Cannabis Cuisine Part 4: Cannabis Oil

Apr 20

Hey folks! It’s time again to explore the wide world of ganja with your one and only locally owned and operated cannabis retailer. For the last little while we’ve been taking a journey down the culinary branch of the weed world; learning how to create dishes that will simultaneously get you high whilst also fulfilling my need to feel fancy.

This week, we’re going to be sidestepping into another method for infusing your chosen food with cannabinoid goodness: cannabis oil.

What You’ll Need

Infusing oil with cannabis involves many of the same steps as infusing butter, but there are some obvious differences so let’s go over the whole process together. First of all you’ll need a baking sheet, some parchment paper, a cannabis grinder, a small to medium sized pot and a heat safe bowl that can sit on top of the bowl and act as a double boiler. You’ll also need something to strain your concoction with; either a cloth sieve or strainer will suffice. Finally you’ll need a glass jar or other sealable container to store your oil. In the interest of saving you a quick google search, a double boiler is a pot or dish you place within a bowling pot that allows something (like our cannabis oil concoction) to be heated without the risk of scorching or burning.

Ingredients:

- 5 to 7 grams (roughly a cup) of your preferred strain of cannabis. (You should endeavor to pick a strain that matches your ambitions. For example if you’re looking for something that is going to put you in a post meal catatonic state, pick something highly potent with a selection of sedative terpenes, like Grand Daddy Purple or OG Kush)

- 1 cup of olive oil (ok, so this is where things get interesting. One can alter the ratio of cannabis to oil a little bit if desired. Increasing the amount of oil for example will reduce the potency of the cannabis and vice versa)

Again, you can play around with the ratios to your desire, but for the purposes of keeping it simple, we’re going to proceed as if you’re going for a ratio of 1:1 cannabis to oil.

How It’s Done

- First thing we’re going to do is decarboxylate our weed. In case you don’t remember or you’ve only just joined us for this post, decarboxylating cannabis is science speak for heating our weed up in order to activate the cannabinoids so we can benefit from their effects. To do this, first preheat your oven to around 245 degrees Fahrenheit. While it’s heating up, break the cannabis buds you’ve selected down to about the size of peas. Then lay out a layer of parchment paper on a baking sheet. Spread your weed around evenly on the baking sheet. Once your oven is ready to go, pop those little buds in the oven for about 30 minutes, gently stirring them occasionally to make sure that it all gets exposed to open heat.

- Once your 30 minutes are up, take out your baking sheet and let the decarboxylated cannabis cool down for a bit before grinding it down using either your hands or a grinder. As we mentioned when making butter, don’t grind it too finely otherwise you end up running the risk of getting bits of plant matter in your oil.

- Now it’s time to heat our olive oil! Take your pot and fill it about halfway up with water. Then take a heat safe bowl and place it on top of the pot so that the bottom of the bowl is sitting in the water. Heat the water over low temperatures while constantly monitoring the oil to make sure it doesn’t start bubbling or boiling. Once it’s heated up to approximately 200 degrees Fahrenheit, we’re going to add in our decarboxylated and busted up cannabis to the oil, stirring gently to mix.

- We’re going to leave the cannabis/oil mixture on low heat for about 2-2.5 hours, stirring regularly and monitoring to make sure the temperature doesn’t climb too high.

- Once our time is up and our oil is infused with the wonderful myriad properties of your chosen cannabis strain, we’re going to separate the plant matter from our infused oil. Take a jar or sealable container (a mason jar is ideal), then place your cheese cloth or strainer on top of it. Pour the oil into the strainer, letting the oil and cannabis separate so that all that’s left in the jar is your oil.

And that my friends, is all there is to it. Congratulations, you’ve successfully made your own cannabis infused olive oil! This stuff can be used in lieu of normal olive oil for almost any cooking scenario, allowing you to infuse anything from pasta sauce to a nice salad dressing.

Need some weed to make your oil with? Check out our menu for a vast array of dynamite cannabis strains.