medical cannabis recipe: Coconut oil enriched with cannabis

11 December 2018
Posted by Juan Cervantes

Coconut oil is vegan and a very healthy food. It can be used both orally and topically, i.e. externally, on a daily basis and offers numerous benefits. Coconut oil consists of 90% unsaturated fatty acids which, unlike those found in meat, do not clog the arteries but provide the body with healthy energy.

Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) is a fat-soluble molecule that binds to fat. So the more fat there is, the more room there is for cannabinoids. Coconut oil itself has antibacterial properties and the medicinal benefits increase when combined with cannabinoids.

To make a coconut oil enriched with cannabis or cannabinoids, one should first decide on the type of coconut oil. If you like the taste and aroma of coconut, you should use an unrefined oil. Refined coconut oil, on the other hand, is relatively neutral in taste.
Next, it's about choosing the right cannabis strain: Indica, Sativa or Hybrid? What medicinal or even psychoactive effects are desired? It is important to use only high-quality cannabis that is free of pesticides and mould, and whose origin is known.
Deciding how much cannabis to cook in the coconut oil depends on how strong you ultimately want the oil to be and what use it is intended for. As a rough guideline, at least 1 cup of high-quality cannabis flowers should be added to every 3 cups of coconut oil for medicinal use. Later, slowly and initially with a very low dosage, one approaches one's individual ideal quantity.

Production of the cannabis-infused coconut oil

The coconut oil is heated at low heat until it has become liquid. Then the plant material/buds are added. The oil/bud mixture should now be stirred constantly so that it does not stick to the bottom of the pot and the plant material becomes too hot. The oil is made hot but not brought to the boil.
It is important to remember that the active ingredients of the cannabis are activated from about 70° C and degraded from about 170° C. This means that the oil-flower mixture should now be kept for 1 hour at a moderate heat between 70° and 80° C (do not boil!) and stir again and again. If the oil gets too hot, THC, other cannabinoids and active ingredients in the cannabis will break down and the mixture will be less effective medicinally as a result.
After one hour, the oil is green. It can now be poured into a preserving jar or other glass container with a tightly closing lid. To do this, hang a fine sieve over the opening of the jar and pour the mixture through so that the plant parts are filtered out. If the oil still contains too many plant parts, the coconut oil can be poured through a finer sieve again.
When the cannabis-infused coconut oil has cooled, it is labelled and stored in the refrigerator.

The infused coconut oil can either be added to various foods or drinks or taken drop by drop under the tongue, the possibilities are endless. To find out the right dosage for you, you should start with only a very small amount (1-2 drops) and then slowly increase it. The medicinal coconut oil is often very potent and contains cannabinoids in relatively high concentrations, so one should first familiarise oneself and slowly increase the dose until the desired effects are achieved.

Of course, coconut-cannabis oil can also be applied externally to the skin. Many patients use this successfully for skin diseases such as neurodermatitis or psoriasis or simply to give the skin a very special rejuvenating care, e.g. after a long sunbath.