dominated by a delightful blueberry taste, it also features the unmistakable earthy-pine aroma and spicy wood flavor of OG Kush. Reports also mention nuances of forest fruits, citrusy lime, and a hint of sweet diesel
Blue OG Regular typically contains between 20% to 25% THC. It’s particularly favorable for extractions and hash production, ideal for those aiming to intensify its effects. This strain has delighted numerous users with its balanced high, offering a relaxed experience coupled with an uplift in energy and mood. These enjoyable and seemingly contrasting effects stem from the diverse hybrid genetics of this top-tier specimen.
The mix between the sweetness of the Berry genetics that also provides a fruity side like blueberries and added to the earthy and pine aftertastes that OG Kush provides, make Blue OG Regular a genetics capable of delivering a cocktail of tasty flavors that are impregnated in the users’ mouths, delivering unique sensations in each smoke.
Pineapple Auto
Pineapple Auto is an outstanding example of an autoflowering strain. By combining the genetics of Pineapple Skunk and Unknown Ruderalis, they’ve created an exceptional cannabis variety. This express train, reaching up to 100 – 140cm in height, completes its journey in just 8 – 10 weeks. As it’s a non-stop line, the aroma intensifies, but after proper drying and curing, the resin-coated buds will be ready to enjoy.
Pineapple Auto can yield 1.47 – 1.82 oz/ft² indoors and 28 oz/plant outdoors. The buds are rich in cannabinoids, featuring a distinct pineapple smell and taste. Lab results show a THC content of 12% – 15% and low CBD , impressive figures demanding respect. Enjoy with caution, or you might find your train of thought speeding down the express lane with this weed flavoring.
Pineapple Auto stands out due to its unique and intense organoleptic properties, combining exotic fruit scents like pineapple with lingering sweet undertones. These qualities make it a unique strain with incredible aromas and flavors.
