DIY MEDICINE CABINET: MAKE YOUR OWN HEMP-INFUSED COCONUT OIL
“Health care is not only everyone’s right, but everyone’s responsibility,” states Lerner in his introduction to Where There is No Doctor: A Village Healthcare Handbook. “Ordinary people provided with clear, simple information can prevent and treat most common health problems in their own homes — earlier, cheaper, and often better than can doctors.”
We did the work for you, try Meristem Farm's Hemp-Infused Coconut Oil.
But, here is your pathway to a DIY hemp-infused coconut oil. Read on...
Start with our 3.5g Organic Hemp Flower and you can create your own delicious CBD-rich hemp-infused coconut oil, save money and confidently take charge of wellness in your own kitchen.
Coconut oil is solid at room temperature; if semi-liquid, a half-hour in the freezer will solidify it. It can be taken orally just as you would a tincture; sublingually, or used directly on your skin as you would a salve or cream.
First you will need to apply heat to the hemp flower in order to convert the raw cannabinoids into activated, bioavailable cannabinoids. This is a chemical reaction that removes a carboxyl group from the precursor compounds and releases carbon dioxide.
I love the mason jar method because it helps preserve the terpenes in the plant by trapping them within the walls of the glass jar. This process will also minimize the odor (particularly helpful if you live in an apartment) and finally the plant is less likely to burn by keeping it out of direct contact with the air in the oven.
And, while there are many methods and nuances tucked into the recesses of the internet to explore and experiment until you find the right method to create your medicine cabinet, I have had success with the simplicity of the methods below...
Ingredients you will need for:
PART 1: DECARBOXYLATION*
Mason Jar with lid
Baking Sheet
(2) Kitchen Towels (one to rest jar on, second to handle jar in oven)
3.5g Meristem Farms Organic Hemp Flower
PART 2: COCONUT OIL INFUSION
Small Sauce pan
Cheese Cloth
1/4 cup Organic Virgin Coconut Oil
Decarboxylated Hemp Flower*
Mason Jar (re-use from Step 1)
Here is my step-by-step method:
For decarbing your hemp flower:
1. Set your oven to 240 degrees Fahrenheit with the oven rack in the middle position.
2. Open the jar of hemp flower and transfer it into the mason jar.
3. Gently break up the hemp flower into rice-size grains within the mason jar and then screw on the lid.
3. Lay the kitchen towel on the baking sheet and the mason jar on its side on top of the towel.
4. Bake for 60 minutes; pausing briefly every 15 minutes to open the oven and gently shake the jar to re-position the flower.
5. Remove jar after 60 minutes and let cool for at least 15 min.
For infusing your coconut oil:
1. Set a sauce pan on the lowest setting with a few inches of water such that your mason jar will sit inside the water bath.
2. Add 1/4 cup coconut oil to the jar of decarboxylated hemp from Part 1.
3. Close the lid of the mason jar.
4. Set the mason jar of coconut oil and hemp into the sauce pan and allow the coconut oil to melt and combine with the hemp flower.
5. Gently heat the herbs over 1 hour and up to 5 hours, checking frequently to make sure the oil does not burn and the water does not evaporate. Add water as it evaporates. Temperatures should stay between 100 degrees and 140 degrees. If the temperature becomes hard to maintain, turn off the heat and simply allow the herbs to infuse into the oil for up 5 hours. This is just as effective and the coconut oil will take on a beautifully rich green color.
6. Turn off the heat and allow the infusion to cool enough that you can handle the mason jar. If the coconut oil has hardened, return the oil to a liquid state in order to be able to pour off the liquid and strain the oil.
7. Set your cheesecloth securely over top of the original jar and strain the infusion carefully into the glass jar. The ratio should perfectly fit back within the original Meristem jar if using the proportions listed above.
8. Squeeze out the remainder of the oil from the cheesecloth.
9. Enjoy!
Gently crumble the flower into the bell jar.
Lay the bell jar on its side on a tea towel on the baking sheet.
A good organic coconut oil will make a delicious infusion. Unrefined or virgin is less processed and will provide a richer coconut flavor.
Coconut oil is added directly to the hemp flower to preserve the terpenes inside the jar.
Reuse the glass jar for your hemp infusion.
Once cool enough, carefully squeeze the remainder of the hemp infused oil into the glass jar.
Allow the infusion to cool and secure the lid. The oil will solidify once cooled in temperatures below 75 degrees. Popping the infusion into the fridge will maintain its solid state.
Voila! You have your own medicine cabinet of hemp infused coconut oil that can be used in place of tinctures and moisturizers. Personally, I take a 1/4-1/2 tsp. under the tongue every morning to start my day. The infusion of Mirth pictured here, using the ratios listed above, will have approximately 502.25 mg in the entire infusion with 41.85 mg CBD/tsp.