Ethanol extraction uses food-grade alcohol to dissolve cannabinoids and terpenes out of cannabis. It is one of the oldest ways to make cannabis extracts; old-fashioned tinctures were essentially cannabis soaked in alcohol.
In modern processing, plant material is soaked or washed in ethanol, often chilled to reduce how much chlorophyll and plant wax gets pulled in. The liquid is filtered, and then the ethanol is evaporated and recovered, leaving a crude oil behind.
Ethanol extraction scales well, so it is commonly used for large batches. The crude oil is often refined further into distillate, which then goes into vape carts, edibles and tinctures. Some tinctures still use ethanol as the final carrier.
Ethanol is good at grabbing cannabinoids but can also pull out unwanted plant compounds and lose some terpenes, which is why it is usually followed by refining steps. It is flammable, so it is handled in professional, permitted facilities.
Like other solvent methods, ethanol extracts are tested for residual solvents, which should fall within regulatory limits. The COA shows those results along with potency.