How long and how intense your high will be depends on the method of weed consumption you choose. But there is no cannabis high quite like the high you get from consuming edibles containing cannabutter.
The cannabis flower is being used more and more these days, for both cooking and baking. Cannabis butter and cannabis oils (coconut oil and olive oil) are used for making cannabis infusions used in spreads, baked goods, and even savory dishes. In this article, we will focus on the most common use of weed in baking – making cannabutter.
Since this is a highly researched topic, and we always want to keep you informed, here is everything you wanted to know about cannabis butter. If this is your first time making cannabis-infused butter, don’t worry. We will give you the answers to questions like what cannabutter is, can you make it at home, and what are the ingredients you’ll need.
What Is Cannabis Butter?
Cannabis is made from a variety of different chemicals including hydrocarbons, amino acids, terpenes, sugars, and the most important ones – cannabinoids.
To achieve the psychoactive effect of weed you need to decarboxylate the Tetrahydrocannabinolic acid (THCA) and the Cannabidiolic acid (CBDA) into delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and Cannabidiol (CBD).
Both THC and CBD are lipophilic, meaning they tend to combine or dissolve in lipids and fats.
As a result of that, when you extract them with fats they can be absorbed easily into our bodies. Hence cannabutter.
Cannabis butter or cannabutter is one of the most versatile ways of incorporating cannabis edibles into your food. It’s made by infusing regular unsalted butter with decarboxylated cannabis plants.
The most important thing when making cannabutter is to make sure you’re getting high-quality cannabis buds with an appropriate amount of THC in them. If marijuana is legal in your country, you can find it at your local dispensary. Once you have your cannabis buds, you’re ready to make your own cannabutter.
Some people decide to use hashish or kief (a powdery substance that is left at the bottom of the grinder), although both contain a higher amount of THC compared to regular cannabis.
How Is Cannabis Butter Made?
Cannabutter is made in three phases:
- Decarbing cannabinoids (30-40 minutes);
- Making weed butter (2-3 hours);
- Refrigerating (about an hour).
In order to make your weed butter, you will first need to enable the psychoactive potency of THC in your weed by decarboxylating. Decarboxylation is a chemical reaction that removes a carboxyl group (in this case, THCA and CBDA are transformed to THC and CBD).
Decarbing Cannabinoids in the Oven
THCA decarboxylation occurs at approximately 220-250 degrees Fahrenheit after 30-40 minutes by following these steps:
- Preheat the oven to 220-235 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Spread the buds on parchment paper, place them on a baking sheet, and put them in the oven to bake for around 30-40 minutes (mix the buds every 10 minutes so they don’t burn).
- When done, they should be crispy and light to medium brown in color.
Using an oven is one of the most common decarbing methods. Other methods include decarbing using the sous vide method and decarbing using a mason jar. The decarbed cannabis is later used to make cannabis butter.
After you decarb your weed, it needs to be ground into a fine spice-like consistency (similar to spices like oregano or basil) using a hand grinder. That is done by placing the marijuana buds in the grinder and grinding them up. You should make sure not to over-grind the weed (it shouldn’t be ground into a powder), because you will not be able to strain it from the butter afterwards, and your butter might have a bitter taste.
Cannabutter Recipe
If you want a step-by-step guide to making marijuana butter, look no further. All you’ll need is:
- Medium saucepan
- Strainer
- Cheesecloth
- Wooden spoon
- 2 cups of water
- 2 cups of butter
- Ground-up cannabis (as much as you decide to use)
- Thermometer
- Airtight container
It’s good to maintain a 50:50 ratio of water to butter because when you cook the butter, the water starts to evaporate, and you might burn the butter. The added water keeps the cooking temperature at an optimal level.
Stovetop Cooking Method
The cooking process is fairly simple – you only need to follow these easy steps:
- Place a medium saucepan on the stovetop on low heat.
- Place the sticks of butter and the water inside.
- Place the ground cannabis in the melted butter, mix with a wooden spoon and cover with a lid.
- Bring to a gentle simmer, simmer for 2-3 hours, and keep the temperature at 200 degrees Fahrenheit at most (be careful not to burn the butter, use the thermometer from time to time).
- Remove from heat.
- Put the plant material through a mesh strainer or a cheesecloth. The strainer will divide the plant matter from the butter, so you don’t get a bitter-tasting butter.
- Place the cannabis-infused butter in an airtight container and let it cool down at room temperature.
- Refrigerate the infused butter (or put it in the freezer) and use it in cooking for up to 6 months.
Can You Make Weed Butter in a Slow Cooker?
Apart from using the stovetop to make cannabutter, it can also be made in your slow cooker. The procedure is somewhat similar. You put all the ingredients in a mason jar and you put the mason jar in the slow cooker filled with water. The temperature should be between 160-200 degrees Fahrenheit at most, and the cooking time is up to 3 hours.
The benefits of using a crockpot are that you can set a constant cooking temperature and return for the finished product after 3 hours. After you cook the butter, you strain it like in the previous method and keep the butter in the fridge or freezer.
Tips for Dosing and Using Cannabutter
You have made your cannabis butter and now you are hesitant as to where you can use it. Cannabutter can be used in the same ways as you would use regular butter. You can use your favorite cookbook in order to find recipes you love for different savory or sweet dishes that you can incorporate your cannabutter in.
People use cannabis-infused butters for making recipes for different spreads, savory pasta sauces and meat sauces, to infuse vinaigrettes and other dressings for salads and sauces, to infuse coffee, to make pot popcorn, as well as in baking (making weed brownies, cookies, cakes, banana bread). Your possibilities are endless.
One thing you need to be mindful of when using weed butter is the dosage. Because edibles take a longer time to kick in, you should start by trying out a small dose of your cannabutter and waiting for an hour to see the results. After that, you will have a rough estimate as to how much butter you should put in your recipes.
How Long Does It Actually Take to Make Cannabutter?
If you consider making cannabutter at home, you should remember that the whole process of decarbing the weed, grinding it, making the butter, and letting it firm up may take somewhere between 4-5 hours if you have weed that hasn’t been decarbed before. If your weed has been decarbed, the whole process can last up to 4 hours.
It’s important that you don’t skip the decarboxylation process because the decarboxylation that happens while you’re making weed butter is not enough to unleash the full potential of the THC in your weed. Make sure you acquire high-quality cannabis in order to make a high-quality cannabutter. And if you’re looking to learn about canna oil, visit our guide on how to make cannabis oil.
