two cold infusion questions:

[jeffp]

With cold infusion, I usually allow 1/2 cup of ABV to leech into 1/2 cup canola oil for seven days in a dark corner of my cabinet and I use that oil for brownies with good success. First question is, what is the longest amount of time I could leave the oil before it might spoil? Is 3 weeks too much?

Second question, aside from coconut oil which I love but i find it way too sweet with brownies, is there a healthier recommended oil that you could recommend?

thanks...

 

[Dragpo]

With cold infusion, I usually allow 1/2 cup of ABV to leech into 1/2 cup canola oil for seven days in a dark corner of my cabinet and I use that oil for brownies with good success. First question is, what is the longest amount of time I could leave the oil before it might spoil? Is 3 weeks too much?

Second question, aside from coconut oil which I love but i find it way too sweet with brownies, is there a healthier recommended oil that you could recommend?

thanks...

This is a no-brainer…HEMP OIL!

 

[Dragpo]

The current varieties of canola are GMO creations of Monsanto…Roundup in your brownies…yuck!

 

[jeffp]

The current varieties of canola are GMO creations of Monsanto…Roundup in your brownies…yuck!

Does hemp or hemp seed oil have the proper level of fat that's necessary? In that regard how does it compare with coconut and canola? i'm slightly baffled about canola oil. It is an excellent oil to use for ABV brownies in terms of effect. However, there's really no such thing as "canola" oil. It's a Canadian invention. Yet there is so called "organic" canola oil - the brand "Spectrum" sells that. And that's what I've been using, or the Trader Joe's brand - and any food product with a Trader Joe's label is non GMO.
Yet there's actually no such thing in the natural world as canola oil. It's baffling.

Hemp oil is interesting as an option.

 

[beeswax]

I think canola oil is a bit less confusing than you think it is. It's a rapeseed oil.

 

[Dragpo]

Does hemp or hemp seed oil have the proper level of fat that's necessary? In that regard how does it compare with coconut and canola? i'm slightly baffled about canola oil. It is an excellent oil to use for ABV brownies in terms of effect. However, there's really no such thing as "canola" oil. It's a Canadian invention. Yet there is so called "organic" canola oil - the brand "Spectrum" sells that. And that's what I've been using, or the Trader Joe's brand - and any food product with a Trader Joe's label is non GMO.
Yet there's actually no such thing in the natural world as canola oil. It's baffling.

Hemp oil is interesting as an option.

Don't know the profile of the different fats in hemp seed oil…it should be available on the web.

Here's some rapeseed info: https://startpage.com/do/search?lui=english&language=english&cat=web&query=+rapeseed++toxicity&nj=0

 

[jeffp]

Don't know the profile of the different fats in hemp seed oil…it should be available on the web.

Here's some rapeseed info: https://startpage.com/do/search?lui=english&language=english&cat=web&query=+rapeseed++toxicity&nj=0

thanks, i intend to research this - it seems like it's time for an oil change. Katherine Albrecht's Startpage is great by the way.

 

[HyzerSoze]

I have no idea how it does for infusing, but we cook almost exclusively with avocado oil. It's supposedly one of the healthier oils and has a really high smoke point (not really relevant here, but still a plus). It has a mild flavor that works with pretty much anything.

 

[Slothington]

With cold infusion, I usually allow 1/2 cup of ABV to leech into 1/2 cup canola oil for seven days in a dark corner of my cabinet and I use that oil for brownies with good success. First question is, what is the longest amount of time I could leave the oil before it might spoil? Is 3 weeks too much?

3 weeks would likely be no problem with ABV. Google "infused herbal oils" or add "rancid" or "botulism" and you get a lot of hits, lot of info.

Herbal Academy of New England suggests steeping dried herbs for 4-6 weeks, then storing for up to a year after decanting.

University of Maine extension suggests tossing cold-infused oils (using dried herbs) after 3 months.

Most of the worry over botulism comes from using fresh herbs (water content).

Second question, aside from coconut oil which I love but i find it way too sweet with brownies, is there a healthier recommended oil that you could recommend?

I remember grape seed oil being very light in flavor. I'd use that where canola, olive, corn or other vegetable oil gave an unwanted flavor cast to whatever i was cooking or preparing.

Healthier? Hard to say for certain. Currently it's thought that unsaturated fats (mono and poly) are healthier, saturated fats are less-healthy (but not quite the devil they were previously thought to be). Here's a graph from ChartsBin (sources at the bottom of the page) that shows the fat composition of some common oils:

One question I have after reading through the Vapor Brownies thread, what role does baking the cold-infused oil play? Or in other words, what's the difference in effect you get from just the straight cold-infused oil vs the cold-infused oil that you then bake in a batch of brownies for xx minutes? I'd like to think that if I infuse ABV in some oil for a couple of weeks I wouldn't gain much by then heating the oil, but I don't really know.

 

[jeffp]

Slothington - thanks for the great post.
I have to tell you that these particular brownies with the oil/ABV cold infused for close to 3 weeks were definitely more potent and substantial in effect than the batches I previously baked with 7 days being the time frame for the infusion. I don't have an answer regarding the diminishing of effect from the baking but this time around I set the temp dial to 300 - the box called for 350. I left it baking about 10 minutes longer using the toothpick method to determine if its ready. Also, there is a FC member who I don't see here any longer - anyway she mentioned that she "warm infused" bud and coconut oil using a coffee warmer plate. She then just left the coconut oil in the fridge and took a spoonful whenever she felt like it.. and that the effects were quite powerful.

 

[Slothington]

I have to tell you that these particular brownies with the oil/ABV cold infused for close to 3 weeks were definitely more potent and substantial in effect than the batches I previously baked with 7 days being the time frame for the infusion.

Thanks for the update. I was going to try the 1-week infusion, but I'll skip that and go for 3-4 weeks. I think it'll largely depend on the oil used and the conditions it's kept in that will determine the longest, safest infusion. But I'm sure there's also a point of diminishing returns.

I don't have an answer regarding the diminishing of effect from the baking but this time around I set the temp dial to 300 - the box called for 350. I left it baking about 10 minutes longer using the toothpick method to determine if its ready.

Interesting. I may have to divide some cold-infused oil and bake half, then try them separately, just to satisfy the curiosity.

I'm still hunting around trying to figure out what makes one oil better for cold infusions than another. There are the practical concerns, like shelf-life, but there may also be something about the general fat composition (saturated vs unsaturated) or perhaps whether the fats are made up of long-chain fatty acids, or medium or short. It's all new to me and I've just started scratching the surface. I'll add to this thread if I find anything useful.

Ultimately, I'm after single-serving, no-bake cold infusions. Easiest thing I can think of, probably not the tastiest.

 

[Slothington]

So far, I haven't found much info about one oil being better for the cold-infusion process than another (aside from the need for the oil to remain in a liquid state during the infusion). Usually, herbalists will choose an oil based on the intended application of the finished infusion, or one that complements the herbs being infused.

But, it appears that oils that are primarily composed of short and medium chain fatty acids may be the best choice for our purposes, since they are more readily and easily metabolized than long or very long chain fatty acids. Here are some links to how it all works biologically:

Wikipedia: Fatty Acid

Wikipedia: Medium-chain triglyceride

Life Sci. 1998;62(14):1203-15.
Medium chain fatty acid metabolism and energy expenditure: obesity treatment implications.
Papamandjaris AA1, MacDougall DE, Jones PJ.

So which oils have the highest concentration of medium chain fatty acids (mcfa's)? Coconut oil is the highest, followed by palm kernel oil and ghee (and likely clarified butter). There's also MCT oil, more on that later.

Here's the breakdown on maximal concentrations of mcfa's in coconut oil, courtesy Wikipedia:
Caprylic acid (C8): 9%
Capric acid (C10): 10%
Lauric acid (C12): 52%

In palm kernel oil:
Lauric acid (C12): 48.2%

In ghee and clarified butter:
Combined scfa and mcfa's: 10-23% (estimate from various sources)

Kat Smiles has some other figures and info here, but I didn't see the sources listed.

I haven't had time to research yet, but lauric acid (C12) may be metabolized like a long chain fatty acid, not really what we want.


Right, so MCT oil. It's derived from coconut and/or palm kernel oil. Compositions vary from one brand to another, but it appears to be mostly caprylic and capric acid, not a lot else afaik. Again, I haven't yet looked into it in depth, but it may be a useful oil for our purposes.

 

[jeffp]

for single serving cold infusion, I haven't tried this yet but I've read of great results with firecrackers (peanut butter, graham crackers and ground bud) wrapped in aluminum foil on a sunny windowsill for an extended period of time. that's what originally led me to experiment with cold infusing oil for brownies.

please keep us posted regarding your research and experiments with different oils.