Cannabis straight off the plant is, at the molecular level, inert. The compound everyone is talking about — THC, the one that gets you high — doesn’t actually exist in raw flower in the form your body responds to. It exists as THCA, an acid form that has to lose a single CO₂ molecule to become THC.
That reaction is decarboxylation. Decarb. It happens slowly when flower dries; quickly when flower burns; and on a stovetop schedule when you cook it on purpose.
Get decarb wrong and your butter is potato. Get it right and your butter is a glass of wine.
The numbers
For most home cooking, 240°F (115°C) for 35–40 minutes is the canonical sweet spot. Hotter or longer and you start losing terpenes — the flavor we came for. Cooler or shorter and you don’t fully convert THCA.
The procedure
- Break up the flower. Pea-sized pieces. Don’t grind it to dust; surface area is your friend, but powder will burn.
- Spread on parchment. Single layer, on a baking sheet. Cover lightly with a second piece of parchment to keep volatile terpenes from escaping.
- Bake at 240°F for 35–40 minutes. Stir gently once at the halfway mark.
- Let it cool completely before infusing. The flower should be the color of brown tobacco — a shade or two darker than when you started, but never burnt.
Calculating dose
If the flower you started with was, say, 18% THC, your decarbed flower contains roughly 180 mg of THC per gram. Bake one gram into a stick of butter, that butter has 180 mg total. Use a quarter of the stick in a recipe that yields 12 servings, each serving has roughly 180 ÷ 4 ÷ 12 ≈ 3.75 mg per portion.
That is a microdose. That is the dose.
Common mistakes
- Skipping decarb entirely because you read on a forum that the oven step is overrated. Result: weak butter, disappointed guests.
- Decarbing at 350°F to be efficient. Result: you cooked off most of the terpenes; your edible tastes flat and feels weirdly anxious.
- Decarbing already-vaped flower (AVB) the same way as fresh flower. AVB is partially decarbed; you only need 15 minutes at 240°F to finish it.
Get the chemistry right once. Trust your butter. Cook normally for the rest of your life.
