Cannabutter is butter that has been mixed with cannabis. Cannabis, also called “weed,” is becoming increasingly popular for medical and recreational uses. Usually, people smoke marijuana, but more and more people are starting to eat it.
Edibles are a great way to use marijuana instead of smoking it. In the long run, it can help save your lungs. You can also add cannabutter to almost any treatment, whether it’s sweet or not. Cannabutter can be bought at a dispensary near you, or you can make it yourself. It can be used in brownies, muffins, bread, and pretty much anything else you can think of.
How to Tell if Cannabutter is Bad?
Obvious Signs of Spoilage
- Many people put it on their breakfast toast to make it taste better and kick it more.
- But when cannabutter goes terrible, it doesn’t smell or looks good either!
- Mould will probably grow on the surface, which is a bad sign and the first sign that it is not safe to eat.
- You might think it’s still good to eat if there are no mould spots on it. But if you bite, you might not like how rancid or sour it tastes.
- No matter how long and hard you worked on it, it would help if you got rid of it.
- And then there’s the smell of spoiled cannabutter, which is easy to spot.
- It will smell like fermented fruit, with a sweet but unpleasant smell that will make you throw it down the drain immediately.
- If you see any of these signs, you should eliminate your cannabutter immediately.
- If you eat cannabutter that has gone bad, you may get stomachaches, a common side effect of eating lousy butter.
- When you eat food that has cannabis in it, you may also feel sleepy, have a dry mouth, and have trouble controlling your muscles.
Risk Factors for Spoilage
- Too much light and heat got into the cannabis butter. In this way, it is the same as lard and butter.
- Mould, mildew, and moisture build up on the surface.
- They are being exposed to bacteria, bugs, and other dangerous substances.
For example, you used a spoon to add cannabutter to your cookie dough. You licked the spoon to get a little taste of the yummy cookie dough. Then you used the same spoon to get cannabutter, so bacteria from your mouth got into the butter.
What are the Benefits of Cannabutter?
Cannabutter is good for you in a lot of ways. Every day, more research is done on how cannabutter can help people feel better. Cannabutter is good for you, from your health to your appearance.
Some people might feel better after eating cannabis than after smoking it. Some facts about cannabutter are essential to know. Here are some of the many good things about eating cannabutter.
Health Benefits
One of the best reasons to eat cannabutter is that it might help relieve bothersome symptoms. Studies have shown that cannabutter or cannabis, in general, can help relieve chronic pain, and this includes arthritis pain, stress or anxiety pain, and other kinds of pain.
Some studies have also shown that people with cancer, seizures, or other long-term illnesses can benefit from using cannabis. Cannabutter also contains anti-nausea properties, and it can help people feeling sick and want to throw up almost immediately.
Cannabutter is good for your health because it can help control how your body works. This includes the way you sleep and how your body works. Cannabutter may help you get to sleep if you have trouble sleeping at night. Cannabutter has all the health benefits of regular cannabis, but it is even better for you than smoking. This is because cannabis stops your lungs from getting tired, which can happen when you smoke a lot.
Beauty Benefits
Cannabutter can help you grow hair that is strong and healthy. It can also help stop hair from falling out or breaking. This is because cannabutter has a lot of vitamins in it, including vitamins A, C, E, and Omega. Cannabutter can even help open hair follicles and clean them.
This helps hair grow and get stronger. The scalp and skin are also kept healthy and hydrated by the high level of micronutrients. The vitamins in cannabutter, especially the Omega 3, 6, and 9 vitamins, also help to keep the skin healthy.
What you’ll Need to Make Cannabutter from Scratch?
You will need a few tools to make cannabutter from scratch without problems. There’s a good chance that you already have some of these things in your kitchen. Here, we show a straightforward way to do it with something you might already have in your kitchen.
Tools:
- Crockpot or slow cooker
- Baking sheet
- Parchment paper
- Grinder
- Pastry thermometer
- Cheesecloth
- Rubber band
- Sealable jar
- Butter stick mould (optional)
Ingredients:
- 3 cups unsalted butter
- 17-30g cannabis flower, depending on strain potency and preference
Make Cannabutter in Just 5 Steps
There are two common ways to make weed butter: The slow-cooker method (most popular) and the stovetop method.
Cannabutter Recipe: Slow-Cooker Method
Step 1: Decarb your cannabis
- Set the oven to 240°F and put parchment paper on a baking sheet.
- To get rid of the sugars in your cannabis flower, grind it in small amounts. Spread it out on your baking sheet evenly. Bake for 40 minutes while stirring every 10 minutes.
Step 2: Melt butter
- Put your slow cooker on high and put the butter in it. Cook, stirring every so often until all the butter is melted.
Step 3: Slow cook for 3-4 hours
- Turn down the heat and add the decarbed cannabis to the melted butter. Stir until everything is mixed in.
- Cook on low for 3–4 hours with the lid on. Mix the ingredients often and keep an eye on the heat, so they don’t burn. If the mixture gets hotter than 200°F to 220°F, set the slow cooker to “Keep Warm” for 15 to 20 minutes to cool it down.
- Once the mixture has been cooking for 4 hours, please turn off the heat and let it cool until it is cool enough to handle.
Step 4: Strain cannabutter mixture
- Wrap a double-layered piece of cheesecloth around a jar or bowl to strain your cannabutter mixture.
- Put a rubber band around the cheesecloth and leave space so the mixture can hold your plant matter and drain. Pour the butter mixture that has cooled through cheesecloth. Once everything is in, remove the rubber band and pull the cheesecloth ends together.
- Squeeze the leftover plant matter gently to get the last bit of butter out, but don’t squeeze it too hard, or the mixture will become too bitter.
Step 5: Store
- You can store your butter in the strained jar or pour the mixture into butter stick moulds.
- If you decide to do this, pour the mixture into the moulds and put them in the fridge for a few hours to harden.
Cannabutter Recipe: Stovetop Method
Step 1: Decarb cannabis
Set the oven to 240°F and put parchment paper on a baking sheet. To get rid of the sugars in your cannabis flower, grind it in small amounts, and spread it out on your baking sheet evenly. Bake for 40 minutes while stirring every 10 minutes.
Step 2: Melt butter
Melt all of the butter in a large stockpot over low heat.
Step 3: Simmer on low for 3-4 hours
Once the butter is melted, add the decarbed cannabis. Stir to mix. Cook on low for 3–4 hours while stirring often. Check the temperature constantly so it doesn’t get too hot and burn. To keep the taste and effects of the plant, you don’t want the temperature to go above 200°F–220°F. After the time is up, let the mixture cool down a bit.
Step 4: Strain cannabutter mixture
Wrap a double-layered piece of cheesecloth around a jar or bowl to strain your cannabutter mixture. Put a rubber band around the cheesecloth and leave space so the mixture can hold your plant matter and drain. Pour the butter mixture that has cooled through cheesecloth. Once everything is in, remove the rubber band and pull the cheesecloth ends together. Squeeze the leftover plant matter gently to get the last bit of butter out, but don’t squeeze it too hard, or the mixture will become too bitter.
Step 5: Store
You can store your butter in the strained jar or pour the mixture into butter stick moulds. If you decide to do this, pour the mixture into the moulds and put them in the fridge for a few hours to harden.
Using an Electric Infuser to Make Cannabutter
There are a lot of different electric infusers on the market today, like LEVO, ONGROK, and Magical Butter. Some have more features than others, like being able to decarboxylate and bake in the device, but all of them let you make your weed butter and canna oil with the push of a button.
For the best taste and effect, you still need to decarboxylate your flower in some way, but using an electric infuser makes the process a bit easier. I’ve also found that a machine can reduce the pungent smell that can sometimes fill the whole house when making infused treats.
Controlling the temperature is another common worry when making cannabutter, and these machines take care of that too. When you heat something on the stove or in a slow cooker, you don’t have as much control over how hot it gets.
When you use an electric infuser, you only have to press one button, and the machine will adjust the temperature for you. An electric infuser might be a good investment if you prefer to eat homemade edibles made with cannabis instead of smoking it.
On the market today, electric infusers seem to be made in one of two ways. In a simpler version, you still decarb your cannabis in the oven, put your flour, oil, or butter on a base, and hold it together with a top with a blade. This machine takes care of the herbs and the temperature, but you still have to strain the tea by hand.
The best infusers will let you decarb, steep, strain, and sometimes even bake all in one machine. Since straining is probably the messiest and most time-consuming part of making cannabutter, being able to do this makes the process of making cannabutter even easier.
What is the Shelf Life of Cannabutter?
If the pot butter is made right with weed that has already been decarboxylated, it can last up to six months. Chef Amber at Medical Jane says, “Cannabutter made from unsmoked cannabis flowers can be kept in the fridge for up to 6 months.”
If you want to keep cannabutter in the freezer for longer than six months, you should freeze it in pieces. If you do this, it won’t take as long for the butter to get soft when you need it. After thawing the amount of cannabutter, you want to use, put it back in the fridge and label it.
Conclusion
Cannabutter can be bought online in some places where marijuana is legal if you can’t find a local dispensary that sells it. Cannabutter can be purchased on its own or in ready-to-use recipes on many websites. Because they are made with high-quality cannabis, many cannabutter products sold in stores are high in THC and CBD.
