The process of freezing cannabis immediately after harvest, usually with dry ice, to preserve trichomes for concentrate extraction. Fresh frozen cannabis usually produces high-quality concentrates such as live resins and live rosins, and saves cultivators time and labor by skipping the trimming, drying, and curing processes.

“I can always taste the difference between fresh frozen and cured resin dabs.”

What is fresh frozen cannabis?

Fresh frozen is a relatively new technique that cannabis cultivators and extractors use to preserve the full integrity of cannabis plants to produce high-quality extracts. When cannabis plants are mature, they are cut down and immediately frozen, usually with dry ice, and stored. This saves the grower time and labor because they don’t have to go through the lengthy process of trimming, drying, and curing product; fresh frozen plants can go straight to the extractor.

Benefits of fresh frozen cannabis

Fresh frozen cannabis has risen in popularity to meet the consumer demand for high-quality extracts. Using fresh frozen cannabis for extracts often turns a better yield and profit, and on a much quicker timeline than harvesting plants for buds. 

It can take weeks to trim, dry, and cure buds before they are ready for extraction, whereas fresh frozen plants can be sent to the extractor in a matter of hours. Fresh frozen does require more materials, namely dry ice and containers to store whole plants, but most growers find that purchasing those is worth the saved labor in the long run.

It should be noted that fresh frozen cannabis should not be smoked. Only dried, cured buds should be smoked.