Fact Checked by Doctor NameFresh frozen cannabis refers to buds that are frozen immediately after being harvested.
This preserves the plant’s chemical makeup for certain extraction processes.
Many concentrate makers believe fresh frozen inputs create extracts with maximum cannabinoid and terpene content.
What is Fresh Frozen Cannabis?
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After cutting plants and trimming off any large leaf matter, fresh frozen material is frozen by spreading buds on a tray and putting them in a walk-in freezer or freezer bag.
Freezing should start within hours of harvesting so no decarboxylation or drying occurs.
Freezing ruptures trichome glands through water expansion, spilling resin contents.
This allows the plant’s full spectrum of compounds to be dissolved and extracted for concentrates. If buds are dried first, terpenes can be lost.
Fresh frozen is often used for live resin, a concentrate rich in terpenes like limonene, pinene, and linalool that influence aroma and effects.
The snap-frozen flowers are kept below -90°F until processed via hydrocarbons like butane or propane.
Benefits of Fresh Frozen Cannabis
- Preserves the widest array of terpenes
- Retains high moisture content to enable live resin extraction
- Suspends decarboxylation of THCA into THC
- Provides raw material when the dried flower is unavailable
With quality starting material, fresh frozen extraction can create flavorful concentrates teeming with aromatic compounds.
