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The Easiest Way to Make Cannabis Oil and Cannabutter

2 minute Read

Making your own cannabutter or cannabis oil is a smart move for those looking to work edibles into their repertoires. Depending on where you live, making your own may save you money, but the real value lies in customization. Homemade cannabutter or cannabis oil gives you the ultimate freedom to create a variety of personalized treats.

Homemade oil is especially useful for incorporating into savory foods, like toast or pasta. If you’ve never made your own infusion before it can seem intimidating, but it couldn’t be easier. This no fail method of infusing your fat of choice requires just 3 items:

Slow Cooker

If you don’t already own a slow cooker, it’s a very good investment that will serve you well beyond your weed-infusing needs. While there are other methods of creating powerful infusions, this one is the easiest and least labor intensive, which makes it a good recipe for those just starting out.

Fat

When considering your fat of choice there are a few options, but butter and coconut oil are the most traditional candidates. Coconut oil is versatile and more heat resistant than butter. Clarified butter, or ghee, is another good choice for those who want both buttery taste and the high smoke point of oil. Neutral oils like peanut or grapeseed also work, but their lack of flavor are less likely to mellow the herbal notes of weed in the final infusion.

Weed

The most important thing to remember is to thoroughly grind your plant. A small handheld grinder typically works best. Using a coffee or spice grinder can actually make the pieces too small and result in a gritty textured end result. You can use regular buds, stems, and shake, or even weed that has already been vaporized (it will be weaker but still surprisingly potent).

How to Make It

Simply put a ratio of one part ground plant to one part fat into your slow cooker. The ratio can be approximate; some people routinely add 25 percent more fat than plant to increase volume.

Set your cooker on low for 4 hours, stirring occasionally, and then turn it onto the ‘keep warm’ setting for an additional 2 hours. Be forewarned: This will make your kitchen smell dank AF. As you get more familiar with the strength of each type of weed, you can adjust your ratio to make stronger or weaker infusions.

Once the infusion is complete, strain the plant through a fine metal sieve, pressing gently on the solids to release any oil. Avoid applying too much pressure, which will force small gritty particles into your clean green oil. The soaked weed bits can be discarded or used in another recipe, for those who are not opposed to the acquired taste and texture.

Feel free to sop up any residue from the slow cooker with a piece of bread, scarpetta-style, but be mindful of the strength. Also be aware that THC is absorbed topically, which means if you are handling the oil directly with your skin, it will sink in and get you high.

The challenge is figuring out how strong your finished product is, which is generally accomplished by trial and error. The strength will vary widely depending on so many factors, like variety of plant, its buds-to-stem ratio, and whether the product was fresh or vaped.

If you are consistent with your ingredients batch to batch, it will become easier to standardize the infusion and individual doses. And once you have an idea of how strong it is, the sky’s the limit! Add a spoonful to your morning bulletproof coffee or smoothie, a schmear on your biscuit, or into a curry or noodle dish. Control the potency of baked goods by incorporating just enough for each cookie/brownie/cupcake to have one dose, and use regular butter or oil for the remainder of what the recipe calls for.

Store your green tinged gold in an airtight glass container in the fridge for up to 3 months, or freeze for up to 6 months.

Happy cooking!

The Easiest Way to Make Cannabis Oil and Cannabutter