Prefer edibles to smoking cannabis? Edibles are incredibly simple to make and are a tasty, and potent way to enjoy cannabis at home or on the go. Simply replace the oil in recipes with your own cannabis cooking oil, which you can concoct using these seven easy steps:
1. Pick a strain.
You may choose strains based on any criteria you choose, but definitely stick with lower THC levels, 10% to 15% tops.
You can even opt to have no THC whatsoever, and still enjoy the numerous benefits of CBD, such as relief from pain or anxiety. An ounce is usually enough, unless you want to make a big batch to cook more than one dish.
2. Dry the flower.
Your weed simply won’t grind as well if it hasn’t been thoroughly dried out.
3. Choose your base oil.
While you want the oil that will best suit whatever you’re cooking, high-fat oils work best. Because weed is fat soluble, not water soluble.
You can use olive, coconut or canola oils. Although, canola does have a higher boiling/smoking point than the other two.
4. Grinding your weed.
You can make your cannabis cooking oil using just the flower, or you can also use other parts of the plant. Whichever you choose, though, it does need to be strained before you cook with it.
There are grinders made specifically for weed, but a regular food processor or coffee grinder will work, if you already have one. You just have to remember that there will be a slight flavor to anything else you put into the device.
5. Adjusting the strength of your cannabis cooking oil
You can mix your oil and bud together in most common types of cookware – pots, pans, even slow cookers. The most important thing is getting the ratio right. Particularly if you’re going to be using your cannabis cooking oil in more than one dish, or if you are cooking for other people, you may want a far more diluted mixture.
A good rule of thumb for single recipes is 1 part cannabis to 3 parts oil. For multiple dishes, or if you just want to make sure you don’t knock out fellow diners, you can use a ration as high as 16 to 1. That would mean using 16 ounces of oil for every ounce of cannabis.
6. Straining the mixture.
This is the part of the process that takes the most time and concentration. You need to strain the mixture while it’s still hot, so you want to be very careful.
First, remove the largest chunks, using a wire strainer. Then you can use either coffee filters or cheesecloth to make sure as much flower is removed as possible.
You can strain more at a time using cheesecloth, instead of coffee filters. But you need to use several layers, placing them over a large mixing bowl and using rubber bands to secure it.
7. Use or store your oil immediately.
If you know that you’ll want to use your oil as soon as it’s finished, have all the recipe’s ingredients ready beforehand. Then simply replace the amount of cooking oil specified with your cannabis oil.
You won’t know how potent your oil is the first few times you use it, so you really should start with a conservative amount. A half-ounce should be fine, and you probably shouldn’t use more than a full ounce.
If you won’t be using your cannabis cooking oil immediately, it must be stored in an airtight glass jar as soon as you finish making it. Since it will still be hot, run hot water all over the jar before pouring the oil in. Otherwise, the glass could shatter.
You can store your oil for 60 to 90 days in a cool dry place, but its potency will be reduced if it’s exposed to light or oxygen. It will keep even longer in a fridge or freezer.
