My husband suffers from terrible, painful, swollen eczema and after some trial and error I came up with the following recipe. I've used it on painful joints and sore muscles as well, and it is a wonder for menstrual cramps. Note that heating the marijuana activates the properties of the cannabis, so you should not take this while driving. Our experience is that it takes about 2 hours to fully take effect, but your experience may be different depending on your metabolism and other factors.
NEVER USE THIS ON AN OPEN WOUND!!!
Note: I do mention several alternatives to the equipment I used, but I want to put a warning: when you are making a salve like this, or if you are making something to digest it is critically important to do two things: grind to dust, and strain completely. Why?
Even if you are careful about getting all leaf and no stem into your grinder, there can be tiny little pieces of hard stem that make its way into your mixture. These are like nearly microscopic burs that can really irritate the stomach lining or skin.If you are cooking to ease internal distress or making a balm like this to sooth irritation like an allergic reaction, dry skin, etc the last thing you want is tiny little abrasions.
For this reason, cheese cloth and electric grinder (like a coffee grinder) are priceless. Together they cost less than $15, but can mean the difference between a great product and a useless one.
Ingredients:
Marijuana
Vitamin E Oil
Virgin Coconut Oil
Bees Wax
The last three ingredients you can get at a store like Whole Foods. (Heck, depending on your neighborhood, you might get all four!) Although, I did find 100% pure Bees Wax at a local beauty store, used for dreadlocks.
Equipment:
Cheese cloth (gauze will work in this instance too, since this is not made for consumption, but I recommend getting a cheese cloth for any future cooking endeavors you may have. I've tried strainers, pressers, tea balls... nothing works like a $3 cheese cloth!
Coffee Grinder
Oven safe bowl (I used a personal souffle dish I bought at Walmart. Super cheap, and palm sized)
Crock pot- we bought ours at Goodwill for $4. You don't even need the crock pot dish itself, just the heating device. These are worth their weight in gold. Since using the crock pot method to make butter and oils, I have never burned a batch. It manages to always activate the cannabis without ruining it. You can do this on the stove, but you have to watch it carefully. The best part about a crockpot method is you can set it and forget it. Particularly nice if you are medicating while cooking! Trust me, when your brownies and tinctures come out perfect every time and your friends declare you master of the cannabis cookery you will thank me.
Step 1: Grind your marijuana. I've used hand held grinders for years until I broke down and spent the $10 at Bi-Mart to get a electric coffee grinder. Your finished product (brownies, balm, oil, etc) is so much better with this, definitely worth the investment.
Word on dose: I used about 6 tablespoons of finished ground marijuana to 1/2 cup wax, but you can play with the dosage to see what works for you.
Step 2: Scoop out about a half cup of coconut oil into your small oven safe dish. Add 5 drops (or to preference) of vitamin E oil. Just do not add so much that your mixture becomes too oily or brown.
Step 3: Add ground marijuana to the dish.
Step 4: Place crockpot on high or medium. (Oven at 200 degrees. Again, I do not recommend the oven because it is so easy to burn your product! If you do this method, you need to constantly check your mixture because all ovens are different. All I can say is good luck!)
Step 5: Place dish into crockpot or oven. Crockpot method I set a timer for about an hour later and check it. I usually end up with about 90 minutes. You want all the coconut oil to have melted, you will notice the oil is kind of brown and green. Be careful of how hot it is! Use a small spoon or butter knife and when you take some of the marijuana out of the oil it should be sorta brown.
Step 6: Remove from crockpot, turn crockpot to low and allow mixture to cool slightly- but NOT harden!
Step 7: Strain through cheese cloth. I simply put the cheese cloth over the second souffle dish and poured it through. Remove and discard the remaining plant material.
Step 8: Add bees wax until the consistency of lip balm. For the above amounts, I added a 1/2 cup wax.
Step 9: Return to crockpot until wax is mostly melted and you can easily stir mixture.
Step 10: Remove from crockpot, stir, and allow to cool and set. I placed mine in the refrigerator for 45 minutes but you can simply leave it in a cool, dry place.
Got any recipes you would like to share? Comment, tweet, or email me at ommplady@gmail.com
