The Only Thing Better Than Butter

Is Infused Butter...

Hello higher-minded humans!

I love nothing more than to eat my medicine, especially if that medicine is delicious. I played around with making edibles in the past, but largely, the idea of making cannabutter or oil has always been intimidating to me. I fear wasting a large of amount of cannabis, my neighbors complaining about the smell, and turning it into CBN butter. I let go of the ridiculous fear of the smell bothering anyone for a variety of reasons, the most central being that my neighborhood has been LOUD for some time.

Speaking of loud, my other issue blocking me from butter greatness was the lack of quality flower. Enter Cloud Culture, the cultivation coaching and living soil experts, who came to my rescue. We collaborated for a culinary adventure, and it was as nerve-wracking as it was rewarding.

I decided to try 3 recipes for 3 different batches. Additionally, I baked several many batches of different types of cookies. What I wasn’t expecting was how varied the butter approaches and opinions would be, so I scanned many before deciding.

For the first batch of butter, I used only trim, cut up stems, and shake, roughly almost an ounce in weight. I picked a recipe that flew in the face of most recipes with the directions but claimed to be super potent. Unlike a lot of the recipes I found, this one said to boil on higher temperatures the entire time.

It also called for the boiling process to last at least 4 hours and called for a lot more water than others. The amount of water gave me agita - I didn’t think it would solidify and separate in the refrigerator. Surprisingly, it did, and it was super potent (I used all of it to bake cookies).

Batch 1 results: good consistency, hence why I used it to make Chocolate Chip Oatmeal and Lemon Crinkle Cut Cookies (for the limonene content, natch). Very potent, but the fear of having it turn to CBN prevents me from trying this again.

Second batch - the soupiest and most disappointing.

For the second batch, I used a recipe that called for only 7 grams of cannabis, and only a couple of inches of water. It also only called for a very low simmer for 1-3 hours, but I stopped after 2 hours. Despite only calling for a small amount of water, the butter didn’t harden in the refrigerator the next day.

After frantically searching ways to reverse this soup-tastrophe, I found that throwing it in the freezer would work. However, once it thawed again it was a mushy mess. Some people suggest re-heating and mixing with Sunflower or soy lecithin to thicken it, and I’ll probably try that if I don’t use it all on grilled cheese sandwiches.

Batch #2 results: The soupy, yet gritty texture is really off-putting. Potency is on the low-end, though I have to try one more time to verify. Not sure what I did wrong on this one, other than possibly using too low of a temperature.

Photo by Food Photographer | Jennifer Pallian on Unsplash

After the failure of that batch, I went down a rabbit hole of recipes and methods, until ultimately deciding to mash up several and take some risks. I decarboxylated roughly 17 grams (my scale was acting up) slightly longer at a slightly higher temp (260 versus 240 from previous times), simmered low-mid for just over 4 hours. I also used 1 cup of butter and 2 cups of water.

Batch 3 results: Very potent, and good texture. Great for baking cookies.

Next, I want to try the sous vide (or Sous Weed) method.