Preheat your oven to 245ºF. Place cannabis buds on a non-stick, oven-safe tray covered in parchment paper. Once the tray is in the oven, set a timer for 30-40 minutes. Older, drier cannabis may need less time. Every 10 minutes, gently mix the buds with a light shake of the tray to expose the surface area of the buds equally.
Grind the decarboxylated cannabis coarsely with a hand grinder.
Add 1 cup of water and 1 cup of butter into a stock pot or saucepan. Simmer on low and let the butter melt. Adding water helps to regulate the temperature and prevents the butter from scorching.
As the butter begins to melt, add in your coarsely ground cannabis product
Maintain low heat (ideally above 160ºF but never exceeding 200ºF) and let the mixture simmer for 2 to 3 hours, stirring occasionally. The mixture should never come to a full boil.
Set a funnel on top of a jar and line it with cheesecloth. Once the butter has cooled off, pour it over the cheesecloth funnel and allow it to strain freely. (Tip: Squeezing the cheesecloth may push more bad-tasting plant material through).
If excess water forms at the bottom of the jar, you can remove the solid butter with a knife and drain the water out. (The butter will need to refrigerate for about an hour before removing the water.)
Refer to dosing information below before adding your butter to any snacks, dishes, or desserts.
Tip: The cannabis butter’s potency depends on many factors, from how long and hot it was cooked to the strength of your starting material. Even the type of cannabis used (for example indica v. sativa) is a factor. To test the potency of your cannabis butter, spread ¼ or ½ teaspoon on a snack and see how that dose affects you after an hour. Then decrease or increase dose as desired. That will provide you with a baseline standard for your recipes.