Cooking With Mary Jane Part 1 - Cannabutter

Cannabutter

Cannabutter is the most common way to use marijuana in cooking. There are a number of ways for making cannabutter, ranging from a simply frying butter and marijuana together and straining the end result to using a double boiler and skimming the product that rises. Cannabutter can be used exactly as butter and in place of butter in any recipe, you can simply spread it on toast and eat it like that or bake it into whatever tasty treat you wish. Below are the two most common and simplest methods of making your own cannabutter.

Method 1 (Frying Pan):
Ingredients:
• 1lb of butter
• 28 -50 grams of ground hash, bud, and/or shake

Directions:
In a large pan melt the butter on a low heat. Once the butter is melted add the ground marijuana and cook for at least 30 minutes stirring frequently and making sure it does not burn. Remove from heat and strain into a container for storage. Refrigerate until hardened and it is ready to use.

Method 2 (Crock Pot)
Ingredients:
• 1lb of butter
• 1 ½ - 2 cups of finely ground hash, bud, and/or shake
• 1 cups of water
• Additional water as required

Directions:
Place butter, marijuana powder, and water into crock-pot. Cook on low for 12 – 16 hours occasionally stirring and adding small amounts of water to cover losses due to evaporation. Turn off heat and allow too cool enough to handle. When mixture is cool enough to handle pour through a double layer cheesecloth lined strainer into a bowl. Hot water may be poured through the strainer to help you get the most amount of butter from the mixture, you can also twist the cheesecloth to force even more butter out of the cloth. Place the bowl in the refrigerator to cool. When the liquids have cooled the butter rises to the top and can be skimmed off. The left over water is useless and can be thrown out.

The reason water is used in this recipe is to keep the boiling temperature down and to increase the volume of liquid so that more marijuana can be used producing a stronger cannabutter than is possible using Method 1.