[jawnroot]

Smart Butter

Reading many butter recipes, I'm stumped by the "minimum 5 hour" boiling/cooking times. I feel this is gross overkill and haven't a clue where the 5-24 hours ever came from. Perhaps part of the reason why butter tends to be so sedative is because it's heat-treated over long periods of time in typical recipes.

The way I make butter is both healthier, and imparts a more balanced and stimulating psychoactive effect. Whether this is due to minimal use of heat or because of the spectrum of oils used is up for debate, but either way I find this to be a superior take on traditional cannabutter from a number of angles. Experienced friends agree.

Ingredients needed:

-Smart Balance 50/50 Omega-3 Butter blend
-3 cups water per pound of butter
-1 ounce quality sugarleaf/popcorn/trim per 1-1.5 pounds butter (depending upon quality)

**Ingredients can be scaled up or down as required, but be mindful there's enough water and it doesn't boil off. When in doubt, add more water.
**Note that you can substitute the pictured Smart Balance 50/50 Butter Blend for a half-and-half mix of butter (or ghee, or whatever) and Smart Balance Omega-3 Buttery Spread (or a spread with a similar consistency and array of ingredients).

Procedure:

Weight out how much cannabis you have. Assuming it's sugarleaf/popcorn/trim, there's no need to grind it up. Some recipes call for turning the weed into dust, which, again, is completely not required. If you have solid proper buds, do break them up to the point where you could roll joints with it, but as said, no need to powder it.

Now then. Cannabis is fat soluble, and THC will disperse into lipids (or alcohol, for that matter) at fairly low temperatures. So, that said...

Once you've determined how much ganja you have, select an appropriate amount of Smart Balance. In general, round up. For example, if you have 17 grams use three sticks/.75 pound, not two.

Put your sticks in an appropriately sized pot, and make sure you have a lid for it, as you'll need that later. Turn the heat on as low as it'll go, just enough to melt the smart balance, but not anywhere close enough to cause bubbles/frying/smoking.

Once all the butter is melted, add your weed to the melted butter. No water at this point. Stir the weed in well so that it's fully coated/submerged, and let it sit like that for an hour, stirring every once in a while at your convenience. Make sure the temp of the melted smart balance never gets to the point where it's bubbling. Again, lowest possible setting. Once this stuff is melted it tends to stay that way until refrigerated.

After the hour is up, add your water. Stir. Bring mix to a boil, then back the heat down until the mix is gently bubbling/simmering, but not a full on nuclear roiling boil. Gentle is the name of the game. The only purpose of the water at this stage is to mechanically and constantly move the weed leaf around in the oil/butter. Whatever THC wasn't removed during the first hour was significantly loosened, and this water stage will see that it gets knocked free.

Gentle simmer/boil for one hour, checking frequently to make sure the water isn't boiling dry. It doesn't matter if some of the water evaporates off, and indeed that's to be expected, but you don't want it going dry and burning. In practice if your simmer/boil is very gentle as it should be, you won't have a problem with it drying up.

After that hour goes by, kill the heat and immediately cover. Let it sit like that another hour, or longer if you feel inclined (no heat, no worries). If you let it sit so long that the butter starts to solidify, just pop the heat on again for a few minutes until it melts.

Meanwhile, get a regular household strainer ready, as well as a plastic container big enough for the strainer to fit over, but not so big/wide that your water/butter mix will get spread out too thin. This container must be plastic.

Now then, pour your melted butter/weed/water mix through the strainer, into this plastic container, making sure not to spill any. I typically put my plastic container into the bottom of a larger container to catch anything that might drip out, as sometimes the mix runs down the side of the pot due to (annoying) capillary action.

All your liquids should now be in the plastic, with the weed in the strainer. Press the weed with a spoon or similar to get as much oil out of it as possible. Then grab the weed, put it in a paper towel or other similar cloth, close it up, and squeeze like it owes you money. Get all that goodness out of there, then toss the spent weed in the rubbish pile (it's useless and very funky at this point).

Now then, put your oil/water container in the fridge overnight to solidify. Smart Balance tends not to get quite as hard as butter and is a slight B to work with; it might handle better putting it in the freezer for a bit after a time in the fridge, but I was always impatient and scooped the butter layer out after a few hours in the fridge.

It tends to break up a bit, so once you get the big pieces of it out and into an appropriate storage container, strain the weed water through your household strainer for bits/chunks of remaining butter and put that in with the big batch.

And there you have it. Use like you would use cannabutter. At the absolute very least you'll end up with a healthier product that takes much less time to prepare. I and others also happen to think it's superior from a psychoactive standpoint; much more dimensional than typical butter.

Very potent too. I've made full 8"x8" batches of brownies cut into 12 small pieces with only .25 cup/2 ounces of melted Smart Butter and still got nicely stoned. In fact, it's the dose I prefer. Very relaxing. I've also made full strength batches that'll do a total boogie-woogie on your brain, verging on psychedelic.

TIP: When making brownies, go with a good dark chocolate mix (I like Ghirardelli), and substitute quality fresh-brewed [naturally flavored] Raspberry Green Tea for whatever amount of water the recipe calls for (typically 1/4 cup). You really get the raspberry on the upper palate when sampling them. It and the green tea combine well with and mute the overt flavor of ganja. It seriously tastes like a gourmet dessert treat...then you're on your face an hour later.

Good luck, and happy trails!

[Hank Hemp]

I've always wondered if you could use smartbalance. I'll try it next batch of butter.

[WishDoctor]

Butter is so 20th century, old school weak sauce.
Waste of time, $$$, and effort.
Time to make real meds products with BHO or ISO oils
eliminate the bad fats(butter) which is unnecessary,
and use only safe fats to infuse your Meds.

[farmerpirate]

Being a hater is so yesterday.
Such a waste of time, effort, and breath.
Time to be a better person and thank those who share knowledge and experience.
Eliminate the nitpicking which is unnecessary
And only use common sense to infuse your posts.

OP: Thank you very much for writing such a detailed guide. One question, you mention in this sentence "a plastic container big enough for the strainer to fit over, but not so big/wide that your water/butter mix will get spread out too thin" <--- How thin is "too thin"?

[Bonghitz]

Well written. Thanks! One technical question...you mentioned that this is a different kind of cannabutter recipe because you don't heat the *#&@ out of it. If you keep the stove on as low as possible, the cannabinoids will not decarboxylate, correct? When you say, "Use [the end product] like you would use cannabutter" do you mean that it must still be heated up past the point of decarboxylation in a recipe, or could one just put it in a (cold) sandwich, for example?

[Greenheart]

Originally Posted by Bonghitz

Well written. Thanks! One technical question...you mentioned that this is a different kind of cannabutter recipe because you don't heat the *#&@ out of it. If you keep the stove on as low as possible, the cannabinoids will not decarboxylate, correct? When you say, "Use [the end product] like you would use cannabutter" do you mean that it must still be heated up past the point of decarboxylation in a recipe, or could one just put it in a (cold) sandwich, for example?

Thanks for asking that it led me to this. Hope the link is okay just trying to give source credits. https://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/3037.html

"When marijuana is harvested, the THC molecule is bound to a carboxyl group ? COOH ? that is, one atom each of carbon and hydrogen and two atoms of oxygen. With a carboxyl group attached, THC is not active.
Heating dried marijuana makes the carboxyl group convert into water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). When marijuana is smoked, the burning eliminates the carboxyl group. There are several ways to decarboxylate
marijuana for use in extracts. A layer of marijuana buds or leaf can be placed in an oven at 150 degrees for 15 minutes. This is far below the boiling point of THC yet warm enough to evaporate the carboxyl group.
Another method of releasing the COOH is by placing a bowl of buds in the microwave for 2 minutes. The waves will boil away the water. The boiling point of marijuana's active cannabinoids ranges from 260-392 degrees F."

[jawnroot]

Hey sorry for the delayed response, hadn't checked back on this thread. At any rate, you can put the finished product on bread, etc, and still get blasted. I know from experience . Don't overthink these things.

[Anti]

Nice alternative take on the recipe. I'll give this a try the next time I feel like baking.