Freeze It! 

Live Resin Makes Better Concentrate

Most extraction companies have heard of, and many have integrated, a process called “live resin”. Simply put, live resin involves freezing freshly trimmed cannabis, frozen for at least 24 – 36 hours, below 10 degrees Fahrenheit, immediately after harvesting the flowers. This process is designed to preserve terpenes and prevent the drying, oxidation, and heat that degrades terpenes. The result? A superior extract. Frozen plant material will result in a better extract than starting from dried leaf. Freezing stops the metabolic process and prevents degradation of the plant material, including the cannabinoids and terpenes. In the same way you would buy frozen fruit from the grocery store or freeze all types of food for later consumption, the cannabis plant’s “freshness” is preserved for a much greater period of time than at room temperature or in a refrigerator.

The cannabis plant’s smells and flavors are created by naturally occurring terpenes. The retention of terpenes is a crucial part of any hemp or cannabis extraction process as it contributes to not only flavor and smell, but also its pharmacological effects. Terpenes are essential to making professional extracts.  It is very important that the material preparation process has terpene preservation top of mind. In order to get the largest diversity of terpenes, it should be noted to use the whole plants flowers, while excluding its low cannabinoid containing parts (fan leaves, stems, and roots). You want to completely preserve the original essence of the plant. Things like drying, oxidation and heat degrade the natural smells and flavors of the plant. Aged material that has been stored and stockpiled by growers often lacks luster in the terpene department. Hence, you want to avoid such material degradation in your professional extraction process.

Freezing plant material not only contributes to terpene preservation, but also helps to lock out the water soluble components of the plant cellular structure from being extracted. This is why, even those processors that run cured or dried material, still opt to freeze it before processing it though an extraction machine. (Sunset Ranch Extractions will be freezing it for 3 days before extraction no matter which curing method is chosen). These are just some of the many facets that will contribute to be able to create award winning cannabis concentrates.