How It’s Made
How Ingestible Oils Are Made
You can stir them into a smoothie or blend them into cake batter. Get to know cannabis oils — what they are, how they’re made and ways to use them.
Last updated September 15, 2025 | Published on September 21, 2021
Belonging to the family of cannabis extracts, ingestible oils are made of concentrated cannabis compounds called distillates. When blended with a carrier oil, these ingestible oils can be consumed in many ways: mixed into food, stirred into drinks or swallowed on their own. You’ll see ingestible cannabis oils packaged in bottles and convenient oral sprays, as well as capsules.
While some ingestible oils have a mild cannabis flavour and aroma, others are nearly tasteless and odourless.
Let’s dive into how these versatile products are made.
1. Choosing the right cannabis
The first step is to choose the cannabis to use for extraction. Just as it does in perfume making, the characteristics of an oil’s base ingredients will affect certain qualities, such as aroma and potency, in the finished product.
Some Licensed Producers grow all their plants in-house, while others produce oils from cannabis they purchase from third-party suppliers.
In Canada, many Licensed Producers trim their bud to improve the visual appeal and smoking experience. All that trimmed plant material — or “biomass,” in industry speak — can be set aside to create extracts. Stalks, stems, leaves and irregular or low-quality flower all contain cannabinoids and terpenes and are commonly used to make oils.
When deciding which cannabis to use for producing oil, Licensed Producers typically consider many of the following factors:
- biomass type (whole flower or trim?)
- cultivar (indica, sativa or hybrid? single strain or blend?)
- cannabinoids and their potencies
- terpene profile
- moisture content
- date harvested
- processing and storage conditions (how was it harvested, was it flash-frozen or dried and cured, and how was it packaged and stored?)
2. Isolating the cannabinoids
During the extraction process, the desired plant compounds are isolated from the plant material. For ingestible cannabis oils, the cannabinoids tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD) are typically isolated, but not every product is created the same way. Here are some common extraction techniques.
The first step in extraction is soaking cannabis biomass in a liquid solvent. Alcohol, ethanol, carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrocarbons like butane and propane are among the most common solvents used to pull the cannabinoids and terpenes out of biomass.
What are the different types of extracts?
Most extracts are designed for oral consumption. These are typically mixed with oil or other ingredients and swallowed (ingested), placed under the tongue (absorbed sublingually) or dissolved in the cheek (absorbed buccally).
After soaking, the plant material is strained out and heat and/or pressure is applied to cause the solvent to evaporate so that only the oil remains. This process typically produces a purified extract that contains high levels of THC and/or CBD, but very few other cannabinoids or terpenes, since those are often degraded by heat. The extract is further refined through distillation to remove any remaining aromas and to increase the purity of THC or CBD.
Some Licensed Producers prefer to avoid heat and instead use cold ethanol and cold-water extraction methods in efforts to preserve as much of the plants’ terpenes and minor cannabinoids as possible. This approach is typically favoured by those making concentrates like hash oil.
Finally, other Licensed Producers use one of two carbon dioxide (CO2) extraction processes, which involve using heat and pressure to pull cannabinoids and terpenes from dried cannabis. With a supercritical CO2 process, the heat and pressure can be adjusted to isolate specific cannabinoids or terpenes. Subcritical extraction happens at lower temperatures, keeping more fragile cannabinoids and terpenes intact. The result is a wide-spectrum oil that contains a large array of compounds, including cannabinoids, terpenes and flavonoids.
3. Creating the blend
The cannabis distillate undergoes one final step to create a user-friendly product with good viscosity, meaning its ability to flow smoothly.
Most extracts are simply diluted with a carrier oil. Common carrier oils include medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil, sunflower oil, olive oil and coconut oil.
Because some cannabis isolates and distillates are virtually flavourless, some Licensed Producers won’t attempt to mask whatever cannabis taste remains. Others reintroduce botanical or aromatic cannabis terpenes — and sometimes other plants and spices — to augment the flavour of the oil.
Depending on the method of delivery, taste may not be a concern. A capsule washed down with water likely won’t taste like much at all, while an oil that’s meant to be dropped under the tongue may have a stronger flavour
4. Testing cannabis oils
To comply with Health Canada regulations, Licensed Producers must test for quantity or concentration of cannabinoids in every batch of ingestible oil. Some conduct multiple in-house and/or third-party tests to ensure their formulations are properly blended and have the desired cannabinoid potency, at both the extract and the finished product stages. It’s also tested for the presence of contaminants, such as pesticides, heavy metals, residual solvents, microbials and toxins.
Measuring dosage of cannabis oils
Consistency is a key benefit of legal cannabis. So how do Licensed Producers of ingestible oils ensure the same amount of THC and CBD every time? A completely blended formulation is key, as well as packaging designed for precise dispensing.
These are some of the ways cannabis oil is measured and consumed:
- Gel capsules: Each capsule in a package contains a consistent amount of THC and CBD, as noted on the label.
- Dropper or plastic syringe: Bottled oils may be packaged with additional tools that allow you to measure and consume an exact amount.
- Squeeze bottles: These look very similar to eye drops and are dispensed in the same way, with each drop dispensing a similar amount of oil.
- Spray bottles: Each spray dispenses a specific amount, as stated on the label.
How to use cannabis oil
Your body may absorb THC and CBD more effectively when these cannabinoids are consumed alongside another fat, which is why some consumers use their oils in recipes that would normally include oil, such as baked goods.
Cannabis oil can be consumed without cooking, by mixing it into an olive oil and balsamic vinaigrette or sprinkling it over a dish such as a vegetable sauté. If you are baking or cooking with cannabis, know that heat can degrade the amount of THC and CBD in the oil.
Whichever way you consume them, remember that ingestible oils can be potent. Start low, go slow and be mindful of your dosage when adding oils to food.
