cannawarrior
12-26-2007, 11:07 PM
I have been cooking with cannabis for a few years now. These here are some tips based on my experience. Anyone who has something to add I encourage you to reply.
1. Making cannabutter first then using that in the recipe is better than adding buds direct to the recipe. There are two reasons for this. The first is that a long slow cook to make butter will extract the thc more efficiently than just adding buds to whatever you are cooking. The second reason is that if you make the butter first you can strain the spent plant matter out, which improves the taste of the finished product. butter keeps forever in the freezer and is there whenever you need/want it :cool:
2. Pure butter with the highest fat content is what you want. Margarine and oils aren't as good as their fat content isn't as high. Some use ghee in preference to butter as it has an even higher fat content.
3. A long slow cook is preferable to a short cook. The longer you keep the brew cooking the more thc and cannabinoids will be extracted in the butter. Its also important to not let the mix boil as this degrades thc content. A double boiler is good insurance against burning the mix.
4. Get high. This should be No.1, but I just remembered it now. It is pretty much compulsory to get high and put on some good music or a dvd while cooking. To make cannabutter straight is blasphemous IMO. Also, an alarm clock might come in useful, in case you pass out while the shit is still on the stove.... :rolleyes:
5. Rinse the plant material in warm water a few times before use. To do this just put all the plant material in the pot, cover the material in hot water from the kettle or tap, let it sit for 10 minutes and then carefully pour off. Repeat 2-3 times or until the poured off water turns from dark green into a very light green. This helps absorb some of the chlorophyll out of the plant matter and will help reduce the green taste in the finished product. THC is not water soluble so as long as you are careful you won't lose any appreciable amount of thc in this process.
6. Orange essence really helps with the smell while cooking. And the longer you cook the stronger the extraction will be. I make a day of it and usually have the butter simmering for at least 8 hours.
7. The stronger the butter the better, and the stronger you make your butter, the less of it you need in your recipe. Its easy to dilute overly powerful butter by making a recipe with half cannabutter and half normal butter, and this will help to reduce the green taste as well. If done properly you can make very potent butter with just leaf, but you may want to give it a bit of extra kick by adding some resiny trim or even buds. I don't tend to do this myself as I find I can make the butter potent enough with just the leaf, and save my buds fro smoking. Cooking time is important as previously mentioned, and finally the amount of butter can be manipulated as well. If you reduce the amount of butter in the mix the more potent the finished product will be as long as you cook it for long enough. There is no set formula, too many variables, you just have to experiment.
1. Making cannabutter first then using that in the recipe is better than adding buds direct to the recipe. There are two reasons for this. The first is that a long slow cook to make butter will extract the thc more efficiently than just adding buds to whatever you are cooking. The second reason is that if you make the butter first you can strain the spent plant matter out, which improves the taste of the finished product. butter keeps forever in the freezer and is there whenever you need/want it :cool:
2. Pure butter with the highest fat content is what you want. Margarine and oils aren't as good as their fat content isn't as high. Some use ghee in preference to butter as it has an even higher fat content.
3. A long slow cook is preferable to a short cook. The longer you keep the brew cooking the more thc and cannabinoids will be extracted in the butter. Its also important to not let the mix boil as this degrades thc content. A double boiler is good insurance against burning the mix.
4. Get high. This should be No.1, but I just remembered it now. It is pretty much compulsory to get high and put on some good music or a dvd while cooking. To make cannabutter straight is blasphemous IMO. Also, an alarm clock might come in useful, in case you pass out while the shit is still on the stove.... :rolleyes:
5. Rinse the plant material in warm water a few times before use. To do this just put all the plant material in the pot, cover the material in hot water from the kettle or tap, let it sit for 10 minutes and then carefully pour off. Repeat 2-3 times or until the poured off water turns from dark green into a very light green. This helps absorb some of the chlorophyll out of the plant matter and will help reduce the green taste in the finished product. THC is not water soluble so as long as you are careful you won't lose any appreciable amount of thc in this process.
6. Orange essence really helps with the smell while cooking. And the longer you cook the stronger the extraction will be. I make a day of it and usually have the butter simmering for at least 8 hours.
7. The stronger the butter the better, and the stronger you make your butter, the less of it you need in your recipe. Its easy to dilute overly powerful butter by making a recipe with half cannabutter and half normal butter, and this will help to reduce the green taste as well. If done properly you can make very potent butter with just leaf, but you may want to give it a bit of extra kick by adding some resiny trim or even buds. I don't tend to do this myself as I find I can make the butter potent enough with just the leaf, and save my buds fro smoking. Cooking time is important as previously mentioned, and finally the amount of butter can be manipulated as well. If you reduce the amount of butter in the mix the more potent the finished product will be as long as you cook it for long enough. There is no set formula, too many variables, you just have to experiment.