when i need a solid-at-room-temp fat, i prefer coconut oil to butter.
a) because it's more shelf-stable,
b) because i use it in topicals,
c) because i have vegan medible patients.
i made the switch mostly because of c), i figured none of my non-vegan patients would be like "ey!
i can tell there's no animal fat in this!" (and i was right.)
for liquid i've been using food-grade grapeseed oil (for similar reasons) but i really really want to make some apricot kernel oil infusion for my topicals. if only it weren't so damn spendy.
the sticky "BadKat's CannaPharm....." at the top of the page has a good coconut oil recipe (among others!)