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How to Make Cannabis Butter

Cannabis butter, also known as “Cannabutter” is basically marijuana mixed with butter and commonly used in various food and drinks.  Weed brownies, cupcakes, and even candy containing THC and CBD are becoming more and more popular as marijuana becomes more accepted in many different regions within North America.

Making Cannabis Butter

Essentially, you can use the whole marijuana plant for your butter but this isn’t advised.  Some people prefer using only the buds containing crystals and leaves.  Other people prefer using “shake” which is all the leftover stuff from your bag of weed that usually falls off the buds because your pot has started to dry up.

Do I need to use special butter to make Cannabutter?

Any butter will do.  After all, you’re going to be creating a wonderfully new ingredient that will contain the extracts from the weed you are using.

If you’re looking for the healthiest alternative, use a grass fed or organic butter.

Use Shake or Ground Buds
Butter Not Margarine

Weed, Butter, Pot or Saucepan and a Strainer or Cheesecloth

Life doesn’t need to be complex in order to make Cannabutter.  For the sakes of this guide, we used some leaves we salvaged from plants we were growing.  It’s really up to whether you’d like to use shake or ground up buds.  Obviously, buds would be preferred if you’re looking to have a higher quality cannabis butter.

CBD vs. THC

Cannabis sativa has two components that will affect the way you feel upon ingestion: THC and CBD.

CBD is normally used for medicinal purposes.  If you were to ingest something that is 100% CBD, you would not feel the high that you might be acquainted with when smoking or ingesting something with THC in it.  In short, CBD is the medicine.  THC is what creates the high.

Cannabis butter can vary in potency as it is dependent on the quality and source of marijuana used.  One strand may be different from another and factors such as whether the plant was grown indoors or outdoors will certainly play a part in the end product.

Therefore, knowing the breakdown of your weed can certainly come into play depending on whether you’re looking for a high CBD or THC butter.

Many recreational users are simply looking for a high, in which case any weed will do.

Let’s get down to it.  Show me how to make Cannabutter!

How to prepare Cannabutter

Step 1

You should ensure that the cannabinoids in the cannabis are fully activated. This will depend primarily on which part of the cannabis you are using. Most people prefer making cannabutter from the leaves as mentioned before, therefore the extract could potentially have a higher THC content.

THC and the Decarboxylation Process

Activating the THC is a process known as decarboxylation. This can be achieved by placing the leaf or leaves on your oven and heating it to a temperature of two hundred and forty degrees (240 C) for thirty minutes until it is dried up and it can form crumbs which will later be added to the butter.

Step 2

Using a saucepan, boil a quarter of a glass of water. After the water has boiled, add butter into the mixture and keep it covered until it melts completely.

How much Weed do I need for Cannabis Butter?

The general ratio should be 4 sticks of butter for every ounce of weed.  By sticks, we mean the smaller rectangular cuts of butter you see at the grocery store.

Make sure you don’t add too much water into the saucepan as your end product can end up too diluted and you definitely don’t want this.

There is another alternative to using your home kitchen appliances when making weed butter now.  You can now use a dedicated butter maker using an extractor machine which is becoming quite popular as many people are getting more and more into marijuana extraction.

We have used the Magical Butter MB2E Botanical Extractor and it saved us a lot of time and mess.  This particular model sold on Amazon comes with a fun recipe book as well.

Step 3

After the butter has completely melted in the container you are using, add the marijuana you had formerly prepared. The weed should be grounded if it was in bud form.  Otherwise, if you’re using shake, it should be fine as it is.  As mentioned before we managed to collect enough leaves from our most recent batch to provide this tutorial for you.

Add the marijuana and stir for a couple of minutes. Turn down the heat a few degrees and let the mixture cook until the mixture turns thick and glossy. That is when you know that your mixture is ready.

Step 4

Set a separate bowl aside for the heated mixture. Since the mixture will be hot, you should preferably use a heat proof bowl. After you’ve found a bowl, place a layer of cheesecloth over the top and ensure that it is well fitted, with a string or a tape.

Step 5

Pour the mixture into the bowl slowly so that you do not spill any butter to avoid accidents. After pouring the contents from the oven into the cheese-clothed bowl. Untie the rope you had used to secure the cloth, hold the cloth together and squeeze out the remaining butter.

Step 6

Put the now prepared cannabutter into a fridge so that it may cool off. You should put the cannabutter into the fridge until the butter rises to the top and solidifies.

Step 7

The last step is to remove the cannabutter from the container in the fridge and repack it. Using a knife, cut around the edges of the container and ensure that the butter detaches itself from the container. Put the container upside down and there, you have your cannabis butter better known as cannabutter.

Uses of Cannabutter

  1. You can spread it on bread, scones or muffins. Applying the cannabutter as a spreadable makes it easy to use. Just think, anywhere you would typically use regular butter can be replaced with your new Cannabis Butter!
  2. More spreadable! Pancakes and waffles.  Let’s be creative
  3. You can also use the cannabutter to spice up mashed potatoes or even boiled ones. Try applying the paste on the potatoes before eating them
  4. Baking recipes – use butter as a major ingredient. You can use the cannabutter to make cookies, bread, brownies, cakes, candy… use your imagination!

Health Benefits of Cannabis Butter

Cannabutter is widely used by cancer or AIDS patients. Medically, cannabis has been used to relieve or suppress pain. Most people prefer ingesting the cannabis through cannabutter rather than smoking marijuana, oils, or other extracts.

Smoking Marijuana vs Eating it

There is a big difference when ingesting cannabis vs. smoking it. Smoking cannabis can create a different reaction from the THC where the psychoactive effects are more prominent as it is absorbed into the bloodstream immediately and into the brain unprocessed.

The unprocessed THC can have diverse effects on the human brain. Ingesting the cannabis through butter will ensure that the cannabinoids reach the brain after it has been processed, thus reducing the psychoactive effects of THC.

The THC will be introduced into the bloodstream through the process of digestion thus the effects will be released over time vs. the initial “hit” from smoking.

  • Cannabutter has to be prepared the right way. Some people put too much cannabis in the cannabutter thus making the effects after ingestion uncomfortable. Which strands you chose will play a big role in how you feel when eating cannabutter.  As mentioned, different weeds create different feelings.  Some give you energy, others keep you on the couch.

Other Things Benefits to Ingesting Cannabis Butter

It is also used to add nutritional value to our bodies. For instance, if your body is low on endocannabinoid then the cannabutter can be useful for supplementing this component into your body. Endocannabinoids can help regulate things such as appetite and mood in our body.

THC and Cannabutter

Now that we know how to make Cannabutter, one thing that you should keep in mind is that THC is not soluble in water and that is why we use butter for its oil content which makes it easier for the cannabinoid to dissolve in it.

Overcooking or overheating the cannabutter can destroy THC!  So be sure not to blast your stove on full.

Other Ways to Get THC and CBD into your Body

Apart from ingesting cannabis, there are a couple of ways you can still administer cannabis into your body, especially if you are using it for medical purposes. Here are some of the ways you can use to administer medical cannabis in your system.

  • Smoking – The most obvious means. This is done by taking dried cannabis and rolling it up in a paper or putting it into a smoking pipe.  Although this is the most common way of enjoying the benefits of marijuana, it can have adverse effects on your lungs over time.  Something to consider.
  • Vaporizing – using a vaporizer is the safest way of inhaling cannabis because you are not inhaling smoke which is the main reason why it can have effects on your lungs and body. You will only inhale the components of the pre-heated cannabis you put in the device called the vaporizer which heats it below its combustion point and releases the compounds which are then inhaled.

Now that we’ve looked at how to make cannabis butter (cannabutter) – how will you use it?

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