Hydrolife Magazine December/January 2017 (USA Edition)

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CANNABIS-INFUSED CHOCOLATE
One of the easiest and most enjoyable ways to consume your medical
cannabis is by extracting the cannabinoids from the dried flowers (bud) into
oil and making something edible with that oil. Making chocolate is easy,
healthy, and very tasty. Here’s how to do it:
YOU’LL NEED:
• ½ cup cannabis-infused coconut oil (see pg. 24)
• ½ cup organic honey or maple syrup
• 1 ½ cups raw organic cacao power
METHOD:
1) Combine all three ingredients. Mix until thick, but still runny.
2) Spread the mixture into a small container, such as a sandwiched-sized
Tupperware, or form a small bar on parchment paper. It will be about
½-inch thick. Put into the freezer until it is set.
3) Cut into ½-inch pieces and keep refrigerated. The chocolate is ready to
enjoy. Just remember to go low and slow with your first dose of each
batch to determine its effects.
“Both
COCONUT OIL AND CANNABIS
PROVIDE NUMEROUS BENEFITS FOR WELL-
BEING, AND EDIBLES ARE A LONG-LASTING
EFFECTIVE METHOD OF MEDICATION.”
CHEMICAL PROCESSES
Other types of cannabinoid extraction
rely on chemical processes that solubilize
or otherwise liquefy the oils to remove
them from the buds. There are two types
of products that can be made with this
method. The first is a tincture, in which
the cannabinoids are left in a solution
of alcohol, butter, coconut oil, vegetable
glycerin, or propylene glycol. The other is to
make a concentrated resin by evaporating
the solvent from a cannabis-solvent
mixture. This is how concentrates like
phoenix tears, shatter, butane hash oil
(BHO), and CO 2 oil are made.
One of the simplest forms of the chemical
extraction process is making cannabisinfused
coconut oil. Coconut oil, as opposed
to butter, is better at attaching cannabinoids
to its lipid structure and thus making a
more potent extraction. Another easy way to
remove the oils would be to use an organic
solvent like alcohol to remove the oil from
the plant matter. Soaking cannabis in
high-proof ethanol creates a tincture of the
medicinal compounds that can then be used
to dose in small amounts under the tongue.
This mixture could also be evaporated
slowly, which would leave a residue of
cannabis resin on the container. The tincture
can also be warmed to increase the rate of
evaporation, but care must be taken that
alcohol fumes do not build up because they
can be flammable or explosive.
ROSIN TECHNIQUE
The last type of extraction is a newer method
that involves heat to liquefy the oils and
pressure to flow them away from the plant
material. This process is known as the
rosin technique, and it can be done at home
using cannabis, parchment paper, and a
hair straightener or a specially made heat
press. Buds or hash are folded in a piece of
parchment and squeezed in the hot press to
push the hot oils from the cannabis. The pure
oil that collects around the pressed product is
a pure, full-melt resin that can be vaporized
in oil pens or shatter rigs without the fear of
ingesting harmful residual solvents, such
as butane, that can be left in commercial
products like shatter or BHO.
Alex Rea is the VP of Homegrown
Hydroponics in Toronto, Ontario, and the
co-founder of Phytomedical, a cannabis
consulting clinic. As a patient, advocate and
business person in the cannabis industry, Alex
has a keen understanding of the political,
economic and social hurdles that underpin
cannabis as medicine in North America.
26 grow. heal. live. enjoy.
myhydrolife.com