Infused Chocolates

Since the late 19th century, chocolate has been crafted into desserts, beverages, and confections of all kinds that please our sense of smell and taste. In this regard, it’s not unlike cannabis as there are a variety of ways chocolate can be eaten and enjoyed, just as there are a variety of ways to cultivate cannabis to produce different terpene profiles that change its scent and flavor.

In these current times of a legalized cannabis market, it’s possible to combine cannabis with chocolate to create a dessert, drink, or candy that can please far more senses than just taste and smell.

Infused chocolate has been sold since medical cannabis was first regulated in California. It’s proven to be a pleasant method of ingesting the plant for patients that don’t want to inhale it, be it for health reasons or personal preference. Often, the taste of cannabis can be covered up by the strong taste of the cocoa in a chocolate confection, but this is dependent on how it was crafted by the baker as well as how much cannabis was used in a single serving.

Chocolate was considered by the Aztecs as “The Food of the Gods,” and it’s made from the kernels of fermented and roasted cocoa beans taken from cacao trees that grow in tropical regions near the equator. They’re then ground up, crafted into a pasty fluid chocolate liquor, hardened in molds for bitter baking chocolate or pressed to reduce cocoa butter content and made into cocoa powder. This powder can then be mixed with sugar along with more cocoa butter to make sweet chocolate for eating as a sweet treat. And it is in this process that cannabis can be added.

In the cannabis world, chocolate compliments the plant well as the fats contained within it lead to lipid microencapsulation and bind well to THC and CBD, pulling such cannabinoids out of the plant material and into the chocolate itself to ready it for consumption. Once eaten, the cannabinoids can enter the bloodstream and work their magic along with the chocolate. A study done in 1996 demonstrated that cocoa powder and chocolate contain three compounds that can possibly mimic cannabinoids and activate cannabinoid receptors both directly and indirectly, which is yet another reason the two compliment one another so nicely.

Almost everyone can enjoy a good piece of chocolate. It’s a food that nearly every culture has incorporated into their culinary arts, and it’s entering the cannabis market at a rapid pace. Edible cannabis manufacturing is evolving, and as it’s combined with chocolate in more creative ways, our ability to enjoy the plant will continue to advance with it.

Keep in mind that edible enthusiasts have reported that the effects often endure longer when eating cannabis than smoking or vaping it and can last anywhere between two and six hours. Effects might be more intense than smoking or vaping as well. Always check the THC and CBD levels of your spread and stick to the suggested serving size.