We’ve covered how to make infused cooking oil before — but what about cannabutter?
Many would argue: nothing truly compares to the luxurious texture of butter. This cannabutter is sure to become your go-to recipe for all your baking and medicating needs.
Anything with a decent fat content will carry THC. Thus, butter is a wonderful and effective option for whipping up your favorite medicated snack. Also, butter is a common ingredient in many recipes. Understanding how to make infused butter offers countless options for at-home edibles.
Advice from The Julia Child of Weed
The Los Angeles Times spoke with Jeff Danzer — a.k.a. “the Julia Child of weed” — this most recent 4/20 holiday to get all the best cannabutter tips. Accordingly, his directions were spot on, yielding a delicious and potent batch of butter. If you’re an ambitious cannabis cook, we recommend snagging a copy of Danzer’s cookbook, The 420 Gourmet: The
Elevated Art of Cannabis Cuisine. The pages of this cookbook hold all the best secrets for desserts, dinners, appetizers, and more — all without the distracting, grassy flavor that can quickly sour any edible. We’d like to think Julia Child herself would approve.
There are a couple noteworthy tips from Danzer that can take average cannabutter up a notch:
- Soak and blanch your cannabis nugs: “Just like you wash your fruits and vegetables, you have to clean your cannabis,” says Danzer. This step ensures you’re starting with the cleanest, healthiest and safest cannabis for infusing.Simply do so by soaking the coarsely ground cannabis in filtered water for 24-48 hours, changing the water every 12 hours. Then, blanch by boiling in water for a few minutes, before moving the buds into ice water. This will kill any lingering microbes on the plant material.
- Use a french press to ensure the smoothest butter texture. We’ll go into detail on how to use it below.
What tools you’ll need:
- French press
- Tea strainer
- Large saucepan
- Baking sheet
- Cheesecloth
- Distilled water
- Aluminum foil
- Paper towels
Ingredients:
- 7 grams (1/4 oz) of dried cannabis, coarsely ground
- 1 and 1/3 sticks of salted butter
Directions:
1. Start by cleaning your cannabis material (see notes above).
2. Place the freshly cleaned cannabis into a tea strainer. Use the tea strainer to hold the cannabis in boiling water, and then moving it into ice cold water to blanch.
3. Then, spread the blanched cannabis across a large baking sheet, with a piece of aluminum foil gently placed over it. Leave it like this overnight; this will allow the cannabis to dry.
4. The following day, heat your oven to 240 degrees. Fold the aluminum foil down over the edges of the baking sheet, completely covering the cannabis. Next, place baking sheet in oven for 60-90 minutes. This will decarboxylate your cannabis (a.k.a. activate the THC).
5. Remove baking sheet and allow to cool for a few minutes. Then, remove the foil and replace with paper towels. This will create a dark environment that still has ample airflow.
6. Next, allow the cannabis to dry for another 2-4 hours, eliminating any residual moisture.
7. Melt butter in a French press by placing the press upright in the saucepan with boiling water. Add in the cannabis to the melted butter. Press the plunger down to just above the melted butter.
8. Leave the French press in simmering water for 3 hours.
9. After 3 hours, remove the press from the water, pressing the plunger all the way down. Pour the strained butter from the press into a reusable, glass container. Leave this container in the refrigerator to solidify. The result: deliciously smooth cannabutter, ready for use. Keep in the fridge for up to 1 month.
