What Are The Advantages Of Cannabutter?

I've traditionally baked with weed by just grinding it up into a fine powder and tossing it into a recipe. What are the advantages of using cannabutter that would justify going to all that extra trouble?

 

I have always done some extraction method, making butter or oil, then using it for baking. THC is not water soluble, you have to use some type of oil and heat to extract the THC. But you don't have to make butter. You grind the cannabis into a fine powder and then add it to a small amount of hot oil and allow it to dissolve, then you add the oil/cannabis mix to the food you're preparing.

 

It's the fat content of the butter not the butter that works with edibles. So you can use anything with fat but butter works well because it can then be used in many recipes.

 

Other than being one of the most efficient ways to extract THC, cannabutter can be used with many recipes. Literally anything you can imagine is capable of getting you high if done correctly. People think of special brownies, but the options are unlimited. What about a nice lobster? mm

Butter isn't the only way either, I have a mason jar of cannabis infused coconut-oil that has proven versatile for many dishes.

 

Been wanting to try coconut oil here.

 

Great idea with the coconut oil!!

 

Well I had to try it out so I made some brownies with canna-oil or whatever you call it. Every brownie mix I've seen asks for oil, not butter.

A friend of mine knows some people who grow weed and sell it to a medical marijuana clinic, and they gave him some branches they hadn't harvested. Funny thing is he doesn't smoke pot so he just gave it to me, wouldn't take any money for it, I had to insist he let me buy him a pitcher of beer and some nachos.

After plucking all those branches my fingertips were black with resin. I ended up with about an ounce of leaves and 1/4 ounce of buds. I ground the leaves into a fine powder, heated 2 cups of vegetable oil in a pan on low heat, then threw in the powder and let it simmer for 45 minutes. I then added half of it to 2 packages of brownie mix and baked it, saved the other half for later.

The brownies came out great, but I don't really see the advantage, other than the brownies don't taste of pot as much. Granted THC is not water soluble but there's oil in brownie mix and if the pot is ground into a powder the THC will be extracted just fine, and whatever isn't will get eaten anyway.

So I just baked the second batch this morning, the extra canna-oil had been in my refrigerator for a week. I don't really see that it's worth the extra trouble, In the future I believe I'll just throw in the powder.

BTW, ain't it great to have friends like that?

 

As others have said, the benefit of using cannabutter isn't the cannabutter itself. The benefit is in the decarboxylation of the bud before you put it into the butter itslef. Decarboxylating IS important, and you should always decarb before you cook - otherwise it won't be nearly as strong as it could have

 

My benefactor came thru again, this time I ended up with about 1 1/2 ounces of leaves as well as another 1/4 of buds. He tells me they won't be harvesting any more weed for another month or so, which is okay with me, I've got more weed than I can handle, and that's after giving most of it away.

This time I went all out, I ground up all the leaves and wound up with more than a cup of powder. I didn't make cannabutter, I didn't decarboxylate it, I just mixed the powder with 2 sticks of room-temperature softened butter and let it sit overnight in a covered plastic container. Then I mixed it into 2 boxes of chocolate chunk cookie mix and made pan cookies. I ate one yesterday and got completely wasted, I tell my friends that if you don't want to get wasted to just eat half of one at a time.

Yes you can taste the pot and the cookies look greenish but I've heard no complaints. I believe I'll stick to the old-school method, but that's okay, I'm an old guy, set in my ways, you young whippersnappers!