Olive Oil? Vegan Cannabis Cooking?

[Sam Slambam]

What opinions/ experiences do people have with using olive oil in place of butter. I am slowly cutting dairy out of my diet and I am ever so scurred of having to give up my beloved cannabutter. I do not like to smoke very much, but I like to eat cannabis almost daily. BTW....I'm not looking to get into some ethical debate about a dairy free diet, to each his own.

 

[alaeddin]

I always use olive oil to extract my oil and it works great. The flavour at the end is interesting, fills your mouth. Though now, I'm looking for a way to do it without heating the oil because it goes rancid when heated and becomes toxic. Go on with the dairy free diet. I've also been doing it for a short time now.

 

[cooked cook]

hey Sam.

I am one o them meat-heads, but one of my best friends is vegan. As a chef, I'm really curious as to how he developes recipes and works with non animal substitutes. interesting stuff, and I've learned a lot from him.
He's made a lot of different recipes (regular food, AND canna-food)using olive oil instead of butter.
Olive oil works fine in the savory foods, but tends to taste a little funny in sweet baked goods. In those cases, I've seen him use a vegan butter substitute hat I believe is made from soy. It tastes pretty good, and converts well in recipes. He can find it easily, as he works in a health food store, but they also have it at a lot of supermarkets, especially the newer gourmet markets. Happy baking.
cc

 

[Pursewarden]

I make "cannaoil" quite often. Probably because I am just lazy and can't deal with getting involved with trying to make butter. I use my left over vapor poop from my volcano, and whatever stems I throw into my poop jar.
I think it works great. I especially love making roasted potatoes with the oil, I feel it gives them an even better flavor than when I make well, sober potatoes I guess.
I have heard vegetable oil works well also, but I haven't tried it, same with canola.

 

[medjool]

Sam, if you buy extra virgin, extra light olive oil, and use a Tom Flowers, Herbal MJ Cooking, ratio of greens to fat, no one will ever know it's olive oil. I promise. I only use butter in three or four recipes, or unless I want an extra whack for someone.

mrs m

 

[Dusty Bowls]

i try to put a half ounce of hash in 1500mL

 

[DumpsterDiver]

I use cannaoil to make spaghetti sauce.

 

[Guest]

I've been a vegan for 3 years now, the "funnest" part of it, other than the health and good vibes is making awesome food. There are so many ingredients out there that I never considered, it staggers my mind.

I have used all sorts of oils, but never olive oil. I found sunflower and almond oil to be the best so far, and most versatile in recipes.

The soy butter analogs, such as Earth Balance, etc. are good, but I don't really like to cook with them as much. I try to avoid having a direct comparison between vegan and "regular" versions of recipes. Let the vegan food shine on its own merits.

 

[Capt.Ahab]

Grapeseed oil worked well the last time I used it.
It has a high flash point and keeps well in the fridge.

 

[Sam Slambam]

wow! Thanks for the flurry of responses. I still haven't tried it yet though. If I had an over abundance I'd experiment and post up the conclusions, but I don't.

Could anyone kindly share their methods for making this magic happen? Ratios? Temperatures? Straining? Storage? Caveats?

I'm somewhat hesitant especially after someone mentioned that oil can b/c toxic at certain temps.....yikes!

 

[Guest]

Unfortunately, most oils are not good for you when they have been heated, trick is to just heat it enough to release the good stuff. Never had much luck with just cold oil steeping, you need heat to release the oils, I think.

Never thought of grapeseed, that would work too. How about hemp seed oil? I eat tons of that now, might as well keep it in the family... We use to get the veganaise with grapeseed oil, was pretty good stuff on a tomato sammich, mmm.

best of luck playing!

 

[Rosy Cheeks]

I'm somewhat hesitant especially after someone mentioned that oil can b/c toxic at certain temps.....yikes!

Unfortunately, most oils are not good for you when they have been heated, trick is to just heat it enough to release the good stuff.

Let's put things into context. All vegetable oils have what you call a smoke point. The smoke point for an oil will vary according to the variety and growing conditions, and how the oil was produced. The smoke you see may be impurities in the oil which are burning. Unfiltered olive oil has small bits of olive in it. When the oil is heated these bits will burn and smoke before the oil itself. A well filtered or clarified oil will have a higher smoke point generally. Overheating any oil beyond the smoke point causes the formation of toxic free radicals and trans fats. But with toxic, I don't mean in the same sense as rat poison. It's just not very good to consume in large amounts on a regular basis.
So, the higher the smoke point of an oil, the better it is to use for cooking. Olive oil has a smoke point of 160°C (320F), which means that you can heat it gently without passing the smoke point, but not deep fry with it.

In any case, heat should always be used sparingly when cooking with Cannabis. The higher the temperature, the faster the degradation of the THC.

Olive oil works great. I make ISO oil, and once I've vaporised the alcohol and water through heating, the oil (which is more like caramel in concistency) can be mixed with olive oil to make it more workable and soluble.