Smooth like Budder

*Disclaimer*

*I live in a state that has legal medical and recreational marijuana for use for those over 21. I am not a medical professional, this advice is purely my own experience, your mileage may vary and you should consult a trusted medical professional to decide what is best and safest for you*

I know I mentioned it in the last post on this blog, but in case you missed it, I use cannabis for pain relief.  This means I make edibles. I don't smoke anything, so this is the best, and most cost effective, delivery system for me. A full batch of brownies lasts me a month or two depending on how bad my symptoms are.

It was a well researched decision on my part and it took me a long time to finally give in and give it a try.

This may come as a shock to some, but I was really geeky in high school. *GASP!* WHAT??? NO WAY! BUT YOU'RE SO COOL NOW!!! I know it's so unbelievable, but I was not dodging peer pressure left and right to avoid breaking my D.A.R.E. pledge. I hung out with a few of the kids who stood around the parking lot, sharing the same "cigarette" before school, but I was the good girl in the group, they never even asked me to try anything.

I carried a ton of the outdated ideas about marijuana well into my adult years. Then, I started working with long term care patients. I began to understand the level of pain that many of them lived with, I began to see what long term use of opiate pain killers does to a person. When I was diagnosed with Scleroderma and started to have issues with pain, I was terrified. I didn't want to be like my patients. I didn't want to live in a constant opiate haze, and have to contend with the numerous side effects.

My family started asking me if I had tried cannabis for pain relief almost immediately when I started having issues with pain. They just wanted be to be okay. Still, I hesitated.

Finally in July of 2017, I bought my first edible. It was a chocolate chip cookie from a dispensary. The taste was......well, I vomited. It tasted awful. But the portion I managed to keep down did WONDERS for my pain. I was able to get up, and actually function, with minimal pain.

That was the beginning of my adventure, trying to make my own, tastier edibles. I tapped into sources like High Times and Jeff the 420 chef to find a method of making cannabutter that had a less unpleasant taste but was still effective. What follows is my personal process for making cannabis butter or "budder". There are lots of methods on the internet, but this is what works for me.

The things you will need are:

3/4 cup butter Salted or Unsalted, your choice
cheesecloth
a double boiler
an oven safe pan
a grinder (or your food processor)
1/8 ounce of Cannabis

Choose the Bud in your Budder.

Most important ingredient is of course the Cannabis. I highly (teehee) recommend finding a dispensary and budtenders you can trust. There are hundreds of strains available out there, and every one is different. THC is the most known chemical in cannabis, but there are many, many other compounds in cannabis that have different effects on the body. Also each person is effected by these chemicals differently. My best advice is to be honest with your budtender, they can steer you in the right direction. My go-to dispensary in Las Vegas is Essence. They have always been the most helpful to me.

This time my choice was Snoop Master Kush, an Indica heavy strain. Indica is known for a more relaxed sensation, which is ideal for my use as pain relief.

Snoop Master Kush

Snoop Master Kush

Decarbing: Making chemistry work for you.

Once you have purchased your herb, you need to get it ready for infusing into your butter. This step is called decarboxylation. Decarbing is how you chemically change the cannabis to release the compounds that make the marijuana effective. When cannabis is smoked, the heat from burning causes these changes, but we are making budder, so we have to help it along with our oven. Preheat your oven to 220F/ 105C.

Break up and spread out your flowers on your baking dish. I use an 8x8 square pan. You want enough space to spread it out evenly and have it in one single layer in the pan. Put your pan in the oven and set a timer for 20 minutes. every oven is different and the process takes 20 to 30 minutes depending. What you are looking for is for the flowers to become a more muted toasty green versus the bright green in the first images. You don't want to toast it too darkly. 

Once you have your cannabis decarbed, pulse it a few times in a grinder or food processor and it is time for butter!

Let's get cooking!

I do not own an actual double boiler, so I use a metal bowl over a pot of simmering water.

I start with 3/4 cup salted butter in my bowl and the decarbed marijuana. The end result will yield just about 1/2 cup, you'll lose volume as the moisture in the butter is evaporated out, so I start with extra to even things out. Once the water is simmering I place my bowl on top of the pot of water. 

My improvised double boiler.

Butter and decarbed cannabis, ready to go.

Anticipation.

The next part of the process is to wait. This takes several hours. Once the butter is melted, let the heat do it's job. I do check every hour or so to give the mixture a good stir and to make sure I don't need to add more water to the bottom pot. Refill the water on bottom as often as needed. Usually this is at least twice for me. Be careful!! Obviously the top bowl is going to get hot. Handle with care.

The time you steep is really up to you. Most people will say the longer the better. I find that past a certain point you have abused the flowers enough and they have nothing left to give. I judge by smell. Once I smell the smell of butter more than I smell the smell of the cannabis, I take it off the heat. This is typically 4 hours but it has gone as long as 6 hours. 

Time to bake??

Not quite! You will get to use this budder I promise, but we have a little farther to go. It's time to strain! I use a cloth tea strainer, but you can use cheese cloth, a fine sieve, whatever lets the liquid budder drain and keeps the used up plant matter out of your baking. After everything has drained through, give a good squeeze to get as much of the liquid out as possible.

 You don't need this in your brownies and cookies, trust me.

And now we bake??

I know this takes a long time, but I promise the results are worth it. Now, we transfer our strained budder into a container with a cover and we chill. Let it mellow out for a few hours to over night. It'll be a better for measuring and using in baked goods.

1/2 cup of buddery goodness.

There must be an easier way right?

I am aware that this is certainly a process. You can just as easily buy pre-made edibles or just smoke the weed. For me this comes down to choices. 

I chose to look for an alternative to opiate pain killers so that I could have more control over my body. So I choose to make sure I know what strain of cannabis is going into my body, how it was treated and what to expect when I eat a brownie. 

If you want to give it a try, this is a decent way to make your own budder. I recommend doing your own research.

Also, ALWAYS use good judgement when using cannabis and NEVER drive while under the influence. 

Hopefully this helps someone out. Happy baking!