“Light Tasting” Canna-Butter by ‘JeffThe420Chef’

[headline]My “light tasting” canna-butter is the basis of many of my guests’ favorite dishes. This is more of a bright yellow ghee (clarified butter) with a hint of green, and it’s perfect for baking and cooking light and healthy dishes with cannabis. It is also the base ingredient for my “Light Tasting” edibles.[/headline]

IMPORTANT! Make sure you know the percentage of THC and/or CBD per gram in the flower or bud you are using. You will need this information to properly measure and dose your servings*.
*Please refer to my THC/CBD Calculator to help you estimate the number of milligrams of THC and/or CBD in your recipe.

Number of servings: (8) 1 Tbsp. servings  (1 stick of canna-butter)
Preparation Time:  1 hour and 5 minutes
Cooking Time:  4 hours
Idle Time:  overnight to 12 hours

Approximate Dose Per Serving:
@10%: 23 mg
@15%: 35 mg
@20%: 46mg

What You Will Need:

• Medium/Large sized pot
• Distilled water
• Tea Strainer (large)
• Bowl filled with Ice Water
• French Press coffee maker
• Heat resistant glass dish or baking tin
• Plastic butter dish with cover
• Aluminum foil

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/3 stick (grass fed) butter (10½Tablespoons). Salted or Unsalted. (My favorite brand is Kerrygold^tm)
• 1/4 oz (7 gms) Cannabis flower

STEP 1 – Soak, Blanch and Rinse Herb

1. Coarsely grind dry herb (also known as flower or bud) and soak in Distilled Water for 24 hours. Change the water halfway through. This cleans out a lot of the impurities that cause bad taste.
2. The next day, place “cleaned” herb in a tea strainer
3. Bring water to a boil
4. Place tea strainer in boiling water for 5 mins
5. Immediately remove tea strainer after 5 mins then place in ice water for 1 minute
6. Remove from Ice water and pour distilled water over the tea strainer to rinse out any residual impurities
7. Remove herb from strainer and wring out excess water

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STEP 2 – Dry and Decarb (This is an overnight process)

1. Spread blanched and squeezed cannabis evenly in a large baking pan and lay a large piece of aluminum foil on top of it (don’t crimp it down to close). Let it sit overnight. Your cannabis should be dry by the next morning. (you can skip this step if you use a dehydrator)
2. Preheat oven to 300ºF (150⁰C)
3. When dry, crimp down foil and “bake” for 20 mins. This is how you decarb your cannabis.
4. Remove from oven. Let sit for 5 minutes so THC or CBD vapors can settle back onto the herb.
5. Remove foil and loosely cover with a couple paper towels. This creates a dark environment with airflow.
6. Let pan sit, covered with paper towels on the counter overnight.
7. * Weigh the next morning before you infuse so you know the amount of cannabis you used to infuse your butter.

*Your FINAL yield will weigh +/- 20-40% LESS than your starting weight depending on how moist or dry your cannabis was when you started the process

STEP 3 – Infuse Butter

1. Melt butter in French Press placed standing up in pot of simmering water
2. Mix decarbed cannabis into melted butter and cover French press. Press plunger to just above butter. This is now your water line.
3. Ensure that simmering water is always at or just above your water line.
4. Gently simmer for 4 hours. Check water level every 20 mins to insure the water level is even with or slightly higher than water line.
5. After 4 hours, remove from pot, plunge French press all the way and strain ghee into butter container
6. Refrigerate to re-solidify.
7. Remove solidified butter from refrigerator and separate from butter dish onto a paper towel. This will remove any residual water that accumulated from the process.
8. Dry carefully by blotting your butter with a paper towel to remove as much moisture as possible.
9. Place back in butter dish and use within 1 month.

The Benefits of Using Clarified Canna-butter and Canna-ghee

Clarified canna-butter and canna-ghee are good for light sautéing (Low/Medium heat) because of the higher smoke point.  Your cooking pan has to remain at Low/Medium to keep the temperature between 320º-330º (160-165^o C). You should not go above 350º (175^oC) when cooking or baking with cannabis because the THC begins to vaporize at 355º (180^oC). CBD begins to vaporize at 392º (200^oC) . I suggest that recipes be cooked or baked at 340º (170^oC) or below, and cooking times adjusted, since internal oven temps can fluctuate anywhere from 10-25º (5 to 10^oC).

There are some other benefits of cooking and baking with ghee or clarified butter:

1. Being able to prepare foods with the taste and texture of butter which can be tolerated by people with dairy sensitivities (because the milk solids have been removed).
2. All ghee, but especially ghee made from grass fed butter (such as Kerrygold^tm) is rich in Butyrate, short chain fatty acid linked to an immune response that can decrease inflammation and help improve the digestive system.
3. Grass-fed canna-ghee is rich in CLA (conjugated linoleic acid). Many studies have linked CLS to reducing bad cholesterol, increasing good cholesterol, improving insulin resistance and potentially fighting cancer.
4. It is is rich in fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

JeffThe420Chef is a private cannabis chef, medible’s expert and Author of The Ganja Gourmet: The Joy of Cooking with Cannabis (Harper Collins Wave, June 2016). He is also a culinary instructor and media personality. The Daily Beast calls him the Julia Child of Weed, Newsweek calls him the Ganja Gourmet and Elite Daily calls him The King of Edibles.   Courtesy : JeffThe420Chef’s “Light Tasting” CannaButter  © 2014 JeffThe420Chef