Not Feeling Cooking With Cannabutter? Try These Five Healthier Alternatives

Cooking with cannabis is growing in popularity more and more, especially since people have been staying at home due to coronavirus lockdowns. A lot of these cannacooks are looking for healthier alternatives to cannabutter. If you’re one of them, HashDash has you covered. Not Feeling Cooking With Cannabutter? Try These Five Healthier Alternatives

One of the most common ways to incorporate cannabis into home cooking is to make cannabutter. It sounds easy and straightforward enough on paper - until you try to do it. Straining out all of the excess plant matter isn’t the easiest task, especially for newbies. A good batch of cannabutter must be stirred for a solid two hours minimum, and it’s always a good idea to monitor it as closely as possible because butter burns quickly and easily.

Additionally, spills are common, and cleaning up butter off of the kitchen is something no one enjoys. Not to mention, butter isn’t the healthiest thing, and you don’t want to be eating bud brownies every day. Thankfully, you have some options that are a bit easier, and in the case of this article, they tend to be healthier.

Wait! Be Sure to Decarb First!

If we didn’t drive this point home enough in our previous post about cooking with cannabis, let’s reiterate. Decarbing is arguably the most important thing to learn how to do when you’re first starting out making your own cannabis-infused dishes from home. Decarb is short for decarboxylation, and it basically just means heating up your cannabis to a point that releases carbon dioxide, activates beneficial cannabinoids like CBD, and makes THC psychoactive. It’s the special sauce of cooking with cannabis. You definitely don’t want to skip this crucial step.

Without further adieu, here are our five favorite cannabutter alternatives…

Kief Oil

Kief is the crystalized, sticky material that falls off of your cannabis buds. Kief tends to have a high concentrate of cannabinoids. Kief usually accumulates if you have a good amount of weight, like a half-ounce or more. If you’re fortunate enough to live in a state where growing cannabis is legal, then you probably have a lot of kief.

Cooking with kief oil is a great alternative to cannabutter because you only have to simmer it until it dissolves, which takes 20-30 minutes, tops - depending on how much you make, of course. There’s little or no straining involved, and your kitchen won’t smell like Snoop Dogg’s tour bus for the next day. Be careful when concocting your own kief-infused foods, though. Because it usually has a high accumulation of cannabinoids, kief oil is usually more potent than regular cannabutter.

Cannaoil

If done the right way, you can turn a well-dosed batch of cannabis-infused cooking oil into an everyday thing. Skip the wake and bake irritation on your lungs and make yourself some breakfast with cannabis-infused canola oil or olive oil. Canna canola oil is a healthier choice than cannabutter for baking, and olive oil infused with cannabinoids is perfect for savory dishes. Try some “herbal olive oil” on chicken masala, drizzled on baked salmon, or as a dip for some bruschetta.

Tinctures

While you will have to still strain your plant matter out of a tincture you’re preparing, home cannabis cooks choose to make tinctures over canna butter for two specific reasons. First, dosing tends to be easier because tinctures usually are stored in dropper containers. Second, the high from tinctures usually isn’t as intense and doesn’t last as long as that of cannabutter and oil.

Here’s an easy way to make a tincture:

• Once you’ve decarbed your cannabis flower, put it in a jar with high-proof alcohol like Balkan Vodka or Everclear. Just be sure that you choose one that is clear and doesn’t have flavoring, or that will end up making its way into your dishes.
• Let the mixture stand for up to 6 hours in a cool, dry place with a medium to low humidity and doesn’t have temperature fluctuations. Shake every hour or two to mix it up nicely.

This easy tincture is a great way to make cannabis-infused candies because the alcohol content is burned off. You can also add a few drops to any drink, dressing for salads, or sauces. Just be sure to enjoy it in moderation!

Infused Coconut Oil

As cannabis consumers become more health-conscious, the vegan and community are increasingly crossing paths. Coconut oil is more versatile than butter, and has more applications. This is one of the reasons why cannabis-infused coconut oil is becoming popular and is a healthy alternative to dairy-based cannabutter. Additionally, the saturated fat in coconut oil means that it absorbs those delightful cannabinoids well.

A double boiler infusion device like the Magical Butter Machine works great for making your own coconut oil. Or you can skip the expensive devices and use cheesecloth after you decarb to make your canna infused coconut oil.

Cannaghee

For the non-foodies out there, ghee is just clarified butter. The water from the butter is removed so only milk solids remain - this occurs during the process of heating up butter. Ghee is popular in Asian cuisine, especially Indian food. If you’ve had chicken makhani aka butter chicken from a restaurant, chances are it was made with ghee. During the process of making ghee, lactose and casein are removed from butter as it heats and cooks up. This makes ghee a popular choice for people who are lactose intolerant or have difficulty with digesting dairy.

Ghee is fattier and has a higher caloric content than regular butter, so you won’t want to consume it often - be aware of that. And you’re still going to have to strain it like you would with normal cannabutter. However, you won’t have to stir it as long due to the lactose and the water being removed, so making cannaghee is a time-saving alternative to cannabutter.

HashDash - We’re Just Getting Started

At HashDash, our goal is to bring to the highest quality cannabis information while avoiding misinformation. This includes data on cultivars, dispensaries, well-researched articles about important topics like cannabinoids - and of course, cooking with cannabis. We are just getting started, so check back here often for amazing resources just like this one. We are the ambassadors for the conscious cannabis consumer! Be sure to sign up for HashDash to discover your cannabis matches. Thanks for reading, and happy canna-cooking!