MJBiz - August 2023 - 37

Fresh-frozen cannabis is used to create concentrates such as live resin. Photo by Marvin Sandoval
are a couple of hours away or more.
In a flash-freezing scenario, plants
are harvested and then put on a
conveyor belt that takes them through
a flash-freezing machine. They are
immediately bagged and put into
insulated freezer containers and driven
to their destination. This method also
is used for frozen vegetables and frozen
pizzas, Robertson said.
More typical among indoor grow
facilities is so-called " fresh freezing. " In
those cases, plant material is harvested,
trimmed and broken down, bagged
and then put into a freezer inside the
facility, usually within 30 minutes of
harvesting.
The harvesting process for freshfrozen
flower is similar to that for
cured flower. Plants are cut and fan
leaves are trimmed while sugar leaves
are retained. Then, the flower is placed
into freezer bags and carted to freezers
within the facility.
" Once the plant is cut down,
everything is about stabilization.
You're trying to get that stuff frozen
and 'live' because that's when you're
preserving all those monoterpenes, "
said Marco Malatrasi, head cultivator
at Fluent Cannabis in Florida.
" Live " is a term the industry has
adopted for products made from
fresh-frozen cannabis, such as live
resin cartridge oils, concentrates and
edibles infused with live resin oils.
The word " live " might make it seem as
if the cannabis has living organisms
as yogurt does, but it really means the
flower has been harvested and frozen
at peak terpene and resin levels.
In fact, everything else being equal,
terpene and resin levels degrade as
they go through the drying and curing
process. If growers can capture peak
terpene and resin levels by freezing
flower and then extracting it later,
they can get an arguably superior
product.
Especially important is keeping
" dwell time " -the period a plant spends
between being cut and being frozen-to
a minimum.
Reducing dwell time requires a strict
process and harvesters with trimming
expertise. " There is some processing
involved; you don't just throw a whole
plant in the freezer. You're getting
these quarter-golf-ball-sized nuggets, "
Malatrasi said.
For flash freezing, growers need a
freezer environment and a process
to feed the product into that room,
Malatrasi said. " Time is the enemy
when it comes to flash frozen. "
Cultivators advise staff not to
overstuff the freezer bags because
doing so can result in trichome loss.
Depending on the size of their
cultivation facility, some growers will
have chest freezers while others will
have walk-in freezers. Whatever the
size, a home or restaurant freezer
will likely not be cold enough.
Instead, growers should invest in
pharmaceutical-grade freezers or
rig their own freezers to reach
40-70 degrees below Fahrenheit.
These better-quality freezers " will
allow that material to freeze quick
enough because the moisture doesn't
really have a great opportunity to
separate (from the plant), " Robertson
explained.
mjbizdaily.com | August 2023 37

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