CBD Flower
When I think of CBD, one of the first things that come to my mind are tinctures or CBD oil. The hemp plant may not be the first thing you think of, either, but we should all think about the CBD flower and how to use it. CBD comes from the hemp plant and the hemp flower, which have a lot of healthy cannabinoids that we can use.
How to use it?
There are lots of ways to take advantage of those cannabinoids in the CBD flower, other than just smoking it. In the past, I have written a blog on how to make Canna Flour, which is a baking flour infused with cannabinoids. There are so many other ways to use hemp flower and I would love to share some of my tips and tricks with you.
Topical Recipe
Although ingesting CBD will offer more lasting relief, sometimes achy joints just want to feel better at that moment. My body is often riddled with pain and, on a bad day, I just can’t wait for digestion to find the relief that I need. Here is how to use your hemp flower to make an oil:
Ingredients:
- Cannabis/hemp flower (grams up to your discretion, but we recommend at least 7 grams). We have some great choices from Plain Jane.
- 1 cup of coconut oil
- 1 cup of water
Step 1: Decarboxylation
Preheat your oven to 240ºF. Place your CBD flower on a nonstick, oven-safe baking tray. If you don’t have a nonstick baking tray, you can line it with tin foil (which also makes cleanup easier). Evenly place your buds on the tray and then insert them into the oven when heated. Cook, or decarboxylate, for 30-40 minutes, shaking the tray every 10 minutes to ensure all sides of the flower get decarboxylated. Once done, pull out and allow to cool.
Step 2: Grind
Next, take your cooked flower and grind it up. You can use a hand grinder or an herb grinder. If you don’t have either of those, break the dried CBD hemp flower or cannabis flower apart with your hands to as fine of a flower shake as you can. Make sure that you wait for the hemp flower to cool before handling it.
Step 3: Melt Coconut Oil
Add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of coconut oil into either a pot or a saucepan. First, heat the pan on the lowest heat setting, and then add the coconut oil and water. You want the coconut oil to melt, but not brown, and the added water will help regulate the temperature.
Step 4: Add the Flower
As the coconut oil quickly melts, you can begin to slowly fold in the ground CBD flower to begin infusing the oil.
Step 5: Let Simmer
You want to let your coconut oil and flower concoction simmer on the stovetop for 2-6 hours. Watch the heat because you never want your oil to get too hot. If it heats over 200ºF, you may lose efficacy. Stir the mixture periodically and watch the oil turn green. The longer that you let the oil simmer, the more the CBD flower will turn the oil green, infusing it with those cannabinoids.
Step 5: Strain and Jar
Once your oil is done cooking, you just have to strain out the plant matter and pour your oil into whatever storage container works best for you. I prefer a shallow tin so that I can easily apply my oil to my skin without digging around much.
Step 6: Add Desired Essential Oils
Now that your oil doesn’t contain any plant matter to alter the texture, you can mix in any essential oils that you prefer. I like to add peppermint oil, lavender oil, and arnica oil to help with my pain. I usually add 10-15 drops per batch. You are welcome to add any essential oils that you prefer to make your topical to your liking. Make sure to add them in before your hemp flower oil cools.
Edible Recipe
If you don’t want to rub your cannabinoids into your skin, but you still want to find benefit, you can make an edible instead! There are a few more factors to consider when making edibles, like serving size and disguising the plant flavor of the cannabinoids. If you’re up for the challenge, keep reading to learn more.
Repeat the above steps 1-6
The above steps will create a CBD flower-infused oil that you can use as a base when baking sweet treats. You can replace oil in any recipe with the hemp flower coconut oil that you just made.
Step 7: Mask CBD Flower Taste
While we want all the benefits of CBD flower, we don’t want to necessarily taste them. CBD flower is just part of a plant and therefore tastes a bit like grass and dirt — earthy. I have been baking edibles for years and have found that there are a few herbs and spices that best mask the flavor.
Sweet
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Peanut butter
- Nutmeg
Savory
- Cumin
- Rosemary
- Cayenne
- Oregano
- Thyme
Incorporating some of these more flavorful spices will only improve the overall flavor and enjoyability of the edibles or baked goods that you make. Earthy flavors are good sometimes, but not so much when baking brownies or cookies.
Your Turn, Chef!
Please feel free to share your baking experiences, positive or negative, on our social media and we’re always here to help! You can find us on Instagram or Facebook, or email us at: support@greenwellnesslife.com or reach us by phone at 866-244-4223. Happy baking!