How To Make CBD Butter
Ingredients and Supplies
• CBD hemp flower
• Butter
• Water
• Cheesecloth
• Sauce pot
• Oven
• Wooden mixing spoon
• Medium or large bowl or container to store the cannabutter
Step-by-Step
1. Determine the Potency You Want
The amount of cannabis used depends on how strong you want your edibles to be. Potency is measured in milligrams (mg) of CBD. Novice cannabis users may find comfort in a dosage starting around 10 mg per serving. But everyone is different and there are many factors that contribute to proper dosing. Age, gender, weight and your overall wellness goals all play a part. Some users may have upwards of 100 mg per dose.
So let’s get down to the math of it. If you are making a batch of 12 brownies (the classic edible treat), and you want each brownie to be 20 mg, you will need 240 mg total (12 brownies x 20 mg each). When purchasing cannabis from your dispensary or hemp store, the potency of the flower will be measured in percent of THC or CBD. For example, a gram of hemp with 23% CBD can be made into an edible with 230 mg of CBD (1 gram = 1,000 mg, 23% of 1,000 mg is 230 mg). Once you’ve determined the potency you want in your edibles, it’s time to decarboxylate the flower.
2. Decarboxylate
This is possibly the most forgotten step in making cannabutter, but it’s incredibly important. Cannabis flower contains the precursors to THC and CBD, THCa and CBDa. To decarboxylate is to remove the carboxylic acid group from a compound (the ‘a’ in THCa and CBDa). The process of “decarbing” cannabis makes it ready for consumption.
To decarb flower, preheat your oven to 240°F (any higher can burn important parts of the plant). Place a piece of wax paper on a baking sheet and spread the cannabis over the sheet. The average time in the oven is about 30 minutes, but this can vary with the age of the flower. Fresh cannabis with more moisture might take longer while older, dryer cannabis requires less time. Every 10 minutes or so, stir the flower around on the baking sheet so that all sides are equally exposed. It’s done decarbing when the color changes from light green to a darker green.
3. Grind
Using a hand grinder, grind the cannabis coarsely. Don’t overgrind it and make the cannabis powdery.
4. Stove Top
In a sauce pot, combine equal amounts of butter and water (for example, 1 cup of butter and 1 cup of water). The water helps regulate temperature and will be separated out later. Once the butter begins to melt, add the ground cannabis to the mixture. Keep the temperature at a low simmer, between 160°F and 200°F); you never want to bring the mixture to a boil. Occasional stir the pot, so to speak. This process will take from 2.5-4 hours.
5. Strain
Take a piece of cheesecloth and stretch it over the container you wish to store your cannabutter in. Once the water/butter/cannabis mixture has cooled down a bit, pour it over the cheesecloth and let it strain. Don’t squeeze the cheesecloth.
6. Refrigerate and Separate
Once the mixture has been strained through the cheesecloth, it’s time to refrigerate. After a few hours, the water and the butter will separate. Drain the water and now you have a tub of ready-to-use cannabutter.
Time to Bake/Cook
Now that you have your CBD cannabutter, it’s time to bake or cook your favorite treats. Be mindful of dosing by calculating how much cannabis you used, how much cannabutter you have and how many treats you plan to make using that butter. For example, if you used CBD flower with 24% CBD and made 1 cup of cannabutter, that cannabutter has 240 mg in it. Using the whole cup of cannabutter to make a batch of 12 brownies will result in brownies with 20 mg of CBD each. Now you’re fully ready to make your favorite edibles.
How do you use CBD butter?
CBD butter can be used in a variety of ways to experience the potential therapeutic and health benefits of cannabidiol on your endocannabinoid system. Use CBD butter in place of butter or margarine and bake it into cookies, muffins, or pastries. Infused butter may be used as a substitute for butter in everyday cooking — to fry eggs in a pan or butter your toast.
If you choose to infuse oil instead of butter, you can use it as a tincture, dosing with a teaspoon at a time. As with anything infused, start low and go slow for best results. Start with a teaspoon or less and gradually increase the amount you consume until you find the right dose for you.
If you choose to infuse coconut oil, you can make topicals, such as a lip balm or salve. Add a few drops of essential oils for fragrance and you’ve created your own personal CBD-infused topical.
How much CBD is in CBD butter?
Determining how much CBD is in your infusion can be tricky. It is entirely dependent on how much plant material you use, the potency of the marijuana or hemp, how much butter you use, and how long you let the mixture infuse. Generally, a good ratio is 1 cup of butter (2 sticks) to 1 cup of plant material. The longer you allow the mixture to infuse, the more potent the results will be — until you reach maximum potency.
What is the best butter for CBD butter?
For the purists, full fat, unsalted sticks of butter are the number one choice for CBD-infused butter. However, for vegans or those who are more health-conscious, coconut oil is a perfectly acceptable alternative. As mentioned earlier, you may substitute various types of oils for a more viscous final product better suited to your health or cooking needs.
Keep in mind that cannabinoids are fat-soluble, meaning they bind to fats. Those fats carry the cannabinoids into future recipes where you substitute CBD oil or cannabutter for standard oil or butter.
With CBD’s popularity soaring, making your own CBD-infused butter is a great way to experiment with the cannabinoid from the comfort of your home. You can try out new recipes or experiment with topicals now that the power to make CBD butter is in your hands.
