Butter 101

There are very many variations all relative to a similar method to the production of making butter. Here are three of the best methods that I have used and found to work well. You can go online and research butter and how it’s made, but they are all relatively the same.

Butter:
• VERY dry bag of trimmings ½ lb – 1 lb (depending on the quality of the trimmings will be relative to the strength of the butter)
• 4 gallon boiling pot
• 5 lbs of butter margarine (can be salted or unsalted; just make sure there is enough butter to cover the trimmings)
• Cheese cloth for straining
• Thick elastic bands
• Plastic containers (large Tupperware or 1 gal. ice-cream pail)
• Ladle or coffee mug
• Thick rubber gloves

Freezing Method:
1. Melt 5 lbs of butter into boiling pot
2. Slowly mix in your bag of trimmings. (Hint: make sure they are free of chemicals and foreign objects)
3. Fill the rest of the pot with water; be sure to leave enough room at the top not to stir over.
4. Set the stove to simmer or low heat and cover. Leave a slight crack for steam to escape. Simmer for about 4-5 hours until the butter turns a very dark green almost black in color, stir occasionally.
5. Make sure you check butter every ½ hour. If the butter level is less than the marijuana level, add more butter and stir.
6. Take off stove top and let cool until you can handle the heat with gloves. (Hint: the hotter it is, the easier it is to squeeze out of the leaf)
7. Lay out containers and cover tops with the pieces of cheese cloth. Secure over the top of the container using the elastic bands
8. Take a ladle and scoop the butter and pour over the container until it’s about 6” from the top. Take the cheese cloth off and ring out the extra butter from mix as much as you can, twist firmly.
9. Repeat into containers until your green butter is all filtered. (Hint: most of the medical components of the cannabis is absorbed in the leaves, make sure you squeeze and press it totally out of the mixture into the container.
10. Cover container and place into freezer long enough to solidify in order to separate the butter from the water.
11. Drain excess water out of container slowly. Scrape away any ice on the butter. You should be left with a smooth block of “cannabutter”. (Hint: if there are any trimmings left in the butter, restrain it).
12. To store place in ice trays so you will have measured amounts.
13. Refrigerate or freeze depending on how long until you use the butter. Enjoy!

Hot Method:
1. Pour loose trimmings into pot of water (do not pulverize or powder) mix slowly with already melted butter.
2. Simmer for about 5 hours (stirring occasionally)
3. Use an elastic band and wrap around the top of the pot, then carefully strain into another bowl (metal or Pyrex glass) (Hint: you could also put the cheese cloth over the bowl and pour the mix over and into the bowl).
4. Either way you will need to strain or press the excess butter from the trimmings by both squeezing and twisting the cheese cloth or pressing the cheese cloth.
5. If there is any leftover bud or leaves (Hint: if there are any trimmings left in the butter, restrain it with clean cheese cloth).
6. Put the strained mix into plastic or metal containers and put into the fridge until it hardens.