Cannabis Chocolate 101: How-To Recipe and Helpful Tips

Can you imagine anything better than chocolate?

It’s sweet, delicious and very versatile with other types of delectable foods. Cake, strawberries, raisins and even on its own – chocolate is always a welcome addition.

The same can be said of cannabis. Whether it’s in a joint, a pipe or in food, marijuana is the perfect topper you can have.

Well, now we have the privilege of living in a time of geniuses that combined both of our favorite things: chocolate and cannabis.

You might be curious about cannabis chocolate as your next edible to try and make. So, here we offer up some basic information about the edible, a recipe you can try at home, some interesting tips and tricks, along with a quick background on THC levels and what to look out for.

Benefits of cannabis chocolate

We all know the benefits of chocolate. It’s loaded with nutrients that can positively affect your health. Chocolate is made from the seed of cocoa tree, and is one of the best antioxidants known to men; it can benefit your overall well being.

Then we have cannabis. It contains two (out of many) important chemicals, CBD and THC. CBD has an impact on one’s brain, making it function better without making you high. THC, on the other hand has pain relieving and psychoactive properties.

Combining both together boosts the properties of both. Chocolate masks the taste of the cannabis without affecting its benefits, and if you’re consuming your prescribed marijuana as such, eating chocolate is way more healthier than smoking it.

How and where to buy cannabis chocolate?

The cannabis edibles market has huge growth potential. It is estimated to be worth 4.1 billion in the US and Canada by 2022.

That being said, you can expect to see a skyrocketing increase in the type and amount of edibles you’ll find on the market in the near future. In fact, right now there’s already a good handful of edibles that are being sold – including chocolate.

You can find chocolate edibles pretty much anywhere and online.

For instance, there’s the popular Satori Chocolates, one of the best on the marijuana market, and their chocolate is filled with high quality ingredients.

Then there’s Dixie’s Birthday Cake, a white chocolate bar (8 mg per serving).

Also, Defonce chocolatier has an extra dark chocolate with a variety of flavors and with just the right dosage (5 mg per serving).

So, in a sea of options, you can literally enjoy cannabis chocolate as if you were a kid in a candy store.

How to make cannabis chocolate at home

If you want to make your own edibles, and it’s your first time, chocolate is probably the easiest to make. We give you one easy, basic recipe to try out and you can take it from there ( to a whole new level).

Here’s what you will need:

• Measure out 3-5 grams of weed herb 
• Baking sheet for decarboxylating cannabis (we’ll explain this in a bit)
• 100 grams of chocolate of your choice (dark chocolate is the best option)
• A glass bowl
• A saucepan
• Chocolate molds of your preference

Before we start, let’s explain the decarboxylation step. What does that mean? It refers to the process that converts THCA and CBDA found in raw marijuana into its active forms, which are THC and CBD.

This process is an absolute must when making any kind of edible that contains cannabis.

Why? If you put in raw cannabis, the results will disappoint you. Raw THCA won’t get you high.

In order to change and activate cannabis’ potent properties, you need to heat the cannabis first. You then use that decarbed herb in baking and cooking your edibles.

So back to the first major step – decarb your cannabis.

The easiest way to decarb your plant is to just spread it on baking paper and bake it for 30 minutes at 250°F (121°C). When it’s done, it should be dried and not burnt. It might get toasted in color, but that’s about it.

Now, it’s time to melt your chocolate.

Cut the chocolate into smaller pieces, put it in a glass bowl and set it over a saucepan filled with boiling water. This is what we call the double boiler method, which will melt your chocolate evenly, without any lumps.

After you remove the bowl with melted chocolate inside, put your herb in there and stir until it’s distributed evenly.

Now, pour the mixture into molds of your choice. This is the fun part, because you can play around with molds. You can even find specific molds for marijuana edibles, which look really professional and fun from PJ Bold.

After that, all you have to do is put it in the fridge and wait for an hour or so for it to set and cool down. Once that’s done, remove the chocolate from the molds, and enjoy.

Cannabis chocolate tips and tricks

Other important tips to remember when baking chocolate edibles:

• Always use the best chocolate you can afford. Dark chocolate is the best option because of the high level of cocoa in it.
• Every time you make cannabis chocolates, or any edibles for that matter, remember to bake your bud first before you start in on baking. Don’t put in raw marijuana.
• Make sure your herb is finely ground first. 
• Add ingredients of your choice in your chocolate, once you’ve mastered the basics. Try adding orange zest, cranberries, or almonds and add them in before the chocolate cools. Have fun and experiment with this.
• If you haven’t tried edibles before, be careful. They can get you really high. It can take up to 2 hours for them to start to kick in, so take your time.

Other things you should know about cannabis edibles

Edibles are food mixtures infused with cannabis (herb or concentrate).

In the past few years, the cannabis culinary industry has become the fastest growing food industry in the world.

The main benefit of edibles is that you don’t have to smoke the flower or vaporize the concentrate to get high. The cannabis is already infused into the ingredients of your edible.

You can find all sorts of food products with cannabis, such as brownies, CBD beverages, cannabis-infused cooking oil, butter, CBD gummies, and of course, chocolate.

The disadvantage is that edibles pass through your digestive system, which means it may take a few hours for them to start to kick in.

The dosage is simple. Any packaging you buy will state THC and CBD percentage in milligrams, and the total milligrams in one package.

Try not to eat more than 5 mg per portion. For example, if the whole package of chocolate has 50 mg, take one cube at a time. That is 1/10 or a portion.

Cannabis chocolate and THC potency

Like with any cannabis edible, the THC potency in cannabis infused chocolate is a major point you should be informed about.

Dosing THC levels in edibles has been difficult for manufacturers, and new studies have shown that it may be even more difficult to do so with chocolate edibles. This is because the chocolate component of the edible may actually hide the real potency of the THC it contains.

Researchers have studied and found that the potency levels of THC in the same cannabis-infused chocolates will differ according to the amount of the edible being tested.

For example, the more chocolate they tested, the less THC the sample had and vice versa. When the amount of chocolate was lessened, there was more THC present.

It has been speculated that this is probably due to the fact that there are some fats in chocolate that may have an effect on THC capacities, suppressing the THC levels in it. Regulating the level of marijuana in chocolate is complex and is still undergoing tests.

In addition, the Food and Drug Administration doesn’t regulate every and all marijuana products simply due to the complex legalization issues across the United States. This means that each state will differ in how marijuana, its testing, safety and quality, is measured and standardized.

Thus, it’s so important to take it easy when it comes to edibles and why we recommend the recipe for making your chocolate edibles at home. It’s the best way to properly dose the cannabis in your own chocolate according to your preferences and tolerance levels.

The bottom line

Cannabis chocolate tastes great and you can easily make it at home. However, be careful when it comes to consuming your chocolate. Just eat small cubes, one at a time.

If you’re buying your cannabis infused chocolate, though, be sure to read the THC dosage information first. You’ll want to put a reasonable limit on how much you can eat based on how potent the chocolate is.

Enjoy this magnificent treat, careful with the dosage, and don’t forget to count the calories first! (Just kidding.)