Cooking with Cannabis Part 3: Make Your Own Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil
How to Make Cannabis-Infused Olive Oil (HOME RECIPE) from CannabisNet on Vimeo.
Many cannabis cooks enjoy using cannabutter since it’s pretty versatile and easy to make edibles with. But unless you’re French, there’s no need to use butter all the time. Cannabis-infused olive oil makes for a heart-healthy cooking oil and it’s also better than using butter all the time, for nutrition purposes.
Olive oil is well-known for its health benefits and nutritional qualities. It’s an essential part of the Mediterranean diet, which is known to be among the healthiest in the world. However, many of the oil’s nutritious qualities are greatly reduced when you heat the oil, but using a cannabis-infused olive oil can still go well with many dishes including salads, fish, and pasta.
Additionally, studies show that olive oil is an effective solvent for cannabinoid extraction. Both olive oil, as well as ethanol do a good job in extracting all the terpenes and cannabinoids in the plant (this is why alcohol is usually used to make tinctures). Olive oil has numerous health benefits and its easy to get a hold of it in grocery stores.
Health Benefits of Olive Oil
Good fats: Olive oil is rich in monounsaturated fats, which have been proven to lower the bad cholesterol in your body. It can also help prevent blood clots and clogging in the arteries, reducing your overall risk for developing heart disease or strokes later on.
Antioxidants: Olive oil is rich in Vitamin E as well as phenolic compounds and carotenoids, which are excellent antioxidants. These compounds reduce the formation of free radicals in the human body, which contribute to damaged cells and can cause cancer.
Prevents high blood pressure: Monounsaturated fats support heart health, but olive oil also contains another excellent compound: omega-3 fatty acids have been shown to be beneficial in reducing blood pressure. Omega-3 fatty acids is referred to as an essential fatty acid since the human body cannot produce it, and we need to get it from food.
Antidepressant: Studies show that olive oil can also have significant emotional benefits. People who consume more olive oil (or polyunsaturated fats in general) have a lower risk of developing mental illness.
May lower risk of Alzheimer’s: Studies show that olive oil extracts may help reduce the risk of cognitive decline which usually comes with age. The Mediterranean diet in particular, which is rich in fish, fruits, and vegetables, also work well with olive oil in reducing the risk of Alzheimer’s disease.
You can get even more health benefits out of olive oil by infusing it with cannabis.
Recipe
2 cups of oil
1 or 1.5 ounces of ground decarboxylated cannabis (for every 1 – 1.5 ounces you will need 2 more cups of oil)
Fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth
Add ingredient into the crockpot and stir until the cannabis is completely covered in the wall.
Put the crockpot on the lowest setting, and heat the cannabis olive oil mixture for three hours. Let it cool for 8 more hours.
Repeat this process twice for added potency so that you can get more THC and cannabinoids into the oil.
Use a strainer or cheesecloth to strain out all the excess cannabis, then pour the oil into a bowl. Use the bottom of a spoon to squeeze the plant material on the strainer to remove any excess oil. The remaining cannabis can be used in a tea.
Store the oil in an airtight glass bottle away from sunlight. This mixture can last you around 2 months, depending how much you make and use. The oil’s shelf life can be extended even more if you refrigerate it.
Boiling any food with this oil will decrease the potency of the THC. You can always keep it safe by keeping the oil on low heat, and try to avoid simmering at all times. If you have to cook with high heat, do so with regular oil to avoid wasting your cannabis infused coconut oil, then add it later on. Recipes that require high heat cooking methods such as stir-frying can still use this oil by separately sautéing with one of the ingredients just to get the THC in the food, then add that ingredient before you serve it.
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