As you probably know by now, there are literally thousands of wild, wacky and wonderful cannabis edibles doing the rounds. Whether looking to get high or medicate without resorting to inhalation, you’ll no doubt find yourself spoilt for choice. Nevertheless, there are a couple of cannabis products absolutely every consumer should have a ready supply of. One of which being cannabutter, the other being the most gorgeously indulgent cannabis oil.
Why Cannabis Oil?
There are three primary reasons why cannabis oil towers above most other edibles in every department. For one thing, it can be incredibly delicious when added to just about any recipe. As for the second, the fact that it can be used in or on just about anything you can think of makes it one of the most versatile cannabis products ever conceived.
And on top of all this, not only is it beautifully easy to make, but it goes the distance in terms of shelf life. Which means that no matter how much surplus bud you happen to have on hand, you can make cannabis oil to your chosen strength and in any quantity desired, knowing it will hold safe and sound indefinitely. If looking for a great way of putting your sugar leaves, dried-out buds and other dregs to use, they really don’t come better than this!
Drizzles on pizzas, used to sauté veggies or as a great way to put an extra kick into your fried eggs in the morning, you cannot and will not run out of creative uses for cannabis oil. Which in turn means that the only thing you need to know is – how to make a batch of your very own cannabis infused olive oil?
Recipe For Cannabis Oil
Before we get into the details, it’s worth noting that there is a serious amount of flexibility with the recipe. For example, if you are looking to create an all-purpose dressing, you might want to go with something like extra virgin olive oil or even sesame oil. By contrast, if you are planning to use the oil to fry the living daylights out of anything else, go with something like standard olive oil or sunflower oil, with a higher smoking point.
And of course, you are free to go as mild or wild as you like with the strength of the stuff.
Canna Oil Ingredients:
- 1 cup of ground cannabis flower
- 1 cup of oil of your choice, I prefer Olive Oil
It’s worth noting here as well that ‘cup’ size can refer to absolutely any cup you have in mind. You basically need the same quantity of cannabis and oil, in terms of their size and certainly not their weight. While it’s always better in terms of quality to make cannabis oil with premium cannabis flowers, you can always throw other bits and pieces in there to put them to good use.
Canna Oil Equipment:
- Strainer or cheesecloth
- Grinder
- Suitable pan
It’s important to ensure that when you grind your cannabis, you don’t reduce it to a fine powder. Further down the line, you’ll be straining all plant matter out of the oil. Which in turn means that while grinding is essential, the resulting mixture should remain relatively course.
Canna Oil Directions:
- First up, grind the cannabis you intend to use. Once again, feel free to throw in just about anything you fancy from the plant, as the cooking process will ensure that all the goodness is extracted to the last drop. Just ensure that you do not grind things too finally, otherwise you will end up with an unpleasant and gritty final product.
- Place the cannabis and the oil of your choice in a suitable pan over a gentle heat. Ensure they are combined fully and keep a close eye on the temperature, ensuring that it never exceeds 245° F. Ideally, keep things a fair bit cooler than this to ensure that the bottom of the pan doesn’t end up scorching.
- Once the ideal temperature has been reached, it’s a case of leaving it to do its thing for a minimum of 3 hours. That said, if you have the patience to keep it going for around 6 hours or so, you are guaranteed to come out with the best possible results. Stir frequently and continually check to ensure that the temperature isn’t getting too high.
- When the time is up, it is a case of taking the oil off the heat and using the required strainer to get as much of the plant material as possible out of the oil. When doing so, don’t be tempted to force as much oil as possible through the strainer or cheesecloth, given that this will result in too much chlorophyll making its way into your oil. You can then feel free to discard the plant matter, or use it a second time in another recipe if there is clearly life left in it.
- Ensure that the oil is decanted into suitable sterilised containers, which can be sealed airtight. Officially, these kinds of oils have a shelf life of at least two months. Nevertheless, if you get the job done properly and use immaculately clean glass bottles with flawless seals, you may find the shelf life of your oil goes on indefinitely. Particularly if you refrigerate the oil, only taking it out as and when required.
We could suggest a few recipes to put your cannabis oil to use, but to be perfectly honest, half the fun is in the experimentation!
Slow Cooker Method
It’s also perfectly possible to make an outstanding batch of cannabis oil using an everyday slow cooker. The biggest benefits of doing so being that the slow cooker keeps an eye on temperatures for you, meaning you don’t have to spend time hovering over the pot with a thermometer.
If looking to use the slow cooker method, you are going to need to follow a couple of additional steps, which look a little like this:
- First of all, you are going to need to decarb your cannabis, given that you will be extracting its goodies at a much lower temperature. This means taking your weed, grinding it sufficiently and spreading it out on an even layer on a baking tray. After this, pop it in a preheated oven at 240° F for approximately 30 minutes. After which time, it should be fully dry and have turned a brownish colour. Whatever you do, don’t cook it too long or at an excessive temperature – doing so will lay waste to every last scrap of it.
- Once again, place equal quantities (in terms of size) of cannabis and your chosen oil in a slow cooker. If you haven’t already given it a try, coconut is one of the best oils to use with this particular method. Then again, most standard cooking oils get the job done well enough.
- Switch the slow cooker onto a low setting and allow the mixture to stew gently for 3 hours. After this, turn the heat off and leave it all to cool for a further 8 hours. You can then repeat the process once or twice more, in order to get as much of the good stuff out of the cannabis as possible.
- Strain and store in exactly the same manner.
So as you can see, the slow cooker method may take a little longer, but is by far the approach of choice for someone who isn’t in a rush!
