Cannabis Coconut Oil

Cannabis coconut oil is a great substitute for the more well-known edible baker’s delight: cannabutter. Cannabis infused coconut oil isn’t only non-dairy and vegan, but it’s also an excellent carrier oil for one of this author’s favorite chemicals, THC.

Weed edibles are an excellent method to medicate for a variety of reasons. To begin, the effects of edibles last longer than those of cigarettes or vapes. Smoking or vaporizing usually has an effect duration of 20 minutes. Edibles are effective for hours and have additional advantages, including the fact that smaller doses are more successful, so your flower will stay fresher for longer. It’s also enjoyable customizing your edibles to your liking if you like to be in the kitchen. What is coconut oil and why is it such a popular choice among home edible creators everywhere?

Coconut oil is high in saturated fat. Because of this, the wonderful THC and CBD compounds have plenty of fatty acids to cling to during the infusion process. Fat attracts THC. As a result, consuming edible cannabis in a fatty meal or dish produces the most powerful effects (this is probably why cannabutter or cannaoil brownies are so popular). When cooking your own medicine at home, keep this in mind so you may get the full health advantages.

What Can You Do With Cannabis-Infused Coconut Oil?

Cannabis-infused coconut oil should be in every edible chef’s pantry. It is highly shelf stable, and more importantly, versatile. You may use it in place of butter or other vegetable oils in almost any recipe. A spoonful of cannabis coconut oil can be added to your coffee or tea (author’s advice: skip the caffeine if you’re susceptible to anxiety). At breakfast, you can eat a spoonful of coconut oil straight from the jar (or cook some protein or vegetables in it). You can even just consume coconut oil by the spoonful without doing any cooking, mixing, or skill learning.

Furthermore, cannabis coconut oil can be applied topically as a ointment, massage oil, or lubricant. Another plus is that coconut oil is highly shelf stable if kept appropriately.

Calculating the Right Doses

You may be asking how to calculate dosage if you’re not familiar with the process of producing edibles. You’ll have a more educated guess than an exact dose without a testing device or a laboratory. Remember that your first few taste tests should be cautious in order to ensure you’re not underdosing yourself too much.

To determine the dose of your edibles or infusions, first you’ll need to know the flower’s THC concentration. The dispensary usually has this information. If the plant was grown in your own garden, you might be able to discover an estimated percentage on the internet for the strain or just go with a guess of 15%.

Let’s say the flower we’re employing contains 15% THC for the purpose of this example. A gram has 1000 milligrams in it, so we also need to know how many grams are in a kilogram.

If the cannabis flower has a THC percentage of 15%, each gram can contain up to 150 mg of THC. You won’t be able to extract every one of those milligrams, on average. On the high side, you may anticipate 100 mg of THC. If you prefer stronger edibles, bear in mind that you’ll only have 30% absorption (or around 50 mg per gram of flower) and so make sure you get the dosing correct. You may always add more coconut oil to reduce your infusion if necessary.

Remember that it’s much easier to reduce the dosage than increase it.

The next item you should understand is the final dosage per edible. Is it 10 mg or 50? If you’re a beginner, start with 10 and work your way up from there. You’ll also need to figure out how many edibles you’ll make: a dozen cookies, perhaps?

The amount of THC contained in a given batch of cannabis edibles can be calculated by dividing the dose by the total number of completed medicated snacks. Let’s assume we’re baking 9 brownies, and each one should have 10 milligrams of THC. We know that our flower has a potency of 15 percent THC. Maybe two if you’re under the impression that people absorb at a certain rate. The Veriheal Edible Dosage Calculator may be used to calculate the strength of your infused oil.

Is Lecithin Necessary to Use?

Lecithin is a wonderful addition to cannabis tinctures. Lecithin has been shown in anecdotal studies to improve the absorption of THC and other cannabinoids in the body. Is it necessary? No, not at all.

When it comes to edibles that include oil or fats, such as gummies or other water-rich recipes, adding them into water-based sweets can assist integrate the oil or fat into the treat. You’re covered in lecithin if you’re making a recipe that includes eggs.

Another advantage of utilizing lecithin in baked products is that it can help prevent your cookies or cakes from becoming too dry. Infused butter and oil may make your final product a little dry. However, by creating infused cannaoil that is twice as strong and then mixing it into the recipe with an equal amount of regular butter or coconut oil, you may mitigate this problem.

Choose the Right Oil

You might be wondering if you can use vegetable oil to produce cannabis oil. Technically, yes, however there is a catch. Coconut oil and/or butter are recommended by most experienced home edible cooks and bakers for a reason: they contain high levels of saturated fat.

THC and CBD, like fatty acids, are lipophiles. They’re lipophile chemicals. These compounds are fat soluble. So use the most fattiest fats and oils to get the best absorption and efficacy in your edibles.

Coconut oil is about 60% saturated fat, whereas olive oil is only around 20%. This means that cannabis butter prepared from olive oil has a THC absorption rate of 60% to 80% lower than coconut oil.

Why Decarboxylation Is Important

The process of decarboxylation, often known as decarbing, is one of the most essential procedures in making canna oil. The activation of the THC or CBD in your flower so that it may be infused into coconut oil is known as decarboxylation. In its natural form, the cannabinoids in the flower are unable to be broken down similarly or with similar efficacy in your body.

When you smoke cannabis, you use a flame to activate the cannabinoids. To decarb flower for edibles, you’ll need a baking sheet and an easy procedure in your oven. You don’t want to skip this step because it’s the only way to get the most out of your cannabis infusions.

Cannabis Infusion Ratio

It may be difficult for the inexperienced edible maker to determine how much cannabis to use per cup of oil. A fair rule of thumb is a quarter to half an ounce of plant material per 1 cup of oil. You can always use less, and you can certainly use more. However, this is a safe ratio to employ. You don’t want to put too much flower that you can’t extract as much, and you don’t want to put too little that you’d have to eat the whole pie just to get your dosing correct.

Best Straining Method

The finest way to strain your crock pot cannabis coconut oil is through a mesh strainer, cheesecloth, or a coffee filter. You’ll want to use a finely woven cheesecloth that’s very tight and smooth, but not so fine that the oil gets caught in the strainer.

List of Supplies Needed to Make Cannabis Coconut Oil

You’ll need the following equipment and materials to create coconut cannabis oil:

• 1 cup of coconut oil
• 7-14 grams of cannabis flower
• Baking sheet
• Tinfoil/Aluminum foil
• Mesh strainer
• Mason jar
• Scale
• Cheesecloth
• Medium saucepan or crock pot/slow cooker

How to Make Cannabis-Infused Coconut Oil

Step 1: Decarboxylate your cannabis

To decarboxylate cannabis flower, first weigh it and then roughly break it apart and distribute it evenly on a baking sheet. The flower should be fractured into equal-sized pieces to ensure uniform decarboxylation. You may use a grinder to grind the flower into smaller pieces. Bake the cannabis flower at 240°F for approximately 45 minutes in an oven that has been preheating. Cover the baking sheet with aluminum foil to keep the terpenes from evaporating while allowing the plant to come to room temperature uncovered.

Step 2: Combine flower and coconut oil

Make a mason jar of your flower and coconut oil by filling it halfway with water, then adding the flower and coconut oil. Gently stir as you go. Screw on the lid to the mASON jar firmly enough to keep outside water out while allowing inside steam to escape, but not so tightly that it will fully seal during the infusion process.

Step 3: Give the jar a hot bath

Place the mason jar in a crock pot filled with water that has been allowed to cool. Make sure there is enough water to cover the jar (or jars) (if you’re making many batches or dividing one batch among several smaller jars). If desired, line the crockpot with a towel to protect the jars from colliding.

Step 4: Let it simmer

Set the crock pot on low and cook for a minimum of 2 hours or up to 6 hours. Stir or shake the jars every now and then.

Step 5: Strain the flower out

You’ll need to remove the plant materials from your cannabis once the coconut oil has been infused and the jar(s) has had time to cool down. Line a cheesecloth-lined mesh strainer with another piece of cloth and pour the oil through it into a new, clean storage container or jar. Allow the oil to fully drain. You may gently squeeze the cheese cloth or press down on the raffinate to release additional oil, but doing so might cause your cannabis coconut oil to become more green in color. Once you’ve finished draining it, seal up this container and store it properly.

Alternative Methods

• Stovetop and Mason Jar: Instead of using a crockpot, you may accomplish the same end goal with a saucepan filled with water. Start with cold or room temperature water and let it boil for two hours. Keep an eye on the pot, though; you’ll want to add more hot water as it evaporates, especially if your mason jar is too big to fit entirely inside the pot lid.
• Saucepan Only Method: Instead of doing a water bath, decarboxylate your plant material and coconut oil together in a saucepan on low heat for up to two hours. You’ll need to keep an eye on this approach since the oil may get too hot and harm the end product. You don’t want to fry your flower, especially if you’re going to ingest it. Similar to eating edibles, when infusing you should go slow and low.
• Double Boiler Method: The procedure is the same whether you use a saucepan and a mason jar or the crockpot. Water goes in at the bottom, flower and oil go in at the top, and it simmers for 2-6 hours.
• The longer your cannaoil and plant material simmer in the heat, the more similar your final infusion will be to the plant. This is a matter of personal taste, but if you don’t like the flavor, try shorter infusion times.

Best Way to Store Your Cannabis Coconut Oil

One of the benefits of cannabis-infused coconut oil is that it is extremely shelf stable and lasts a long time. Cannabis-infused coconut oil has a shelf life of two to three months if properly stored at room temperature and up to three years if kept in the refrigerator before degradation starts to alter its potency and flavor.

To store coconut cannabis oil, you’ll need a clean, dry, airtight container or jar. It’s also possible that you’ll want to keep it in the fridge or a dark cool location (like a pantry or kitchen cabinet). An amber-colored or black jar can help to protect your infusion from deterioration by keeping it out of light.

Although learning to infuse coconut cannaoil may appear to be a difficult process, the truth is that with a little time and patience, you’ll be able to figure out the ideal dose, technique, and recipes for your lifestyle. Many home chefs keep cannabis-infused coconut oil on hand for a reason; put this information into practice and discover for yourself why. Also, don’t forget to leave a comment below and let everyone know how you used your own cannabis coconut oil in order to avoid any confusion.