Biochemistry of the Curing Process?

We all know what curing does. But what changes are occurring on the molecular level? I almost think of curing as a tapered drying process, but WHAT IS actually going on that induces all these wonderful characters we have come to know and love? I've heard that excess stored sugars are broken down and something structurally happens to the terpenes. Any guesses?

Dont know, im guessing you wont find much literature on this as cannabis has been illegal during most of the period that biochemistry flourished. I would say look into other crops that are "cured" such as tobacco and draw reasonable conclusions.

Guessing that as water is leaving the bud that chlorophyll and other sugars and such are breaking down and as a result (or unrelated) terpenes form/are more volatile.

http://www.tobaccoscienceonline.org/doi/full/10.3381/0082-4623-44.1.51
Study on how temperature effects tobacco but they talk about measuring the "sugars, starches, and chlorophyll" as a way of determining the quality of cure.

well some of the best cured buds seem to have the "green" leeched out. The best dank has the grayish, drab olive, pale color. This is the chlorophyll dying, i think.

chasmtz said:

well some of the best cured buds seem to have the "green" leeched out. The best dank has the grayish, drab olive, pale color. This is the chlorophyll dying, i think.

Click to expand...

I just completed my first water cure and this was exactly how the buds ended up looking in the end. Very 'olive' green, and almost grey or purple. By the final day, the water no longer had any green tinge to it, so obviously the chlorophyll had all been leached out.

Very smooth smoke, and very potent.

Some blueberry buds that I cured in glass for a year ended up looking the same way. Blue tints with olive green buds.

It does seem that the chlorophyll is being metabolized by the plant in some way, and then dispersed into the atmosphere, possibly through evaporation.

Not sure about the details, but that is one obvious change at least.

I have flowers that have been in jars for 8-10 months. The olive color definitely comes through over time as does the quality of the smoke. Thanks for the link of Flue-Cured tobacco. That site is an awesome resource. Starch is stored in chlorophyll, so as the color of the bud changes from chlorophyll degradation I'd image the starches are broken down as well. I'm really just curious to learn what's going on with the terpenes and how the curing process enhances their "activity".