In this article we’ll show you how to make cannabutter using butane hash oil (BHO) aka shatter or dabs or butane honey oil. This shatter cannabutter can easily be used with our great tasting marijuana brownie recipe. Don’t have any shatter? Learn how to cook cannabutter using dry ice hash, marijuana buds, or trimmed sugar leaves.
It’s easy to make great marijuana edibles using marijuana concentrates known as shatter, dabs, hash oil, crumble, rosin, honey oil, etc. You will find that using these concentrates to make edibles reduces the strong plant flavor associated with cannabutter recipes for trimmed leaves and buds. The concentrate is much more pure which makes for less plant flavor, and it is much easier to estimate dosage accurately.
We will walk you through everything you need to know to make marijuana butter edibles with shatter. You’ll learn how to activate the THC for edible consumption using decarboxylation. Most importantly, you’ll learn how to estimate the dosage of THC levels in your cannabutter edibles correctly so that you can provide an enjoyable experience without overdoing it.
What is decarboxylation?
Decarboxylization is a chemical reaction that removes a carboxyl group and releases carbon dioxide (CO2). Decarboxylization allows the non-psychoactive chemical THCA to be converted into THC, the main psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.
When making cannabutter with butane hash oil you will need to make sure you know how to activate the THC in a way your body can process. You can not just eat shatter (or weed for that matter) and get high since it mostly contains THCA and not THC. A notable exception that doesn’t first require decarboxylization before ingestion is marijuana distillate.
Typically this conversion of THCA to THC occurs instantly when you burn marijuana or concentrates. In cannabutter recipes made from hash oil, the THCA needs to be gently heated in order to decarboxylate it and release THC which your body can utilize.
How to decarboxylate butane hash oil (BHO)
Butane hash oil can be dark decarboxylated easily by baking in an oven for 25 minutes at 250ﾟF. You’ll notice small bubbles emerging as carbon dioxide gets released during the decarboxylation process.
It is important to make sure that you decarboxylate your butane hash oil into a heat proof container such as parchment paper with the sides folded up into a small rectangular box to contain it, otherwise you risk the oil melting and dripping off and wasting.
Some people decarboxylate their weed concentrates at slightly higher temperatures for shorter timeframes.
How to make cannabutter (marijuana butter) from hash oil
Making cannabutter from hash oil is very easy. Once you have decarboxylated your concentrate the next step is to dissolve it into something that contains fat, such as butter.
THC is fat soluable and the fat content of the butter makes a perfect match for edible recipes. Other fats commonly used for making edibles from shatter and weed concentrates include vegetable oil and coconut oil, you could follow the steps of this cannabutter recipe with those oils as well.
In this marijuana butter recipe we’re going to slowly melt 1 stick of butter and then add 2 grams of already-decarboxylated butane hash oil. Simmer the BHO lightly for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a silicone spatula. The hash oil will melt right into the butter and dissolve evenly, press any big chunks flat to speed this up.
Keep the heat low so the butter barely bubbles, and don’t overheat the pan before adding the butter and shatter. Too much heat and the THC will be destroyed. Plus the butter will brown and get a toasty flavor not ideal for pot brownies (although browned butter with hash and fresh sage would be perfect for cooking with fresh ravioli topped with parmesan, but that’s another recipe entirely).
It’s also possible to decarboxylate your concentrate directly in butter in a double boiler, which can be easily improvised using BHO placed in a mason jar placed in a pan of boiling water. Making cannabutter this way requires that you cook it a much longer period to achieve decarboxylization, so we prefer to decarb first to not impact the consistency of the butter as much.
This cannabutter recipe can be easily adjusted to make stronger strengths of marijuana butter. If the recipe calls for one stick, you can make your cannabutter double strength by either using two times the concentrate or by reducing the amount of butter by half. This would be helpful for example if your recipe only calls for a half stick of butter instead of a full stick.
How to determine THC content of Cannabutter
Determining the THC content of cannabutter made using marijuana concentrates is a very important part of the cooking process. If your marijuana butter edibles are too strong they could lead to severe reactions in people. Eating too much THC isn’t enjoyable. Because of this, you will need to make sure that you properly dosage your edibles one cooking with the BHO.
Hash oil makes it fairly easy to estimate the THC dosage for each of your edibles. Typically hash oil is about 70% THC, so you know that for every 1000 g of shatter you add to your cannabutter you will have approximately 700 g of THC.
This is very helpful in determining THC in your cannabutter recipe. If you use one gram of shatter and assume that you have 70% THC content or 700 mg total, you can then surmise that this butter could make:
- 9 brownies with 77.77 milligrams of THC per serving
- 12 brownies with 58.3 milligrams of THC per serving
- 16 brownies with 43.5 milligrams of THC per serving
It is always better to have to eat two low-dosage brownies than to give everyone one over-potent brownie and find that some of the recipients are unable to handle the in the dosage. Never eat a brownie and decide after 20 minutes that it’s not working and you need to eat a second portion unless you’re quite sure you can handle it.
Being trapped in the middle of a large public area such as a concert or shopping center after eating too much weed edibles is an awful experience. When smoking marijuana it is very difficult to overdose, you would need to smoke about 50,000 times the amount of marijuana that it takes to get you high in order to have this happen. While you may feel pretty spaced out after one too many dabs, you’re never really going to have to worry too much. This is not true with edible marijuana products however – too much is a bad, bad thing.
Since the THC in cannabutter edibles is processed by the liver it is very easy for people to take too much inadvertently. This has resulted in numerous emergency room visits and/or people at home feeling like the world is collapsing around them in a terrible way.. Overdosing on marijuana edibles is not fun, needs to be avoided at all cost
Since you will be fairly accurately able to gauge the potency of cannabutter in this recipe made from butane hash oil (BHO), many edible cooks prefer using shatter so that they can better understand the dosage of their marijuana treats.
Ok, so ive been making hard candy a lot lately and they turn out pretty good. I get how to decarb and all but i was wondering what the easiest way to make butter with my BHO would be?? Im using some honeycomb crumble. It works very well with the hard candies but i was wanting to maybe start making cake or chocolate with it. Any help/suggestions would be awesome! Thanks!
Put it in the butter when you are heating the butter.
For non-baked treats: I’d say to decarb the BHO first and then add it to the butter, unless you feel like babysitting the whole mix while it decarbs. Burned butter does not taste good. When it comes time to mix butter and extract, add the BHO to the butter and not the other way around. Add a little bit at a time and incorporate it completely into the butter before adding more BHO. You’re still going to want to watch the butter as you add BHO to it. Small pockets of BHO can heat up faster than the butter and burn it or effect it negatively if you don’t stir constantly. You can avoid all of this by making clarified butter first, which, while a pain in the ass, will ultimately make medicating the butter easier.
Baked treats: I think the easiest way to do is to experiment and modify temperature and bake times. 350° is a little high for decarbing. However, if you can bake your edible at 260°- 290°, then you can decarb while you bake. Just add the appropriate amount of BHO in with the fat you’re using and you should be good to go.
Do not try to decarb while you bake. The main reason is while your baking for example a cake, the internal temperature will only be around 190F on the finished product. This is the temp where the Eggs have coagulated and when you stick a tooth pick in it comes back clean. This is not nearly hot enough to decarb anything efficiently. You basically want to decarb in clarified butter quickly and efficiently beforehand to not waste your Bho. You decarb in ghee(clarified butter) because of its significantly higher smoke point. Regular butter is actually a mixture of milk solids, butterfats, and water and burns as low as 300F. By removing the contaminants, just the butterfat(clarified butter) remains and is much better to cook with high heat up to 450F. This clarified butter cannot brown or burn at most cooking temps making it safe to put precious Bho in without worrying about burning the batch.
That’s why I suggested to clarify the butter, although it’s not necessary if you’re patient.
Also, I wouldn’t suggest baking without decarbing with anything except hash. If its just buds, I agree that you’ll be disappointed. I’ve never had a problem when its been good BHO or bubble.
If your going to do this make a practice cake with no hash and make sure the modification works first. Changing baking recipes can be very tricky.
The fact is if you don’t decarb properly your wasting up to 50% of the THCA as it will be turned into CBN because you were too “patient.” Or it will remain as THCA because you were to hasty. Basically bro, you should never decarb while cooking that’s just scientifically proven to be wrong if you’ve done your research and know what happens to the THCA molecule. Must be done right to reach max potency. Unless you have lots of hash to waste…then throw it away