What’s the easiest way to become a good cannabis cook? Make some professional cannabutter and just start using it as you would any butter in any recipe. Grasshopper, now you are a man.

The most important thing to learn when cooking with cannabis is how to get it into your food. We’ve already talked about how crucial it is to decarb your marijuana before cooking in order to convert THCA into THC. Once you’ve done that, the best way to get the THC into your food is through the butters, oils, and tinctures with which you’ll be preparing your recipes.

You’ll quickly learn that some dishes and recipes work better than others for your purposes, or just in general. In future columns we’ll explore a variety of those recipes for all kinds of occasions. And further down the road, we’ll start using marijuana as a regular old herb like basil or oregano, both fresh and dried, either ground or in leaf form. But for now we’re focused learning some good basic techniques for making the butters, oils, tinctures, and infusions.

A good cannabutter goes a long way. Any chef will tell you, “butter makes it better.” Cannabutter makes it better than that.

Your butter’s strength will vary according to the quality of your marijuana and the quantity you use. An obvious point, but an important one. For very strong marijuana, as little as 5-10 grams per pound (4 sticks) of butter can be sufficient. But for the marijuana you use on a regular basis, you’ll want to use about an ounce of marijuana per pound of butter. For poorer quality marijuana or if using leaf cuttings, as much as 2-3 ounces will be needed to make a good batch of cannabutter. And for medicinal users, a good rule is to double the amount of marijuana.

What you’ll need:

Metal strainer

Wood spoon or ladle

Medium saucepan

Airtight container

There are two methods that work well for making cannabutter.

Stovetop simmer:

1. After decarbing your marijuana, grind or chop it and set aside.
2. Melt butter in medium saucepan over low heat.
3.  While stirring with wood spoon, slowly add ground marijuana.
4. Simmer on low for 40-50 minutes, stirring regularly. It’s important not to allow the butter to smoke or burn. When properly simmering, small bubbles will form, but there will be no browning of the butter. The butter will, however, turn various shades of brownish green from the marijuana.
5. Using metal strainer, remove marijuana from liquefied butter. The wood spoon can be used to press out remaining butter from marijuana that collects in the strainer.
6. Store in airtight container.

Slow boil:

1. Bring one cup water to boil in medium saucepan.
2. On low heat, add butter and stir until melted.
3.  While stirring with wood spoon, slowly add ground marijuana.
4. Simmer for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally and adding water as needed to maintain at least a half cup in the pot at all times.
5. Strain butter and water mixture into airtight container and place in refrigerator.
6. When mixture cools, the infused butter and water will separate, allowing you to discard the water and pat the butter dry with cheesecloth or a paper towel.

Whichever method you prefer, your cannabutter is now ready for you to use and enjoy.