How to Make Cannabis Coconut Oil

Cannabis Coconut Oil

Cooking with cannabis doesn’t have to be difficult or intimidating. The first skill to master on your cannabis culinary path is creating a solid base for your edibles. Cannabis coconut oil is an extremely healthy and beneficial addition to your wellness routine. Typically cannabis has been infused with butter, however, if a plant based option is more your style, you’ll definitely want to try making cannabis infused coconut oil.

Benefits of Cannabis Coconut Oil

These are some benefits when it comes to cannabis coconut oil. Coconut oil is quite arguably one of the best oils for creating strong cannabis infusions, salves, topicals and medicinal edibles because it has a high saturated fat content. Coconut oil is naturally high in fat and is a great alternative to animal products such as butter.

What makes cannabis coconut oil so potent is the unusually high amount of Medium Chain Triglycerides (MCT) found in the oil, which is a great binder for the cannabinoids in the cannabis plant and is an excellent “driver” of nutrients to the body. What does this all mean? The coconut oil makes it capable of absorbing more THC, Terpenes, Flavinoids and Cannabinoids than the traditional route when using butter or other types of oils for medicated infusions. While butter has a saturated fat of about 60%, coconut oil is about 90% saturated (GOOD) fat.

Dosing & Potency

When it comes to cooking with cannabis and cannabis infusions- dosage is an important factor. Too much THC can lead to an overwhelming feeling of anxiety or paranoia – yeah, not fun. In this recipe, I use 7 grams of flower to 1 cup of coconut oil. Keep in mind that this is an estimation, as potency can get lost in the process of making your infusion. It also depends on the strength and potency of the flower you choose.

Example Break Down: Every 1 gram of cannabis bud has 1,000 mg of dry weight. If a strain has about 10% THC, 10% of 1,000mg would be 100mg. For cooking with cannabis and baking at home you can assume that a gram of cannabis contains about 100mg THC.

In this recipe, the potency breakdown goes as follows:

• THC % = 24.09% ( In this recipe I used Amnesia Haze strain which was testing very high)
• THC in entire infusion = 1,686.30 mg
• THC per teaspoon of infusion = 35.13 mg
• THC per ml of infusion = 7.12 mg

***These numbers and potency will vary depending on the strain of your cannabis, cook time, and decarb. As a rule of thumb, whenever I’m cooking a recipe with medicated oil for the first time, I test it out by adding 1-2 tbsp and go from there.

Recipe

Materials
Baking sheet
Parchment paper
Oven
Saucepan, stock pot, double-boiler, or slow cooker
Mesh strainer or cheesecloth
Container for cannabis oil
Cannabis grinder (optional)

Ingredients
1 cup ground cannabis flower (7-10 gr)
1 cup coconut oil

When making cannabis coconut oil, I typically do a 1:1 ratio of cannabis to oil. If you prefer milder effects, or wish to slowly build up to your cannabis wellness routines, I would suggest using less flower to oil ration.

Directions
1. Decarb the cannabis. Decarboxylation activates cannabis by turning the cannabinoid THCA in the flower into THC, the psychoactive compound that will get you nicely elevated. Loosely break up the cannabis and place it on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Heat it for 30-40 minutes in an oven at 245ºF. To prevent the potent cannabis odor, you can also put the ground up cannabis in a mason jar and tightly sealed top. Be sure to rotate every 10-15 minutes.

2. Break down or grind up cannabis. I recommend using a grinder to break your weed up into an even consistency. Alternatively, you can just as easily use your hands too. It’s important to note that anything small enough to fit through a strainer will end up in your finished product, so don’t grind your cannabis into a fine powder, or else you’ll have tiny particles visible in your oil.

3. Heat oil and decarbed cannabis. Add coconut oil and decarbed cannabis to double-boiler, slow cooker, or shallow saucepan, and simmer on low for 2-3 hours. A slow cooker may require longer time. Make sure the temperature of the oil stays between 160-200ºF.

4. Strain and save the oil. Put a mesh strainer or cheesecloth over container for oil and pour the oil/cannabis mixture through it. Different people prefer different methods; You can either squeeze the mesh cloth and your oil will retain most of the chlorophyl and leave you with a dark green oil. Others prefer to let the oil drain slowly from the mesh cloth without squeezing.

Discard the plant material. The oil will have a shelf life of at least two months and can be extended with refrigeration.