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Articles / Alan McClure

Alan McClure

How Gourmet Can a Ganja Gummy Get?

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Well I’m so glad you asked.

Before I became a cannabis food science consultant, I was a chocolate maker of some renown. Part of what set me apart was my creative approach to flavors and pairings.

The gourmet potential of cannabis edibles is limited only by your imagination.

But for businesses weighing manufacturing and market considerations, the answer can be a little more complicated.

Which is one of the things a food scientist like me can help with. 

Meanwhile, here’s how I indulged my own imagination, to demonstrate envelope-pushing gourmet cannabis gummies…and how it went wrong (because sometimes that’s just as interesting).

Magic peanut butter & jelly gummies

Who doesn’t love a good PB&J? Well let’s see how far we can take it…

My plan was to make two layers: a grape pate de fruit (like a firm jelly that keeps its shape) and a crunchy peanut butter gianduia. 

Then enrobe each morsel (like a Snickers) in Patric 70% Signature Dark Chocolate.

Yum, right?

I must caveat that this particular gummy confection would be difficult and expensive to bring to market. Perhaps impractical on the manufacturing side, for a small/medium edibles company—except maybe as a big promo run. Or if you already have a customer base willing to spring for gourmet edibles. 

But practicality has never stopped me from flexing my creativity before…

Jelly layer

My initial attempt at grape pate de fruit turned out basic and dull. So I decided to do the jelly layer with blackberries and red wine instead.

First I made a test batch using straight-up blackberry puree and pinot noir. The flavor was ok…but the texture was pretty unpleasant with the seeds and fruitbodies. 

So I clarified the blackberry puree using a centrifuge with pectinase, to separate all the woody-tasting, tough seeds and clingy pulp.

Fruit naturally contains pectin, so the enzyme pectinase helps break it down for centrifuge separation to get every last good drop. Later I’ll pasteurize the clarified purée to deactivate the enzyme. Otherwise it could inhibit the gummy from gelling later.  

Texture-wise, the next test batch turned out much better. But the flavor was still washed out, even when I balanced the sweet and acid characteristics.

Blackberry-red-wine gourmet cannabis gummies
Mesmerizing…

To intensify the wine flavor, I made a pinot noir reduction. Then increased the amount of clarified puree. And finally added some natural blackberry extract for that extra bright oomph.

The result was fantastic.

Crunchy peanut butter layer

Gianduia is an Italian confection usually made with salty milk chocolate and hazelnut paste. Almost like a ganache or super-smooth fudge without any of the grainy texture.

For this layer, I substituted handmade crunchy peanut butter, to make it dense but soft; textured to match and complement the pate de fruit layer.

The flavor and mouthfeel of the test batch blew my mind. I would gobble up just that gianduia by the handful. 

Choosing THC extract for magic PB&J gummies

Satisfied with the undosed test version, I made another batch of blackberry-pinot noir jelly—this time adding decarboxylated cannabis extract.

Adding THC extract to cannabis gummies

I chose a distillate of Grapefruit Durban, a sativa strain known for its “cerebral, energetic, and motivating high…felt throughout your entire body.”

More importantly for gummies, its citrusy terpenes bring a bouquet of fresh bright grapefruit…enough to make you thirsty. (Read more about choosing extracts for edibles)

How to make multi-layer cannabis gummies

Layered gummies and other confections are beautiful, and can have exquisite flavors separate but paired with each bite. 

It starts with a stainless steel confectionery frame. This one is about ¼” thick and can be stacked up for layers.

Stainless steel confectionery frame for cannabis gummies

Once the jelly is cooled to room-temperature (so the gianduia won’t melt and the layers don’t mix), the tempered peanut butter gianduia gets poured on top…to set together into one dual slab.

This is pretty much the same process for any layered gummies.

Then you take away the frame and cut the slab to bitesize using a guitar cutter.

Machine fail

Sometimes experiments go wrong in very interesting and educational ways. Other times it’s much more dumb. 

The idea was to cut the two layers into cubes, and enrobe each morsel with dark chocolate.

But my chocolate-tempering machine decided to sit this one out. 

Any chocolate has to temper—to a unique set of conditions depending on what else is in it (e.g., fat %, type of fat, viscosity)—in order to set right for appearance, texture, and mouthfeel. So neither my peanut butter gianduia nor the enrobage would work for this delicious dream.

In some ways though, the scientific method is the study of adaptation.

Disappointed but not discouraged, I folded the slab of blackberry-wine over on itself to make a double layer. Then cut it into cubes, which I rolled in organic cane sugar.

How to make multilayer cannabis gummies

They have a great mouthfeel and flavor. Still layered but the same color, creating a sparkling and gem-like appearance when you bite in—but they don’t really compare to a multi-layer chocolate confection.

However, they are also double the dosage…

Anyway, stay tuned for revisions and photos of the real thing. Once I get this distemperate machine up and running again. 

Cannabis Food Scientist vs ChatGPT Gummies – Part 2

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Gourmet cannabis gummies: orange-guava-passionfruit

Read Part 1

***

After getting a reasonable-looking but still problematic cannabis gummy recipe from ChatGPT, I headed to the flavor lab to put it to the test. Using orange juice as the bot suggested.

Somewhat surprisingly, the gummies actually set—but there were a LOT of problems.

Here’s the TLDR summary:

  • Too much water
  • Too much pectin
  • Too much citric acid
  • No pH buffer
  • No bitterness masking ingredients (not even sea salt!)
  • Bad pectin procedure
  • Bad timing for ingredient additions
  • Bad process for cooking and gummy molding
  • Horrible product outcome

Using pectin for gummy edibles

Let’s start with the basics. ChatGPT’s recipe suggests that pectin will dissolve in cold liquid. This isn’t true.

Also if you follow ChatGPT’s recipe to the letter and just dump in the pectin, you’d have a miserable gunky failure. I’m not sure where it got this idea…there should be plenty of internet recipes explaining how to do pectin right. 

I didn’t just dump it in, and even sifting slowly and whisking quickly, there was still pectin balling up…meaning wasted pectin and issues with texture.

How to avoid clumpy pectin in gummies

Ideally pectin should be mixed with sugar first, to make sure it’s evenly dispersed in the aqueous solution.

What type of pectin is best for cannabis gummies?

Pectin choice is always incredibly important. For gummy edibles, always use slow-setting high-methoxyl pectin.

But even with the right pectin, there’s too much moisture in ChatGPT’s gummy recipe. Meaning it takes longer to cook down, which results in a dull cooked flavor, as well as pectin degradation.

If you’re making citrus gummies, you want them to taste as fresh and bright as possible.

Cannabis gummies cooking process

The recipe has you stir granulated cane sugar into cold juice to dissolve. This is a waste of time. As expected…I stirred for 10 mins but still never achieved full dissolution. 

Instead, as soon as the sugar and pectin are evenly dispersed in the aqueous solution, turn the heat up to about medium, stir constantly, and get the batch done quickly.

This is one of the tricks of effective food-science formulation—develop a recipe that lets you incorporate multiple steps into one. In this case, a quick warmup dissolving sugar with pectin along with the fruit puree (instead of juice, meaning less water) lets you get it all done with a ~5 minute boil…meaning better, fresher flavor.

Adding vanilla up front means the heat of cooking destroys its complex and delicate flavor. You could barely tell there was any vanilla by the end. 

Always add your delicate flavor ingredients after cooking for better, more nuanced results.  

It also says to add the citric acid while cooking. That’s another bad idea. Heat & acid both accelerate pectin degradation. Especially since this recipe has no pH buffer—another multilayered mistake—this likely leads to pectin degradation and premature gellation. 

The low heat suggested by this recipe would never let it reach a final temperature of 225°F in a reasonable amount of time (i.e. less than ~25 minutes). I had to turn up the induction hob almost to medium before it reached the proper temp. Overlong cooktime causes pectin degradation and wilting of flavors.

And “stir occasionally” isn’t right either. To avoid scorching, stir constantly or at least regularly.

Setting & molding edibles gummies

ChatGPT’s recipe says to remove from heat and let the mixture cool for a few minutes before pouring it into molds. But after 3 minutes it was already starting to set up.

Why?

Partially because it uses 2-3x more pectin than you need. Plus way too much acid too soon; resulting in pectin degradation and premature gelation. Especially with no pH buffer to slow down setting (for better handling and texture). The final pH ends up at 3.38, which is significantly lower than what it needs to be in order to set. Another ingredient partially wasted.

Fill & scrape method for molding cannabis gummies

Because it was setting so fast, I had to do a quick fill & scrape to get the gummy solution into the molds. Normally I’d use a depositor for better control. But there wasn’t time with ChatGPT’s recipe.

The result is an uneven, chunky appearance. And a terrible granular texture when you break them open.

There’s also no reason to fill the mold cavities ¾ full like it suggests. The resulting gummies won’t expand upon setting.

And you don’t need to store cannabis gummies in the fridge. With the right amount of sugar and water, shelf life for gummies won’t be an issue. Just keep them sealed airtight in a quality container. Preferably multi-layered with a vapor barrier.

Inferior gummy product

The final product of ChatGPT’s cannabis gummy recipe was disappointing but not unexpected.

Visual: Bubbly, cratered, uneven texture; from air bubbles trapped by the rapid setting. Muted color tones, tinged slightly brown instead of vivid bright orange. 

Mouthfeel: Terrible. Tough, granular and chunky like firm scrambled eggs. 

Flavor: Unpleasant. Washed-out vanilla and flaccid cooked-orange flavor. No complexity. No concentrated aroma. And sourness and bitterness that are both way out of balance.

Conclusion: Very low quality; if I purchased an edibles product that turned out like this, I would avoid that brand forever.

Unfortunately for the edibles market, a lot of what I see at the dispensaries isn’t much better than these ChatGPT gummies. 

And until companies start taking food science & foodcraft seriously, that’s not going to change. 

But some edibles businesses are doing things differently—like my client United Cultivation.

They’re a dispensary that decided to vertically integrate their cannabis operation, including a line of house edibles. They want top quality, clean ingredients, and exquisite flavor.

And they’re smart enough to trust food science to make it happen.

So here’s how I took ChatGPT’s idea for a cannabis gummy recipe and turned it into something high-quality and delicious that will enchant edibles customers, and help launch UnitedCult into the next phase of their business.

Food science formulation for THC gummies

Cannabis gummies: Food science flavor lab

Before anything else, I adjusted the amounts of most every ingredient to improve the foundation of the formulation (i.e. skip a few steps because of my experience and knowledge).

Sweeping revisions to ChatGPT’s gummy recipe:

  • Pectin (reduced)
  • Water (reduced)
  • Citric acid (switched out for lemon juice concentrate added at the end)
  • Process (adding pectin the right way, for smooth mixture)

I continued with the orange base, but decided to hyphenate to Orange-Guava-Passionfruit (using real fruit purees of course).

Then I roughed out a few nonactive sample gummies using the 3-fruit mix. The flavor was outstanding, but the mouthfeel was unacceptable. Little bits of guava seeds and passionfruit skin made for a really unpleasant texture on the tongue.

Clarifying fruit purees for better gummies

Not everyone has this capability, but I ran the fruit through a centrifuge with pectinase, to separate the smooth, creamy portion of the puree from the gritty bits.

The new mouthfeel was fantastic and silky smooth. But I added a few drops of natural fruit extracts at the end to boost the fresh, bright flavor of orange, guava, and passionfruit, given that the purees are cooked.

Best emulsifiers for cannabis gummies

This is another science-based step most edibles producers skip, to the detriment of their overall product experience.

THC digests faster into the bloodstream when it’s emulsified with fats. I’ll spare you the science of that—but it’s the reason why you can make pot brownies (with butter) but not straight-up cannabis tea (with water).

For this gummy formulation, I used a sunflower-based emulsifier along with some coconut oil to help boost bioavailability of the extract, resulting in a faster onset of effects.

How to choose cannabis extract strains for edibles

To dance with the 3-fruit mixture, I selected a cannabis strain called Strawberry Guava based on Leafy’s description of it as “strawberry, tropical, and sweet” with citrusy terpene notes. 

It’s a top choice for medical marijuana patients looking to soothe symptoms like anxiety, stress, and PTSD, because its active effects include feelings of happiness, relaxation, and hunger.

But who among us doesn’t need some relief from stress and anxiety?

So I tested the mixture with the decarboxylated distillate of Strawberry Guava cannabis; balanced the sweet and sour, added a bit of sea salt, and it was ready for the next step.

Which brought us to a critical question. A turning point that would determine how exactly the mixture gets cooked. 

Cannabis gummy texture—firm or soft?

For standard gummy firmness, I would cook the mixture up to 230°F or higher before pouring into molds to cool and set.

But I wanted these a little softer, so I poured at 225°F which resulted in a lovely texture like al dente pate de fruit—if you’ll forgive a little culinary language mashup. This more delicate mouthfeel also results in a truly phenomenal flavor release, unlike anything a gummy bear texture could possibly offer.

Your teeth glide through it leaving a clean, glistening bite already inviting the next nibble, as you evenly disperse the softening fruity glory through your mouth. None of that tacky chewiness of standard gummies you find at most dispensaries.  

Natural color & food dyes for cannabis edibles

On the first full test run, I decided I wasn’t happy with the final appearance. I wanted something that would really stand out, so I cooked and poured one layer of the original orange, topped with another layer dyed with red radish extract.

The two layers set together in a sheet. Then I cut them with a guitar-cutter, and rolled the two-tone cubes in organic cane sugar.

They came out quite soft and delicate, really beautiful when you bite into one. The softer texture allowed flavor to bloom in mouth and nose with a full bouquet of complex, fresh fruity notes.

Maybe this is the effects of my recent sensory analysis kicking in; but I might bend my rules and say that this is the best gummy product I’ve created. So far…

We’ll just have to wait and see what United Cultivation’s constituents think about the firm vs soft question in our forthcoming consumer analysis collaboration (stay tuned).

ChatGPT vs cannabis food scientist results & analysis

Cannabis food scientist gummy formulation results

Unfortunately there weren’t enough judges or gummy entries at the Expo to offer a meaningful demonstration of formal expert sensory analysis.

So we’ll have to return to that topic another time…

One notable observation was that some people were confused and even apparently put-off by the softer texture of our gourmet gummies. 

Whether that’s a true preference of the wider consumer base, or some kind of bias from people used to a marketful of existing gummies—that are unpleasantly firm and unrelentingly rubbery—is something we’ll find out from a direct consumer analysis of United Cultivation’s new recipe. 

We’ll compare soft vs firm, and ultimately decide based on the audience that will actually be consuming the product. (Again, stay tuned for more science!)

And in the meantime—do you think that this minor setback will stop mad scientist Dr Alan from flexing his formidable flair for formulation to the far-flung frontiers of flavor?

No. Of course not.

You knew that…

So join us for the next installment of this cannabis gummy formulation journey, and read about my hypergourmet PB&J gummies…

Cannabis Food Scientist vs ChatGPT Gummies – Part 1

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You’ve probably already considered turning to ChatGPT to find new cannabis edibles recipes. 

If you’ve played around with it and you have any experience with making gummies or other edibles, you may have noticed some chinks in the armor.

The first and last thing to remember about this program is that it is not sentient. It uses machine learning to sort through everything it can access on the internet and pull an answer that its training says best fits your question.

First I asked ChatGPT 3.5 how to make the best vegan cannabis gummy. 

It’s a simple, basic question that anyone searching for a cannabis gummy recipe might ask. 

I wanted a recipe that doesn’t use any animal-derived ingredient (i.e., no gelatin). I was expecting it would probably suggest something fruit-flavored because that’s so common in the gummy world. 

As far as plant-derived gelling agents, I know from experience that the three most common are pectin, agar, and starch. For homemade gummies, starch is rarely the choice. 

I also thought if ChatGPT really understood “best” it would offer something with pectin.

This is what it came up with:

Here’s a recipe for making vegan cannabis gummies:

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of fruit juice (preferably low pH like lemon juice or orange juice)
  • 1/4 cup of water
  • 1 tablespoon of agar agar powder (a vegan alternative to gelatin)
  • 1/2 teaspoon of citric acid
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon of cannabis tincture (dose as per your preference)

Equipment:

  • Silicone gummy molds
  • Saucepan
  • Whisk
  • Dropper or syringe

Instructions:

  1. In a saucepan, mix together the fruit juice, water, agar agar powder, citric acid, and salt.
  2. Whisk the mixture together over low heat until the agar agar powder dissolves completely.
  3. Add the cannabis tincture to the mixture and whisk it together.
  4. Remove the saucepan from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes.
  5. Using a dropper or syringe, fill the silicone gummy molds with the mixture.
  6. Place the molds in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes to let the gummies set.
  7. Once the gummies have set, remove them from the molds and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

That’s it! This recipe should yield about 20-30 gummies, depending on the size of your molds. Make sure to label your gummies and keep them out of reach of children or pets.

Enjoy your vegan cannabis gummies responsibly!

Don’t use this ChatGPT cannabis gummy recipe!

TLDR: It will turn out inedibly bitter and sour, and may not even gel. Plus what the hell’s your dosage?

Let me break down what went wrong, and then I’ll ask it a more specific question.

Precision measuring

Generally speaking, it’s better to measure by mass/weight than by volume. Ingredients tend to vary in density from producer to producer. For example ¼ tsp. salt will have a different mass of salt depending on the grain/flake shape and size. Which can change the flavor drastically, especially when you scale up for market (which you can’t really do volumetrically; more about scaling gummies here).

It’s not surprising that ChatGPT pulled a gummy recipe with volume-based measurement. It’s just drawing from what’s available on the internet—which leans toward American preferences. But if you’re making cannabis gummies commercially, definitely measure your recipe by weight.

But okay, for the purposes of this demonstration we’ll stick with the more common volumetric recipes. 

Flavor

It makes sense to see fruit as the basis of this recipe. Fruit juices and purees are common cannabis gummy ingredients.

But I am surprised to see it suggest a low pH (high acid) juice like lemon, especially since citric acid (which makes lemon sour) is also included. 

People generally prefer their fruit-flavored gummies to be sweet—and there is no sugar in this recipe, especially if you go with lemon juice. But even orange, pineapple, or some other juice would skew toward the sour side…and without adding sugar to balance it, I suspect these gummies would taste quite harsh.

Okay but let’s say you’re allergic to sugar, or you just like things super sour—there’s still the fact that cannabis extractions are inherently bitter. 

As any chef or food scientist knows, bitterness is enhanced by acid and mitigated by sweetness. So a recipe this sour would also be unpalatably bitter, without adding ingredients to manage bitterness.

And if we’re talking about flavor, we can’t just talk about sour, bitter, and sweet.

We also have to consider one of the biggest taste factors in any edibles recipe. The strain of cannabis you use for your extract impacts the flavor profile immensely. It can’t just be an afterthought. 

Not all cannabis strains work well in edibles because of their particular combination of terpenes.

There are citrusy strains that could work fantastically well in a recipe like this.  But there are also skunky strains and ones that taste like diesel fuel…in which case you’re talking about a real gross edible. Don’t do that to your customers and your brand. 

Here at Elevated Edibles we always account for the extract’s flavor profile as one of the first, most critical elements in our cannabis edibles formulation for clients.

If you want to make better edibles, I suggest you do the same. 

Using agar for cannabis gummies

Why did ChatGPT choose agar as a baseline for cannabis gummies? It’s impossible to know for sure, but my guess is that more people use agar because it’s easier to work with and doesn’t require a specific pH range and sugar concentration in order to gel. 

Pectin is, for lack of a better word, more difficult.

And if you Google “vegan agar gummy” versus “vegan pectin gummy” you’ll notice there are almost 25% more instances of agar. 

Of course more doesn’t mean better. But ChatGPT has no way of knowing that. 

Anyway, agar is known for having lots of variability in its gelling capacity, which is apparently based upon regional differences in chemical composition. This means sometimes even batch to batch variation of agar from the same manufacturer might cause noticeable texture differences. 

Another major consideration is that agar needs to be heated to dissolve in water—but when acid is also involved, the agar begins to break down; which dramatically reduces its gelling capacity. 

In other words step one—which calls for mixing the lemon juice, citric acid, and agar before heating—is not advised.

To do it right you would first cook agar in a sugar solution to a particular temperature or brix, and then cool it down to below 200° F before blending with acidic ingredients. 

Because of agar’s flexibility, ChatGPT’s gummy recipe might work—but it uses significantly more agar than necessary, and therefore your cost of goods is higher than it could be. In essence, it is wasteful. 

Home gummy makers may not care, but business owners generally want to avoid wasting one of their more expensive cannabis gummy ingredients—when a slight change in process could solve the problem.

Remember, every inefficiency or extra cost magnifies significantly when you scale for manufacturing. And by then it’s too late…

Fortunately food science is here to rescue you from that sunk-cost fate. 

Dosing

The word “tincture” in this recipe means nothing. What’s the solvent? How will using something like oil vs ethanol affect the recipe? And how much THC is in there? 

Even specifying an ethanol tincture made with 1 oz cannabis flower is barely helpful, because THC concentration varies widely by strain.

ChatGPT seems to let itself off the hook here by saying “dose as per your preference,” but it is my experience that many people don’t have a known preference. 

(By the way, here’s how to make your own cannabis tincture by dose.)

Shelf life

Remember that absence of sugar and the short cooking time? That adds up to a real short shelf-life, which is related to water activity.

Sugar and salt dampen that activity (so to speak). Without them, even low pH foods can grow mold. Disgusting, yes—but some molds also produce toxins. Which can bring legal trouble on top of the guaranteed ick factor that’ll sink your brand. Can you imagine the Google reviews…?

Unless you want to trust dispensaries to keep refrigerated at all times, you definitely wouldn’t want this recipe for any commercial purposes.

Always always always run any edibles recipe through shelf-life testing. (Ask me how)

How to get a decent cannabis gummy recipe from ChatGPT

ChatGPT’s strengths are also its weaknesses. All it does is pull from what already exists online. It’s not actually creating anything. It can’t determine what will work versus what will fall flat and why. It has no sense—it’s just a masterful indexer.

Laying aside its lack of sensory input and actual experience to focus on what does make it a useful tool—one perpetual problem with the program still is that it’s hard to know what you don’t know. Both for the AI itself and for the humans trying to train it.

It couldn’t know that pectin is preferable over agar for its superior flavor release. Nor that pectin has a more familiar mouthfeel for westerners; whereas agar feels more brittle and less elastic (which can read as stale for US consumers).

If it were trained to take into account issues like flavor release, mouthfeel, strain flavor profiles, and so forth, it may be able to self-correct. Each new version of ChatGPT leaps closer and closer to truly useful and not just entertaining.

But in the meantime, better questions can produce better results. (Hey—just like in science!)

So this time I asked ChatGPT: 

“How to make the best vegan cannabis gummy using pectin & granulated sugar, a recipe that will result in gummies that actually set, with a good mouthfeel and flavor. Listing ingredients in metric weights, with a dosage of 5 mg THC per 5 gram gummy.”

And here’s what it came up with:

Here’s a recipe for vegan cannabis gummies using pectin and granulated sugar that yields approximately 50 gummies with 5mg THC per 5g gummy. This recipe includes metric weights for accuracy and has been tested to ensure the gummies set properly, have a good mouthfeel and flavor:

Ingredients:

  • 250 ml fruit juice of your choice
  • 10 g pectin
  • 200 g granulated sugar
  • 2 g citric acid
  • 2 g vanilla extract
  • 10 ml cannabis tincture (containing 100mg THC per 10ml)

Instructions:

  1. In a small saucepan, combine the fruit juice and pectin. Whisk until the pectin is fully dissolved.
  2. Add the sugar to the juice mixture and stir until it’s fully dissolved.
  3. Heat the mixture over low heat and add the citric acid and vanilla extract. Stir well.
  4. Continue heating the mixture over low heat, stirring occasionally, until it reaches 107°C. Use a candy thermometer to measure the temperature.
  5. Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool for a few minutes.
  6. Add the cannabis tincture and stir well.
  7. Pour the mixture into a silicone gummy mold, filling each mold about 3/4 full.
  8. Refrigerate the molds for at least an hour or until the gummies are firm.
  9. Remove the gummies from the mold and store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Each gummy should contain approximately 5mg THC per 5g gummy, but the potency can vary depending on the strength of your cannabis tincture. Be sure to label your gummies clearly and keep them out of reach of children and pets. Enjoy responsibly!

This recipe looks somewhat better—but even at a glance I can tally up several issues that would prevent this from ever exceeding mediocre.

It did get rid of the extra water, which bodes well for shelf life. It also added a thermometer to the process, which is imperative when using pectin (though I disagree with its heat/time ratio). And the flavor balance seems much more palatable—plus it even threw in some vanilla for effect!

But again, this recipe is still rife with problems. It would never work as a product for any cannabusiness. And depending on the pH of the fruit you choose, it might not even gel. 

Plus—and maybe this is just us being picky—but the THC dosage is completely off. Even if you factor in the typical 70-80% yield of a pectin gummy recipe (due to water evaporation), at 5 grams each, these gummies would dose less than 3 mg THC apiece. 

Where did ChatGPT go wrong in its calculations?

Read how I solve these problems (and more) in the next chapter of Cannabis Food Scientist vs ChatGPT – in which I work with a client to develop this gummy recipe into a delicious, high-quality, long-lasting, and viable product for the cannabis edibles market. 

Follow our LinkedIn for updates & the next installment!

13 Things Every Edibles Entrepreneur Must Know

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The universe of cannabis edibles is rapidly expanding. There’s a lot to know, and even more to discover. For example, the gourmet edibles market remains mostly untapped. But that will be changing soon…

Will you be ahead of the curve? Or find yourself struggling to catch up?

Here are some important factors to consider; from an experienced food scientist to anyone hoping to succeed in the edibles market.

1. Account for bitterness from the beginning

Even the highest quality cannabis extracts are bitter. Simply because the molecular structures of cannabinoids inherently activate our bitterness receptors. 

But don’t worry—there are numerous ways to manage bitterness in cannabis edibles. 

One smart, simple way is to blend in the flavor of good quality cannabis with complementary flavors. Or you can use science-based bitterness masking ingredients that help block the perception of bitterness; either through a central cognitive effect, or by preventing the compounds from actually making contact with bitterness receptors. 

Sadly, too many edibles companies just blot out the flavor with additional high-intensity artificial sweeteners. Don’t do that. 

2. Invest in quality ingredients

In general, use as few ingredients as possible—and choose quality for each of them. Skimping just creates weak links in the big picture of your edibles formulation. You may be able to cut your bottom line for a production run or two…but you won’t wrangle in those invaluable return customers who are searching for the best, and deeply loyal when they find it.

Quality ingredients make edibles taste a lot better, let you market clean-label products, and keep your customers drooling for more.

3. Research your market

Don’t just start crafting blind. Know your audience. Who are you trying to help? What products are they buying? How do they like to dose?

Then once you’re formulating, set up sensory analysis panels with taste experts. And another with a set of untrained consumers. 

Food science can help systematically determine which variation of your product is actually the best, for the greatest group of consumers.

Solid, scientific research is increasingly crucial as the cannabis edibles market continues to open up with new applications, consumer demands, and continued growth. Every other food production niche does extensive food-science research about their flavors. Seems like edibles producers should too…

4. Packaging matters

At the end of the day, you’re not selling products. You’re delivering an experience to your customers.

Part of that experience includes the packaging and branding. Thoughtful, functional packaging can go a long way toward building a consistent and loyal customer base who keep returning for more—and equally important, tell their friends about it. 

Cannabis packaging people return for:

  • Guilt-free compostable bags
  • Reusable containers, giftable even as empties
  • Sleek, discreet, no-frills, ergonomic
  • Creatively, completely child-safe

Don’t just take it from me. Here’s another expert voice with more ideas about cannabis packaging.

Packaging matters for marketing cannabis edibles (Pexels photo by Elsa Olofsson)

5. Pay attention to shelf life

Whatever cannabis edible product you produce, it will change over time. And you really can’t plan for any best-case scenario. Your products have to last under real-world conditions. At the mercy of dispensary managers.

Don’t assume that any emulsion (even nanoemulsions) will be stable for 6 months or longer. It totally depends on storage conditions. Make sure that the shelf-life of any emulsion you use has been characterized—and be aware that depending on the dilution you add it to, that shelf life can change.

The same is true of all your other ingredients. That’s why part of science-based edibles product formulation includes laboratory shelf-life testing. 

One bad experience will make people shy away from your entire brand—even if they’ve had lots of great experiences before that—and you can be sure they’ll tell their friends the whole mortifying story.

There’s a saying in marketing: The price of one negative is 199 affirmatives. 

6. Extracts: don’t cut corners

Use a first-run extract from a strain of cannabis with a terpene & flavor profile that enhances your recipe, rather than something skunky that you have to cover up.

Remember, the more processed your extract, the more bitterness and off-flavors it will bring. Please, people—there’s plenty of cannabis available for making high-quality extracts. There’s no need to chemically squeeze every last drop.

Would you cook with the dregs of a third or fourth olive-oil pressing? No. So why would you make edibles with some wrung-out cannabis material?

Read more about extracts as a flavor ingredient

7. Avoid nanoemulsions

Cannabis nanoemulsions may offer the benefit of faster metabolization of the payload—but they are generally terrible for making delicious edibles: Why? Extreme bitterness because they present more total surface area for taste-bud receptors.

Additionally, no emulsion is infinitely stable. Not even the best-made nanoemulsion on earth.

If buying or preparing your own nanoemulsions make sure that droplet size can be verified in 

some meaningful way (e.g. laser diffraction particle analysis via Mastersizer).

8. Beverages are risky—there’s a better way

Formulating consistent, shelf-stable beverages is a challenge. Especially when you can’t rely on dispensaries to have refrigerated display space.

But here’s a little food-science secret for you: There’s a way you can launch an infinite product line of cannabis beverages—with variable dosages!—by instead offering a series of flavored THC drops for transforming any existing beverage into a magic one.

Flavored cannabis drops (pexels photo by Binoid CBD)

Cannabis drops flavor ideas:

  • Cinnamon 
  • Vanilla
  • Winter spice
  • Tropical Fruit
  • Mint
  • Herbal
  • Citrus

Then part of your cannabis edibles marketing strategy could include recipe ideas or pairings with existing beverages:

  • Make your own THC-infused Vanilla Coke!
  • Fly higher with cherry-flavored cannabis Red Bull
  • Warm winter workdays with a cinnamon cannabis latte—however you take it
  • Dank up your Derby Day with magic mint juleps

The possibilities are endless. Here’s how to make your own cannabis extract to test the concept. Only question now is—how do you create the best product line of flavored cannabis drops that food science can deliver?

9. Everyone is making gummies

Don’t do the same thing that everyone is doing.

But if you have to make gummies, make them in a way no one else is!

Get your R&D team building an exhaustive list of what’s available—and then come up with something that isn’t. You also may notice that the gourmet cannabis edibles niche is still pretty wide open. There are a million and one much-loved flavors that still haven’t really been widely explored.

If you’re making gummies, use real fruit

This is one way to stand out from the gummy crowd. Most cannabis gummy producers are using sugar syrups and sometimes even artificial flavorings. Using real fruit purees instead not only tastes better, but can also clean up your ingredient list and help you capture a lucrative niche of loyal customers who want top quality real foods.

Learn about fruit purees in edibles.

10. Consistency is crucial

Food service professionals and chefs can only get you so far. Especially when it comes to scaling edibles for market growth.

Up-market confectionery and all other foods & beverages are the result of careful scientific formulation accounting for multiple variables.

Food production variables:

  • Aroma
  • Taste
  • Mouthfeel
  • Chemistry
  • Physics
  • Food safety
  • Available manufacturing techniques
  • Consumer expectations

That’s a lot of hats to wear. No matter how much you love the craft, or how brilliant your cannabis marketing genius—it’s more than you should have to juggle. Take it from a fellow entrepreneur who learned long ago the importance of delegating to the experts. Believe me, I have much love for CPAs, electrical engineers, and HVAC professionals.

Look, you may even have dedicated R&D professionals on staff working on new products and expanding upon existing products. But if they don’t have a science background, there’s only so far they can go on their own, without food science consulting.

11. Things will go wrong

It’s inevitable in food production that issues will arise and formulations will need tweaking. Especially if you try scaling a recipe without adequate food science knowledge.

Part of being a successful cannabis edibles entrepreneur includes recognizing problems you can’t solve before they become major (and expensive). Food scientists have a lot of experience with empirical problem-solving. The upfront expense can save you time and money down the line, fixing errors that magnify with every step of the production process. 

12. Don’t be afraid to seek outside help

If you’re still reading this, you already realize you can’t make top quality cannabis edibles on your own. Even if you have a solid in-house R&D team. Fortunately there are many types of consultants in the food industry, with a wide range of experience and training. Naturally each brings their own strengths and weaknesses.

You’ll pay less for someone without a PhD, without formal experiment-design capabilities, without two decades of experience making best-of-class, record-award-winning chocolate, confections, and more.

But you’ll also get a lot less in return. It all depends on where you want to go with your business.

13. Invest in food science; get massive returns

Daunted by the price tag of experienced food science consulting? That’s understandable. I ran a small chocolate manufacturing business for years, so I know the feeling of expenses adding up.

But think about it this way: Putting up $7000+ for a delicious science-based formulation isn’t expensive—it’s valuable. Infusing your products with unbeatable consistency, gourmet quality, and standout creativity. Investing in truly next-level product development to vault your edibles over the heads of the competition.

That’s the key to attracting those critical return customers and nurturing brand loyalty.

Plus outsourcing science problems to a scientist frees up your R&D team to work on things where they can be the most efficient. Only you know how much that would be worth for your business.

Does any of this matter?

Well…technically no. You can very easily join the middies game, cut your ingredient costs, use third-run extracts masked with cheap sweeteners, inject preservatives, cover inconsistencies with food dyes, and churn out edibles that definitely get people high (even if they taste gross) while growing a profitable cannabusiness.

You can even spend your market research on figuring out the highest price people will pay for the mediocre flavors you’re turning out.

But then you’re asking your customers to accept an edibles experience far below the threshold of what’s possible. Depriving them of the chance to experience the soaring potential of delicious, precise, consistent gourmet edibles developed for pan-sensory enjoyment and long-term brand growth.

Or pushing them toward other companies who are doing it right.

Plus you’ll wind up shaving away some of that profit margin anyway, because it invariably costs more to market to new customers than it does to nurture loyal ones. Not to mention the cost of fixing errors down the line that could have been prevented.

As always, the choice is yours whether to focus on quick short-term gains—or tap into the magic of food science and put out products that build deep customer loyalty, wow influencers, and potentially change the edibles game.

Whatever you decide…we’ll be here.

Reach out

12 Days of Cannabis Holiday Treats

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Going gourmet with your ganja? Gotta get seasonal with your edibles production. 

This time of year, that can mean a lot of things to a lot of people. Which opens up plenty of opportunities to enchant your cannabis consumers with various plays on traditional holiday treats.

Whether you’re a cannabis edibles company putting together a holiday product special to attract new customers at the busiest time of year—or just someone hoping to add a little extra “magic” to your holiday treats—the possibilities are scientifically endless for getting cannabis into high-quality food.

We’ll prove it at the end of this article.

But first, here’s an ideastorm to spark some inspiration in your cannabis edibles formulation:

1. Classic holiday cookie edibles

Cannabis holiday cookies

Pick your favorite holiday baked-good recipe and substitute the fat content (e.g. butter, shortening, oil, etc) with an equal amount of a cannabis-infused cooking blend (see below for how-to).

Convert everything to grams (including your dough portions) to make dosing simple—using a 10:1 ratio of butter to cannabis flower for easy math.

For example: Let’s say you use just under 1 cup (~200 g) of cannabis butter (meaning 20 grams of cannabis flower) for a recipe, and you want each cookie to contain the equivalent THC of 0.5 gram of cannabis flower. Simply weigh the finished dough and divide it into 40 cookies to estimate your dose.

2. Cannabis fudge or truffles

Start with a tried-and-true butter ganache recipe like this one and substitute cannabutter for the standard butter. 

Scoop the ganache into balls dosed by weight, and roll them in plenty of good quality cocoa powder (like Guittard’s Cocoa Rouge or Valrhona Dutched Cocoa).

3. Gingerbread chocolates

Use the same ganache recipe as above, but use a good-quality milk chocolate (instead of dark) and add a pinch of gingerbread spice and sea salt to taste.

4. Cannabis spiced tea or hot chocolate

Cannabis hot chocolate

Add your simple DIY cannabis tincture (see below) and a little honey or sweetener to balance any bitterness the cannabinoids might add, and ride the fragrant steam to new heights.

For best results, choose a strain of cannabis described as “citrusy” or “floral” or whatever matches your chosen beverage.

Same goes for hot chocolate, but the inherent stronger, sweeter flavor makes it a little more forgiving. Want to mask the tincture even more? Add cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and even some black or red pepper for heat.

5. Magic caramel corn

Follow any basic caramel corn recipe, but use your cannabis butter blend (below). The sweetness and slight Maillard bitterness of the caramel will balance, blend with, and mask the bitter herbal notes of the cannabis.

Dosing won’t be easy—but you can always split the final batch by weight into separate containers so you don’t accidentally overdo it.

And by the way, we don’t recommend just tossing regular popcorn with cannabis butter—which could render it bitter, grassy, and not very delicious on its own. Balancing with sweet and salt is key.

6. Christmas tree cannabis gummies

Pour your gummy mixture into any festive mold, and you can repackage it as a limited-edition holiday special. Every big candy company does this—no reason why you can’t too.

More importantly, you’ll provide a unique new experience for your consumers, and a chance for them to show off their chic and modern savvy when it comes to Cannachristmas and Highnukkah.

And guess who they’ll think about when the next holiday comes around…

7. Holiday-flavored gummy edibles

Holiday cannabis gummies

Go wild with this one. Flavor and scent are closely tied to memory, tradition, and emotion, so there’s a lot to play with here.

Try these cannabis gummy flavors:

  • Pumpkin spice (use real pumpkin puree!)
  • Caramel apple
  • Chocolate peppermint
  • Redhot cinnamon
  • Orange clove

8. Cannabis peppermint patties

Peppermint is a classic way to mask the bitterness of cannabis extracts. Peppermint patties are mostly butter and sugar, so just substitute infused butter in your favorite recipe, or add some tincture. As always, dose your edibles by weight.

9. Mulled wine, spiked cider, eggnog, etc

You can magic up any strong beverage with a few drops of edible tincture. Depending on its flavor and aroma profile, your extract can either enhance or clash with any number of spirits. So play around before you start serving… 

Just remember that THC is metabolized more slowly than alcohol, and the delayed effects of consuming too much, too fast, can roll you like a rogue wave—which may make the holiday more memorable in a way you don’t prefer…

10. Magic fruitcake

Cannabis fruitcake

How do you get people to actually eat a holiday fruitcake? Spike it with THC so they can’t resist. (Just make sure to label the special addition—or Aunt Lulu could end up loopier than a holiday weed wreath.)

By the way, the trick to making a good fruitcake is using great rum—and lots of it. Plus adding a touch more cannabis cooking fat than the recipe calls for.

11. Hanukkah latkes

Make your usual recipe but griddle the patties over a dollop of your cannabis cooking blend. The dosage will be imprecise—but the menorah sure will sparkle.

Another option is to add some tincture to your sour cream or applesauce or whatever you top your latkes with.

12. Savory cannabis gravy

Savory cannabis cooking

Simmer your drippings with enough ground cannabis flower so it’s all submerged.

Stir occasionally for an hour.

Strain through cheesecloth and return to the saucepan over medium heat, adding your broth, thickener, and non-psychoactive herbs & spices to taste.

How to add cannabis to anything edible

Many edibles manufacturers use high-quality extracts for their edibles. Truly gourmet cannabis edibles makers consider their extracts as a starting point for the overall flavor profile.

But you can also DIY your own cannabis infusions. Here are two easy ways to introduce cannabis into food:

Cannabis cooking oil blend (general purpose)

Depending on what you’re using it for, you may want a different flavor blend of cooking fats. For general purpose cannabis cooking, we prefer a 2:3:3 mix of olive oil, coconut oil, and ghee. Experiment with what works best for you.

Olive oil

  • Enhances (and blends with) the grassy bitterness
  • Adds moisture to baked goods
  • Liquid at room temp

Coconut oil

  • Adds flavor and sweetness
  • Enhances some baked goods
  • Solid at room temp

Clarified butter (ghee)

  • Adds richness
  • Somewhat neutral flavor
  • Solid at room temp

For easier dosing, stick with a ratio of 10 grams of fat to 1 gram of cannabis flower. Measuring by mass is much more consistent than by volume.

With a 10:1 ratio, a small-to-average cookie or brownie containing 5 grams (or 1 tsp) of butter, would deliver the THC dosage from 0.5 g of cannabis flower.

So let’s say your bud contains 20% THC (0.5 g x 0.20); then each cookie would dose at 100 mg THC. Too strong? Here’s how to scale back your potency. Just make sure to keep the math straight.

Fat to flower ratios (by mass) for THC dosage

Per 5 g (1 tsp) cooking oil:

  • 10:1 = 100 mg THC
  • 20:1 = 50 mg THC
  • 50:1 = 20 mg THC
  • 100: 1 = 10 mg THC

How to make cannabutter (process)

  • 10x grams fat blend
  • 1x grams cannabis flower
  • Cookie sheet
  • Crockpot, double boiler, or saucepan
  • Cheesecloth
  1. Decarboxylate: Preheat oven to 245°F and bake the cannabis on a cookie sheet for 30-40 mins, turning occasionally. Then break up the dried weed so it’s fine but not dusty (think of the cheesecloth).
  1. Simmer: In a crockpot or double boiler, cook over low-medium heat (so it moves but never boils) for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally. If you must use a saucepan, you can add water to keep the fat from burning. It will separate out when the fat solidifies in the fridge, and you can remove it.
  1. Strain: Double up your cheesecloth to catch all the tiny bits of plant matter. Don’t wring it out too hard—you’ll wind up with extra chlorophyll and bitterness.
  1. Refrigerate. 

See more details at Leafly.

Easy DIY cannabis tincture

How to make cannabis tincture

At 90+% concentration, ethanol (drinking alcohol) extracts and activates THC and other cannabinoids from the bud, leaving a potent tincture you can droplet into just about anything.

Bear with us here, for a bit of science-ing:

From a standard dropper, 20 drops = 1 mL of liquid. While 1 mL of water has a mass of 1 gram—1 mL of ethanol is 0.79 grams.

So because your dosage is measured in drops (volume), we have to account for that. Here’s how to dose each drop at 1 mg THC (using bud tested at 20% potency):

  • 80 g ethanol = 100 mL = 2000 drops
  • 10 g cannabis flower at 20% THC (10 g x 0.20) = 2 g THC = 2000 mg THC
  • 2000 g THC per 2000 drops = 1 mg THC per drop

How to extract THC with Everclear

Start with ice-cold Everclear from the freezer. In a jar or other freezer-safe container, mix 8 parts alcohol with 1 part finely ground, decarboxylated cannabis flower (see step 1 in previous section).

Let the mixture rest in the freezer for at least 1 hour. Then strain through cheesecloth into a dropper container.

Drop responsibly.

Start planning your holiday cannabis edibles formulation

Clearly there are infinite directions in which to take your holiday special edibles. So where to begin strategizing for success?

One good bet is to poll your customers about which of their favorite holiday treats they’d like to see as cannabis edibles—you could even set it up as a contest—and then roll out your new product with lots of fanfare.

But that’s a conversation for another time.

Want more product ideas or need help developing your holiday edibles formulation? Reach out—we’re here for you. 

Extracts as a Flavor Ingredient for Cannabis Chocolate & More

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Have you noticed that nearly all the cannabis chocolates available from the edibles industry range from waxy and cloying, to mediocre and tolerable?

Trust me, I’m a scientist—I’ve carried out careful sensory evaluation on a significant sample size of the chocolates available from the edibles market. The results have been…disappointing. But I’m still hopeful. Why?

Because it means there’s a huge opportunity for an edibles maker (like you) to corner the market niche of high-quality cannabis chocolate.

Until that happens though, we’re all consigned to gulping down “chocolates” that taste like muddy, bittersweet medicine. Gross.

At least each dose is small enough to take down in a bite or two…

But what if I told you that cannabis chocolate can be as fantastically flavored and gourmet as anything you’d find in a San Francisco Whole Foods or from a multi-generation French chocolate maker?

It just takes a little food science and finesse.

How to use cannabis extracts in chocolates

I’m glad you asked. Whether THC or CBD, distillate or otherwise—high quality cannabis extract should be your starting point for making chocolate edibles.

Most cannabis chocolate producers add their extract almost as an afterthought or sidecar ingredient. It’s just there to pack a punch and deliver a dose. So they simply try (often unsuccessfully) to mask or balance the bitterness. Then they boast some fantastic milligram total on the packaging, and shove mediocre products down our greedy throats.

But don’t our greedy tongues deserve to be in on the experience too? Shouldn’t the chocolates we eat TASTE as good as they feel?

If you agree, here’s the start of an answer: Think of your cannabis extract as a flavor ingredient. Not just a magic or medicinal one. (See how it works for my PB&J gummies)

When it comes to choosing the best cannabis extract for chocolate edibles, consider the overall flavor and aroma profile you’re going for. We’re blessed by science to live in a time when certified botanists are cultivating cannabis. So your options are numerous.

Depending on what sort of chocolate bar you’re going for, you can easily find cannabis strains that are citrusy or piney, fruity or floral, funky or mild.

What’s the best cannabis extract for edibles?

First and foremost, invest in a high-quality extract that doesn’t come with any skunky or fuel-like aftertastes, among an array of other unpleasant flavors.

Depending on your state, there are likely a number of cannabis extract producers representing a range of qualities from cheap and dirty tasting, to complex and deliciously terpene-rich, to clean and virtually aromaless. 

I was at a cannabis convention recently, talking to someone about THC extraction.

He told me that after the first extraction of the flower, there’s still some THC left in the byproduct—which you can extract again and use that derivative for edibles.

I politely excused myself to go retch in the restroom.

Don’t we deserve better?

You’d use extra virgin olive oil for cooking a meal, right? So why would you use anything other than high-quality first-run extracts of beautiful fresh flower for edible chocolates?

We don’t need to wring out every last drop of THC for use in edibles. Will no one think of the palates…?  Save that junk for the vapers who only care about a cheap fix.

How to make high-quality cannabis chocolate

Websites like Leafly catalogue thousands of strains available in this age of legal cannabis (thank science!) describing their effects along with terpene-derived scent and flavor profiles that’ll make your mouth water.

Let’s say you want a cannabis chocolate that delivers a relaxing body high without too much mental chatter. Browse Leafly or check with cannabis extract producers near you, to find strains that match those effects.

Then let’s say there are two cannabis strains available as extracts in your state.

One has a terpene profile that says, “bright and warm, grapefruity, notes of honeysuckle”— and the other is described as “skunky, earthy, dank.”

All other things being equal, which one sounds better for chocolate? If you’re anything like me, “skunky” is about the last thing you want in your chocolate experience.

So let’s say you go with the citrusy floral strain, keeping the recipe simple with a sprinkle of rosemary seasalt on top. That might be nice. It might even be freaking fantastic.

Or you could infuse your recipe with tequila to pair with the grapefruity cannabis extract, and call it a “Paloma” chocolate bar.

The thing to keep in mind is, any time you change one ingredient, you change the interplay of everything else.

Be thoughtful about every ingredient

Making top quality chocolate always revolves around three elements: sweet, bitter, and sour.

Cocoa is naturally bitter, and so is any cannabinoid because of the molecular structure. To compensate for the bitterness of cannabis extract, many edibles makers will simply drop the cocoa percentage. But that brings forward the sweetness, and blots out the complexity.

There are many ways to mask, balance, and/or incorporate bitterness in cannabis edibles, but remember—every adjustment you make in a chocolate recipe has a ripple effect.

Choosing ingredients that enhance existing flavors while naturally balancing them can go a long way toward creating top-quality cannabis chocolate to enchant the market.

You don’t need to go bean-to-bar for gourmet cannabis chocolate

As an edibles producer, you’re better off as a chocolatier rather than a chocolate maker. Going all the way back to the bean doesn’t add anything to your goals and process except extra steps and stress.

Chocolate maker is someone who makes chocolate from scratch, using different percentages of cacao and other ingredients.

Chocolatier sources chocolate from a chocolate maker, and adds ingredients and flavors to create their own bar or confection.

You can easily source high-quality chocolate that will pair well with the flavor and aroma profile of whichever cannabis extract(s) you choose. Then you can add whatever other flavors will make your CBD or THC chocolate bars complete, unique, and gourmet.

Don’t try to cram maximum THC into every bite

Not only does that let your customer enjoy a few more bites of your delicious chocolate per dose, but decreasing the density of cannabis extract also automatically decreases the bitterness you have to deal with.

If you think about it, this can work on a marketing level too. Who sells more bars? The brand with 10 doses per bar, or the one with 4 that are also super delicious and mouthwatering? And cost much less, too!

How does food science lead to better cannabis chocolate?

When it comes to formulating the best cannabis chocolate for the market, there are a lot of elements to consider.

  • Source of hemp or cannabis extract
  • Format of hemp or cannabis extract (e.g. nanoemulsions are far more bitter)
  • CBD or THC dosage
  • Cocoa percentage
  • Mouthfeel
  • Appearance
  • Sweet, sour, bitter balance
  • Overall flavor bouquet

As a food scientist with a PhD in flavor chemistry, when it comes to cannabis chocolate formulation, one of my most important and unique tools is formal experimental-design. I have the software, lab experience, and deep knowledge of taste and flavor on a molecular level that you can’t get anywhere else.

And by the way, before becoming a cannabis food science consultant, I was for many years an award-winning chocolate maker and confectioner. In case that seems relevant.

Whereas any worthwhile chocolate consultant could help you make a decent chocolate; food science can help you pinpoint the best possible version, based on multi-variable experiment setup, multi-objective optimization, and formal sensory analysis (including consumer testing, if you have the budget and time).  

So what it comes down to fundamentally is this: What are you trying to achieve?

Are you trying to make excellent-quality cannabis chocolate that loyal customers will buy over and over again because it’s so delicious?

Or are you just trying to get people high?

If you answered Yes to the first one, reach out and let’s formulate some gourmet cannabis chocolate at a quality level that still rarely exists in the edibles market.

MORE: Want to see more about how cannabis chocolate formulation works? Follow us on LinkedIn!

Do I Need a Food Science Consultant?

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So you’ve come upon a problem in your business that calls for expert help. You’ve browsed some food consultants’ websites and seen a lot of exciting promises and impressive portfolios.

These people know a lot. And they’ve helped a lot of businesses achieve success.

But who do you turn to when you don’t know what you need? How do you get the best bang for your buck? What kind of expert should you be looking for?

Well, like all things in craft and science, that depends on several variables.

Not all food consultants are created equal

There are a lot of very smart and talented food consultants specializing in various elements of the food and beverage industry. 

Maybe they’ve worked for years at a candy company, and have a vast body of experience and knowledge, offering incredible consulting value for confectionery producers.

Maybe they were a master brewer at a well-known craft brewery, and have tons of insight on fermentation and flavor balance.

Or maybe they’re a marketing genius with a knack for spotting opportunities in the food and beverage market.

But what if you want to scale your gourmet cannabis candy formulation for cost-effective manufacturing? 

Or what if you want to remove the alcohol from something that normally has alcohol in it, and make it still taste good?

Or let’s say you have a solid customer base and you want to formulate a new product that appeals to the broadest segment of them, meaning delicious with no room for error?

When it comes to solving problems they’ve never seen before—even the brightest, most creative food consultants likely don’t have the training or experience to design an effective experiment to figure out exactly why your edible baked good is showing sugar bloom, or set up precise formulation trials to find the best possible recipe for your next cannabis gummy product release.

There’s nothing wrong with that limitation—after all, most food consultants don’t have a doctorate in flavor chemistry and formal experiment design. And as long as they don’t pretend to offer something they can’t, food consultants are an important contributor to the world of edible production.

But the fact is, there are some problems in food and beverage production that can only be solved through rigorous food science. 

What to consider when hiring a food consultant

There are a few things to think about, before reaching out about food science consultation. While we’re always rooting for your success, your situation may not be the best fit for what we do. At least not yet…

Size of your business

There’s no hard and fast rule, but we generally work with medium to larger companies or well-organized startups who have budgets for R&D.

Whether that comes from established revenue streams, or venture capital doesn’t matter as much as the drive to do what it takes to get to the root of whatever we’re trying to solve.

For some projects we may also train members of your team to run certain elements, so we can be as efficient as possible with our direct consultation time. If you have people like that, we have even more options available. We don’t always need to be on-site for the magic of food science to work.

Business stage

You don’t have to be a 30-year brand for food science consulting to make sense—but we’re generally not the right choice for throwing ideas at the wall and seeing what sticks.

We work with well-funded startups and generational food manufacturers alike, who have a specific challenge or idea they’re hoping to delve deep into. Food science is about precision and investigation. Not aimless brainstorming.

For self-funded people with a good idea and no idea what’s next…let’s talk once you’ve done some preliminary research, have a specific product in mind, and have created a viable business plan with a solid source of funding to get started.

Type of project

Keep in mind that not every project needs the specialization that a food scientist brings. For example, you don’t need a food scientist just to outsource the manufacturing of your product. There are plenty of vendors set up to do just that, for any type of food you can think of.

Other types of food consultants can help with:

  • Kitchen-to-carton product development
  • Co-packing (contract packager/manufacturer)
  • Sales & marketing
  • Branding

But when it comes to edible product formulation, technical problem solving, scaling, optimizing for multiple objectives, and shelf-life or other food-quality advising—food science offers an array of tools for getting precision results and eliminating expensive guesswork.

Don’t need the full power of food science? Here’s a helpful directory of food consultants across a variety of fields.

Budget constraints

Please be clear and upfront about the available budget for your project. This may seem obvious, but you’d be surprised how many people try to prevaricate, hoping for some kind of price match against other food consultant quotes they’ve gathered.

But that ain’t how it works. This is food science. You get what you pay for.

It’s not worth your time for us to get deep into the problem at hand, only to balk at the project proposal price tag. We can help you make the most of your budget, and the quality of our work may seem miraculous to the untrained eye—but we can’t magically make something out of nothing, and we don’t work on spec.

Budget accordingly, and you’ll get the returns you’re looking for.

Why is food science so expensive?

Science isn’t a body of knowledge. It’s a process for understanding our world by isolating variables and eliminating bias in observation.

It’s not expensive; it’s valuable.

Food science isn’t just fill-in-the-blank. Designing effective experiments requires a lot of experience and creativity. High-level specialists always cost a little more—because the returns can be much greater.

A doctorate in food science comes with more than just a fancy title and certificate. It represents thousands of hours immersed in the best education, labs, and methods in the world. It indicates a mind sculpted to make connections, up and down the scale.

But again, you’re not just paying for all the knowledge we bring to bear. You’re paying to access a portal to overcoming any obstacle that can be pieced apart by science, from appearance and sensory analysis to molecular activity.

If you had the budget to hire a full-time food scientist with that level of training, you could expect to pay an easy six-figure salary with benefits.

But don’t worry—a lot of food-science problems can be solved with just a few days of direct consulting, via experiment design and training your team to conduct the data collection.

How much does food science consulting cost?

Every project is different, of course, in terms of time, materials, and expenses like lab fees.

If we want to get down to the core of the problem—which we do, right?—it’ll generally take at least a full day of investigation and research. Effective food science isn’t one of those two-hour turnaround magic shows.

We don’t waste any time, but we also don’t cut corners. Food science is a systematic approach to problem solving. There’s investigation and research, experiment design and data collection, analysis and recommendations.

Experiments can take a few days to set up. If we need to collect data, we’ll train your team to do it to keep expenses minimal, but it will take another day or so.

If you’re in a rush, hoping for a silver-bullet solution done cheap, quick, and dirty—then we’re not the right choice for the job.

But if you’re on a mission to bore into the very building blocks of whatever obstacle you’re facing—and rearrange it into a stairway to lasting success—then we’d love to hear what you’re working on. Tell us here.

Technical Problem Solving in Food Science: Experiment Design (Sugar Bloom)

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In the spring of 2022, I did some problem solving for a small but fast-growing, independent cheesecake manufacturer in the Midwest that’s been putting out an excellent line of products for almost 40 years.

But they had an intermittent defect—which is one of the trickiest types of food-production problems to solve. And it had been eluding them for a while.

They’d tried getting help from other consultants, but to no avail…partially because this was during Covid and no one was willing to visit the facility. But this isn’t the kind of problem you can understand without seeing it up close enough to taste, and checking out the production process in person.

So I put on an N95 and took a trip to the cheesecake factory in question. What I found was an impeccably run, gleaming facility filled with proud employees doing their very best to turn out the greatest cheesecakes in the country;  I was impressed by everything I saw there. But extreme professionalism wasn’t enough to solve their cheesecake defect.

Based on their own research and analysis, their quality control team had already figured out that the issue was probably sugar bloom—but they didn’t know what was causing the problem nor how to solve it.

What is sugar bloom?

In confections and baked goods, sugar molecules can sometimes crystallize on the surface. Though it isn’t harmful and doesn’t affect taste or mouthfeel, sugar bloom can mar the appearance of an otherwise perfect confection; especially for something like chocolate (cannabis or otherwise) where you want an even, glossy sheen. 

Unfortunately, sugar bloom can look like mold to the untrained eye. And that customer perception can be a big problem, leading to returns due to food safety concerns, even though there is no safety issue at all.

In fact, sugar bloom isn’t uncommon in food production, but the cause isn’t always clear. It can happen because of humidity changes, where surface moisture evaporates leaving behind fine crystals of sugar. It can also occur when you freeze a water-based product, because some of that previously liquid water is no longer available to keep sugar in solution.

Before I visited the facility, I explained what my process would entail, including certain costs associated with running a comprehensive experiment (e.g. chemical testing and materials).

They said, “Do whatever you need to do. We have to solve the problem.”

How to solve sugar bloom in cheesecake using science

Luckily for them, you don’t need an in-house professor of food science to apply high-level scientific method to your food-production process.

In fact, I only spent three days on-site in the factory, for fact-finding, experimental design, and staff training on how to gather relevant and impactful data.

Day 1

When I visited the facility and saw the actual cheesecakes with sugar bloom and tasted scrapings from the surface, I was convinced that it was indeed sugar bloom. But recognizing what the problem is doesn’t help you figure out why, and speculation isn’t science.

There are multiple ways to solve sugar bloom, but it really depends upon the exact underlying cause. Just knowing that varying the product’s sugar and water content is relevant is simply not enough.

Even in a recipe with minimal ingredients, it doesn’t make sense to look at just the sugar and water, especially because most ingredients in a cheesecake contain some amount of water, though water itself is not actually directly added as an ingredient. So instead, we looked at each and every ingredient and relevant parts of their production process as potential variables—which is the first step to figuring out how many experimental treatments (i.e. test batches) we might need in order to find and solve the exact problem.

Day 2

We had about a dozen variables we wanted to test. But that could easily get out of hand (in terms of cost and labor) to run the number of experimental treatments required to analyze even that short list of variables.

Fortunately for the cheesecake folks, my PhD work included deep studies of chemometrics—including formal experimental design—uniquely preparing me with an almost comical level of experience, theory, and software knowhow for designing just this kind of experiment. And I did it in a more cost-effective, labor-efficient way than most of my food-science consultant peers would be able to.

Not to bore you with the details, but we optimized the experimental design using a split-plot structure that essentially allows you to efficiently test multiple variables at once, even when some of them are hard to change, and we narrowed our field by focusing on variable ranges that seemed viable and wouldn’t ruin the product flavor or texture.

Then I trained a number of their staff in basic sensory (organoleptic) analysis so they could gather meaningful data on cakes from every treatment.

To make the most efficient use of time and budget, I set them up for testing in a manner similar to consumer analysis (where you ask untrained people to rate a few key sensory factors)—but we used a panel of their team members who were already deeply familiar with the characteristics of the products. Their familiarity allowed us to focus on precision at the level of another method called descriptive analysis, which would normally require much more panelist training (adding significantly more time, money, and other complications). 

The result? More and better-quality data gathered very, very quickly.

Day 3

On the third day, the quality control team at the factory started running the test treatments. I was there for oversight, but the goal was for them to run the experiments and sensory evaluation on their own, so they could continue collecting data for weeks after I left the facility.

Using a set of analysis ballots I created for them, they rated various characteristics on a formalized nine-point scale, including liking, sweetness, sourness, etc. 

And of course each evaluation must always be:

  • Randomized
  • Blind
  • Duplicated per panelist (at least)

Meanwhile they were also collecting samples of each treatment to send for chemical analysis in the lab.

Going forward

We planned for 8 weeks of data collection, with an initial analysis at the halfway point. Each week they sent me their sugar-bloom data, and in four weeks a clear pattern was starting to appear in the data, so I sent them a preliminary report.

Of course we continued the experiment as planned, and the final weeks of data confirmed the initial analysis. But in less than six weeks total, my client already had an action plan for eliminating the sugar-bloom defect. The rest was just icing on the proverbial cheesecake. 

According to the Director of Quality Assurance: “It blew us away, being delivered a root cause backed up by data at the midpoint of the project, along with multiple viable solutions.”

Frankly most food scientists don’t have the background to set up this kind of experiment revolving around sensory evaluation—but the results are well worth it.

More about experimental design in food science

To design and analyze this kind of complex experiment effectively, you have to consider what’s called multiple objective optimization.

In this case we have two main objectives: 

  1. Get rid of the defect
  2. Keep everything tasting the same for customers.

There may be several ways to get rid of the defect by adjusting certain ingredients—but if they change the flavor or texture of the cheesecake, they’re not very helpful.

To optimize for our needs, we look at the experimental region (using software of course, because it’s multiple dimensions deep at this point due to all the variables) to find the area within that region that solves both our objectives in the most optimal way.

This approach results in much less guesswork after the experiment is analyzed, thereby keeping the cost contained.

Problem solving with food science yields dividends

In food and beverage production, problems and defects will inevitably arise. This is especially true for cannabis edibles where you also have variables like dosage and bitterness. If you want to continue growing, you’ll have to solve those problems. How effectively you do that depends on where you apply your resources.

Whether you’re manufacturing cheesecake or cannabis edibles like chocolate, gummies, chews, baked goods, etc—even minor defects can wind up costing a lot of money in the long run. Especially when you scale up production to meet your growing demand.

Though the problem for my cheesecake client was intermittent, and relatively minor from a quality standpoint—the appearance of sugar bloom could be confused by consumers and/or retailers as signs of mold. Not a good look.

Solving the problem completely and methodically will yield massive returns through the years to come, in terms of minimizing rejected product and keeping customers satisfied—all because of a small investment in forethought and food science.

When it comes to solving food science problems and saving money, more important than any niche knowledge-base is the ability to design an effective, efficient experiment based on the known variables and objectives—so you can run a thorough analysis based upon every last drop of important data.

Once you know exactly why something is happening, coming up with the right solution is…a piece of cake.

Using Fruit Purees in Cannabis Gummies

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Bolstered by the coronavirus pandemic, sales of edibles – spearheaded by gummies – have skyrocketed to eclipse sales of marijuana flower, year-over-year, since 2020. Accounting for almost $1 billion in sales in 2020, the gummies market alone grew by a staggering 31% last year outpacing nearly every category of edibles. 

What started with weed brownies, rice krispies treats, and cookies has expanded exponentially to include products like weed-infused beef jerky, pretzels, and potato chips. Lately, the industry has also turned toward mints, hard candies, and especially gummies.

Why are gummies popular?

First and foremost, they’re delicious. Who doesn’t like gummy bears or Sour Patch Kids? But looking beyond their snackability, there are a few reasons why cannabis gummies have enjoyed such a meteoric rise in popularity. 

  • Precision dosing – Because of their production methods, each gummy is exactly the same size and contains exactly the right amount of THC or CBD so it doesn’t get easier to accurately dose than with gummies.
  • Convenience – It doesn’t require much appetite to eat a small piece of candy—but how often are you in the mood to eat a big fudgy brownie or chocolate-chip cookie? Especially for medical cannabis users, gummies are much more manageable.
  • Longer shelf life – Baked goods, such as brownies or cookies, go stale and lose their decadent chewy texture over time. But a sealed piece of candy can last almost indefinitely. 
  • They travel better – Going to the beach with chocolate edibles is not going to end up well. Not only will the melting of the edible ruin the chocolate, but it also ends up ruining the terpenes and cannabinoids. Gummies, especially those made with pectin instead of gelatin, have a much higher melting point making them a much better travel buddy. 

How cannabis gummies are made

Making gummies is not rocket science, but it is food science. At the most basic, all it takes is water, sugar, gelling agent (e.g. pectin), flavoring of some kind, and something to add color. 

Mix it up, heat it up, and pour it into a mold. 

Of course, making top-quality cannabis gummies requires a little more complexity. Temperature, pH, and various other factors need to be tuned just right. Otherwise you can wind up with a sloppy mess. But overall they’re easier to make than many types of edibles. Which means it’s not just consumers who love gummies—they’re also an attractive option for edibles producers as well.

When it comes to producing, let’s say chocolate bars, the amount of time and labor involved is exponentially greater than making gummies. Working with chocolate is a very hands-on process that requires training in the science of chocolate and pastry arts. 

Unlike gummies, chocolate needs to be tempered, using precise temperature controls. By heating, cooling, and reheating the chocolate, the chocolate maker can create a product with a delicate composition, uniform structure, and well-rounded flavor, along with the expected shiny exterior. 

As far as mass-production is concerned, an effective manufacturing set-up could produce tens of thousands more gummies in a day than one crafting fine chocolate bars.

But before you jump up to sweep the gummy market off its feet, there are several things to consider. Should you use flavor extracts, essential oils, or fresh fruit purée for your gummies? What about pectin vs. gelatin or agar? And what are the best flavor combinations?

Fruit purees vs. extracts for cannabis gummies

Like most things in life, there’s an easy way and a hard way when it comes to making gummies. Using extracts or essential oils may reduce your overall food costs, but by sacrificing flavor and quality you may be alienating a large portion of your customer base that is looking specifically for high-quality edibles using fresh ingredients.  

Now, not all fruit purées are created equal. Most recipes will specify which brand of fruit purée to use for cannabis gummies, since the sugar and acid levels vary from fruit to fruit. A kilo of passionfruit purée sold by Boiron will need a different amount of sugar, glucose, citric acid, and pectin than the same product from Perfect Purée. 

This may seem like a lot of extra work, but the end result will stand out from the crowd that uses extracts and essential oils. A vast majority of consumers today are looking for a higher-end experience and are willing to pay for it. Using fresh purées over extracts or oils provides a gummy full of healthy vitamins along with a dose of THC or CBD. 

A healthier choice

Eaze’s 2022 report found that edibles ranked number one in marijuana purchases for every generation except for Gen X who, according to polls, prefer to vape their weed. 

Of that crowd, Millennials represent the single largest cannabis customer base. They tend to be highly educated, and they know what they want when it comes to cannabis products. And they typically prefer products made with whole foods and healthy ingredients. In addition to vitamins and minerals from the fruit, gummies also contain way fewer calories per dose than other edibles.

So companies using fresh fruit purées in their gummies are more likely to attract the coveted 25-45 age demographic.

Pectin vs. agar

If you’ve ever made a homemade jam or marmalade, then you’re familiar with pectin, the gelling agent that gives jams and jellies their signature texture. For hundreds of years, pastry chefs have turned to pectin to create pâte de fruit, which are essentially very fancy gummies. 

Pectin is a naturally occurring substance that exists in the cell walls of fruits and plants, helping to bind the cells together to allow the organism to grow. Traditional pectin only activates and gels in the presence of both sugar and acid—so it’s important to understand your formulas for making gummies. 

Pectin is also naturally vegan (as opposed to gelatin, which is animal-derived) so it’s the preferred choice for making a product with mass appeal. 

However, unlike flavorless gelatin, pectin may add some small amount of bitterness to the recipe. Combined with naturally bitter cannabinoids and terpenes, this might require additional bitterness management, depending on the overall flavor balance of your gummies.

Another gelling agent option is agar-agar. Agar is a plant-based gelatin derived from seaweed. And while it may seem like agar and pectin are similar, they produce dramatically different end results. 

Due to its molecular structure, agar will continue to solidify over time, through a process called syneresis—which will squeeze out some of the incorporated liquid in your gummy, leaving a tough little agar chew covered in a sticky mess. 

Agar gummies also have a less pleasant mouthfeel, generally speaking, and the flavor release is by far less than ideal when compared to pectin. Especially if you’re making them with real fruit purees, pectin is the ideal gelling agent for cannabis gummies. 

Flavors

This is where the fun and creativity begins when it comes to making THC- or CBD-infused gummies. Deciding which fruit (or combination of fruits) to use as the flavoring means plenty of “quality control testing.” 

The fruit purée market is chock full of amazing fruit flavors ready to use for making gummies, from standards like raspberry, orange, and strawberry, to tropical fruits like passionfruit, guava, and lychee. 

If you happen to be using gelatin for your cannabis gummies, be wary of flavoring them with fresh pineapple as it contains an enzyme called bromelain. Bromelain (as well as papain in papaya) is a complex protein-digesting enzyme that will destroy the protein-derived gelatin. 

If you must use gelatin for pineapple or papaya gummies, cooking the fruit or juice first will denature the bromelain enzyme, preventing it from breaking down the collagen in the gelatin and thereby allowing the gel to set. 

Looking for flavor inspiration? Here’s 5 surprising cannabis gummy flavor combos that we think your consumers would love!

  1. Blackberry | Pinot Noir | Peanut Butter
  2. Blueberry | Chamomile | Lavender 
  3. Pineapple | Coconut | Black Tea
  4. Blood orange | Passionfruit | Thyme
  5. Sour Cherry | Lime | Mint

For more about making better cannabis gummies (with fruit puree or anything else) reach out and let us know what you’re working on.

Case Study: When Sweet Dreams Sour—A Cautionary Tale for Food Manufacturers

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I was contacted by a startup trying to develop a coconut-based dessert topping. They were celebrated for being clean-label and vegan—and so far people had been buying and enjoying their whipped topping. 

But there was one huge problem…

The product was fermenting as it sat on the refrigerated shelf. 

Turning into something like yogurt. 

They offered a 90-day “best by” date, but spoilage was happening before 30 days. The whipped topping was unstable at refrigeration temperature. 

Not great. 

When non-scientists analyze food tests

They’d put the product through a couple of shelf-life studies with different companies, trying to identify and solve the problem. But the product development team didn’t really understand what the reports were telling them. 

The head of product development thought the studies confirmed a 60- to 90-day shelf life. But in reality the ingredients list, manufacturing processes, and shelf-life studies clearly showed a different picture from their optimistic assessment.

They just didn’t know what to look for.

Lactobacillus, a class of bacteria found in fermented foods, wasn’t largely present in the product at the beginning. But after 30 days in refrigerated storage, the bacteria count was high enough to consider the product essentially a coconut yogurt. 

It’s very common and not dangerous —and lactobacillus tends to stifle the growth of other bad bacteria (which is one of the benefits of yogurt).

But not when you want sweet whipped topping. 🤢

This happened because any time you have a water-based mixture that isn’t pasteurized, it’s a potential breeding ground for bacteria that exist all around us.

And their particular recipe was a bacteria buffet, lacking a couple key elements that would reduce the “water activity” and let the product succeed on the refrigerated shelves.

In this case the concern wasn’t necessarily about pathogens, but rather how much the flavor degraded in a 30-day period. It went from sweet to sour and the package began bulging. 

Ick. Not what you want on your Sunday pancakes.

Science beats wishful thinking

Fortunately there were a number of easy fixes to their problem—and one of them is incredibly simple:

Market the stuff in the freezer aisle. Right next to the ice cream and Cool Whip.

But they didn’t want to do that because they had a vision of their product in the fridge alongside the pasteurized dairy…

So I suggested some other simple formulation fixes that would slow the bacteria growth and get them closer to the 60-90 day shelf life they wanted.

How do you slow bacteria growth without preservatives?

Reduce the water activity!

  • Add salt
  • Add sugar
  • Use less water per volume

Unfortunately by the time the company contacted me for help, their clean-food customer base was eroding and the brand’s reputation had already suffered major damage.

Had they brought on a food scientist earlier in the product development process—or had they been able to adjust their vision to fit the science—their brand story might have had a happier ending. 

Want to level-up your edibles business and solve problems before they happen?

Contact me for a complimentary 30-minute consultation

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Case Study: Gummy Recipe Scaling Problem & Months of Delivery Backlog Solved in One Day

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In autumn 2020, I consulted for a large cannabis gummy manufacturer in California. They had multiple gummy products and were attempting to scale to meet enormous growth in their market. Which was due in no small way to the pandemic.

Sales were booming but they couldn’t scale up to meet the demand—something in their process was causing the agar to break down and fail to gel. 

They faced a growing backlog of deliverables. Every merchant’s nightmare. They were losing money every day and damaging their wholesale relationships.

The company’s president told me if they didn’t solve the problem soon they might go under. 

Even with an experienced VP of Ops and Head of R&D on the team, they couldn’t resolve their cannabis agar-gummy scaling problem. Because neither of these top-notch business executives had any expertise in the food science that goes into large-scale food manufacturing.

During our first (and only) consulting meeting, I explained some fundamental food science relevant to their gummy issues and suggested several fixes. 

3 things that affect agar gelling for gummies:

  • Temperature
  • pH
  • Boil length

Their gummies contained a fruit puree that was very tart (acidic), which they were adding to the hot gummy mix. The higher temperature and lower pH contributed to the agar degradation and failure to gel.

The other problem they were having was the bigger batches were too watery.

In general, any time you’re scaling a water-based confectionery recipe, you must reduce the water content because at bigger batches, a smaller percentage of water evaporates during the cooking process.

To compensate for the extra water, they boiled their mixture for over 3 hours to get the right brix to proceed to the next step.

Problem with that was, the extra boil time degraded the agar and resulted in a gooey gummy mess.

I suggested a few changes in their process, and even though the science was unfamiliar to them, they carefully followed my advice and solved their gummy scaling issue in less than a day. 

Whew. 😅


Imagine how much money could have been made instead of lost…if only they’d consulted a food science expert prior to scaling up…

Want to level-up your edibles business and solve problems before they happen?

Contact me for a complimentary 30-minute consultation

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Case Study: Brewery’s key product launch saved by improved formulation strategy

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In the summer of 2021, I consulted for a domestic craft brewery trying to launch a new line of hard seltzers. Their initial product offering of 3 flavors took almost 2 years to develop. 

That’s approximately 4x longer than it should have taken. 😳

Then their launch fell flat. It failed to generate the sales and attention they wanted. Plus their disappointed distributor now demanded three additional flavors by the following spring—just 6 months away.

Concerned they’d miss this window of opportunity to grow sales in the spring, the brewery’s president contacted me for help.

After meeting with the team, I recognized that despite their professionalism, this team of beer artists didn’t understand the relevant formulation process required to develop a hard seltzer product.

For example, alcohol on its own has substantial bitterness (as do cannabinoids) which is usually balanced by other flavors. So their hard seltzer came out bitter and they weren’t sure how to fix it.

  • Bitterness suppression – a new concept to these balancers of hops and malts. They’re used to an art form measured in bitterness units and building big flavors.
  • Optimized and stable – Elements like sweet and sour balance need to match the flavor profile—and the drink can’t change or continue fermenting inside the can
  • Batch consistency – They struggled to find a fermentation process that would deliver clean-flavored, consistent results. 
  • Sensory evaluation – When targeting an entirely new customer base, it’s important to get feedback from relevant sources.  

The team was failing. But it wasn’t really their fault. They’d been asked to do a job outside the scope of their training and skillsets. They weren’t food scientists and had no formulation experience outside the artistic realm of craft beer. 

And they were finding out the hard way that beer geeks and hard seltzer lovers don’t always overlap in their preferences.

But they were smart, hard working people. They just needed education and clear direction. So I delivered a comprehensive step-by-step plan to help them create 3 new flavors within 6 months.

  1. Brainstorm flavors and concepts
  2. Consider constraints like ABV, calorie count, etc
  3. Optimize their fermentation process to solve instability and inconsistency
  4. Balance sweet, sour, and bitter with overall flavor profile, according to market expectations
  5. Bottle and test random batches

I also counseled them to run consumer sensory studies—which deliver an incredibly valuable set of human information, but isn’t always feasible due to constraints of budget and imagination.
All this to say: when stepping into unfamiliar territory in food development, it helps to have a food scientist on hand early in the process to help you figure out what you don’t know before you send an unsatisfactory product to market and disappoint your customers and vendors.

Want to level-up your edibles business and solve problems before they happen?

Contact me for a complimentary 30-minute consultation

Start Here

How To Fix Bitterness in Cannabis Edibles

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Thanks to the dreadfully slow but steady crawl toward legalization, more and more people are turning to cannabis as medicine or recreation. 

Led by gummies, cannabis edibles have quickly gobbled up a massive share of the $5 billion cannabis market—with a year-over-year sales growth of more than 20% in 2021—and total edibles sales are projected to reach $8 billion by 2025.

The industry is getting crowded but it’s still a goldrush. And it’s the perfect time for ambitious edibles producers to stake their claim with high-quality, standout cannabis products.

But there’s one big problem that every edibles maker must contend with: cannabis extracts are inherently bitter.

Ricardo Baca, former Editor in Chief of The Cannabist, said “One hundred percent of the edibles market is focused on removing that recognizable scent and flavor of the cannabis plant and replacing it with something that’s more aesthetically familiar.”

In fact, an entirely new industry has emerged within the $1.4 billion cannabis edibles market—whose sole purpose is overcoming the bitter and potentially off-putting flavors of marijuana. 

So what can you do if your edibles come out too bitter?

There are a few different directions to take when it comes to fixing bitterness in edibles—but first let’s take a look at the science of bitterness and flavor. 

How bitterness works

As we learned in school, bitterness is one of the five taste sensations (along with sweet, sour, salty, and umami) that are perceptible by the tongue—and one that is particularly useful for keeping us alive.

Many toxic plants and substances share similarities in molecular structures. So the ability to detect bitterness evolved as a “last chance” defense mechanism (once the toxin is already in your mouth!) causing an unpleasant experience—hopefully not too late.

Research has found that human taste receptors type 2 (T2Rs) and G-proteins like gustducin are responsible for our ability to taste bitter compounds. When you consume something bitter—let’s say quinine from the tonic in your G&T—the quinine compound binds to G-protein-coupled receptors like gustducin, which release several enzymes the taste cell uses to transmit the response via neurons to produce the cognitive experience of bitter.

Scientifically, bitter substances are rated relative to quinine (with a reference index of 1), ranging to the most bitter natural substance (gentian root) which has an index value of 5 million.

Okay so we know how bitterness works—but what can you do about bitterness in marijuana edibles?

Managing bitterness in cannabis edibles

Most cannabinoid extracts are intensely bitter, earthy, and often difficult to work with. When the raw product has such a dramatic impact on flavor, creating a formula for an infused product that tastes good and also delivers the expected amount of THC or CBD can require a bit of finesse and scientific precision. 

For example, when it comes to emulsified cannabinoid products, the carrier oils and preservatives can actually intensify the bitterness. During the process of emulsification, when the cannabinoid particles are broken down into their smallest size, the increased surface area means more likelihood of transferring bitter flavors to the taste receptors. 

Some people are proponents of keeping the herbaceous, bitter flavor of cannabis products—to remind people that what they’re consuming is medicine and not candy, hoping to limit accidental ingestion or overindulgence.

For those who don’t follow that school of thought, there are 3 main ways to deal with the inherent bitterness of cannabis:

  • Incorporate the flavor
  • Mask the flavor
  • Use a lower concentration

Incorporating bitterness flavor in edibles

The cheapest approach to bitterness in cannabis edibles starts with accepting the naturally bitter flavor of cannabis and working with it. 

Adding other familiar flavors that are also bitter—such as cocoa, coffee, peppermint, and hops—can trick the brain into thinking, “Even though this tastes bitter, it’s a bitter flavor I enjoy.”

One method that any chef could tell you is taking advantage of the Maillard reaction (if it makes sense for your flavor profile). The browning of sugars and proteins adds a bitterness and aromatic complexity that we find pleasant and helps incorporate other bitter tastes for an overall positive flavor experience.

Bitterness can also be balanced by adding natural sweeteners—but that may not do much for the aftertaste, and can affect your calorie count and labeling. The bitter effect can also be impacted by sour ingredients like lemon juice or citric acid—but again that changes the whole flavor profile and limits your options.

Many consumers acknowledge that bitterness in cannabis edibles is just part of the experience; a small price to pay for the intended effect, much like alcohol or caffeine. 

But trust a wizened old food scientist and highly decorated flavor maven: it doesn’t have to be that way.

Bitterness masking in edibles

Masking flavors is a relatively low-tech approach that is widely used in the edibles industry. The ultimate goal is to eliminate the natural bitterness of the plant extract by adding ingredients that cover up or block bitterness receptors on the tongue. 

One such technique is called microencapsulation, where a hollow sugar molecule (cyclodextrin) attracts and contains the smaller cannabinoid molecules, and carries them past the tongue’s bitterness receptors into the stomach where the sugar dissolves and releases the THC or CBD into the bloodstream.

There are plenty of other all-natural food science compounds and ingredients for masking bitterness (including plant-based non-nutritive sweeteners, seaweed extracts, and fruit-derived essential oils) but we’ll get to that.

Using lower concentration of cannabis extract per volume

One simple way to manage bitterness is to make a bigger edible per dose. Minor adjustments in a batch’s concentration per volume can perceptibly reduce the bitterness in each edible. 

Obviously this isn’t always feasible for existing cannabis products needing a flavor tune-up—it could impact packaging, labeling, regulatory registration, etc.

Plus at scale, even slight adjustments in recipe volume can affect your product costs in a big way. 

Beyond balance: the future of the edibles industry

For many consumers who are new to cannabis—especially those in the “Baby Boomer” generation—edibles are the preferred method for dosing. 

So this problem of bitterness in edibles has to be solved.

There are plenty of bitterness masking ingredients available—but not all of them work well for cannabis; and if they do, maybe only partially. 

Finding the best one for your edibles recipe could mean expensive rounds of prototyping—and even then, with all the options available, how do you know you aren’t missing out on something that works even better?

As food scientists and chemistry nerds, we at Elevated Edibles are always searching for more effective ways to achieve the holy grail of bitterness masking for cannabis edibles. 

We’ve put in countless lab hours—so you don’t have to—scientifically testing the myriad individual and combined ingredients available on the bitterness-masking market…and we’ve come up with a somewhat remarkable solution that’s all-natural, highly effective, and unique in the industry.

Read the case study here. 

Making Edibles More Edible: How Hiring a Mad Scientist Makes Mad Money

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TL;DR—

✅   Listen to your customers

✅   Invest in food science expertise

✅   Higher quality means competitive edge

✅   Food science helps eliminate bad flavors, aftertastes, and textures

✅   How to scale quality and meet customer demand

✅   3 case studies about profiting from food science

“Every time I taste a chocolate bar, gummy, or other cannabis edible, the flavor ranges from disappointing to disgusting.”

Eight years ago the person who said that to me became my first edibles consulting client. At the time he and his company were among the only ones to recognize the wide-open opportunity to rise to the top of the market with better-tasting edibles.

And the funny thing is, his statement still holds mostly true.

The cannabis edibles market is flooded with inferior quality products made with crude cannabis infusions—not much better than what we all used to make in college. 

And even when the dosage is precise, the edible itself isn’t great. Chocolates are often waxy. Gummies can be bitter or astringent. Beverages break down and separate. And more often than not, the predominant flavor of any edible is vegetal weed.

Well people are getting tired of it—just read any edibles thread on Grasscity, Weedable, or Reddit. 

Which means there’s ample opportunity in almost every market to rise above the chaff and offer truly better cannabis edibles to customers who are longing for products and brands worth being loyal to.

Customers want better-tasting edibles

Anyone in product development knows the power of marketing and branding. If you pour enough money into messaging and choice architecture, even inferior products can carve out a significant market share.

But as a cannabis edibles entrepreneur, you also must know—who controls the taste controls the galaxy. Or the market, that is.

So why haven’t big edibles companies stepped up their quality and taste to seize the market?

Well some have in recent years…but overall—the fact is they haven’t had to.

It’s a law of averages. If the only thing widely available is marginal-quality cannabis-infused products—that’s what people will buy. And once they’re raking it in, well-funded brands will turn to marketing instead of product development.

But if you want to compete with big cannabis edibles brands, getting into a price war isn’t going to go well. As a small business or startup, your best weapon is to offer higher quality products that taste so good people can’t get enough. 

So how do you make better-tasting cannabis edibles to enchant the market?

The answer is deceptively simple—you need to prioritize and invest in food science.

Food scientists and food technologists can help you scale quality of flavor, texture, and dosage precision to deliver unrivaled cannabis edibles, build brand loyalty, and captivate the market share you deserve.

What is food science for cannabis edibles?

Food science encompasses a broad scope of disciplines. Anything from chemical analysis to scaling for national markets.

Food scientists come in all shapes and sizes of expertise. Each company and product requires different levels of specialization, so there’s no way to generalize.

Cannabis food science is a somewhat specialized niche, and most cannabis entrepreneurs can’t spring the $250k salary for an in-house food scientist—which means your best bet is to outsource certain project elements to a food science consultant with experience in cannabis edibles.

Which often works out better because sometimes big problems can be solved with just one simple session of applied science (see case studies below).

Depending on your size and scope, you’ll want someone with different levels of expertise in each of the three main disciplines of food science. Here’s how those disciplines look in real-world circumstances…

3 food-science case studies:

  • Food Formulation
  • Functional Foods
  • Food Processing Technology

What is food formulation?

Food formulation is the overall strategy of creating marketable food. It’s a precise, multi-pronged process that takes a food idea from concept to prototype to finalized formula. Guided by the limitations of manufacturing, budget, etc.

This is a common service for food science consultants like me. And starting from scratch with an idea often ensures the best results. That’s because we’re able to look ahead together and discover problems before we get to them at scale.

Problems at scale are always more expensive.

Case Study: How science saved a brewery

What does functional foods mean?

The branch of food science known as Functional Foods revolves around edible products delivering specific health benefits or effects by way of special ingredients or processes (e.g. CBD oils, nutritional supplements, or THC edibles). 

Formulation can be much more complex for such products. Especially where dosage needs to be precise.

Any time precision and/or consistency is on the line—especially for products like cannabis edibles that rightfully earn extra scrutiny—science is your best tool for developing and scaling to meet market demand.

Case Study: Science helps scale gummy edibles fast

How does food-processing technology make better edibles?

Food processing technology incorporates a foundation of science to design and improve food-production processes—including preservation, quality assurance, and research & development.

It’s a branch of food science that weighs manufacturing elements and advanced production methods as well as microbial analysis for things like shelf-life and safety.

Food-processing technology is an ever-expanding discipline that also pushes the envelope on applications like edible 3D printing, lab-grown meat cuts, and genetically modified produce that can grow in space.

Case Study: Accidental yogurt and the importance of lab testing

Investing in food science yields big returns

It’s not just error prevention that saves you money in science-based cannabis edibles production.

What matters most in market success is delivering on the promises you make to potential customers.

One of your promises is “edible,” yes?

Food scientists can help identify what’s causing bad flavors and textures in cannabis edibles—and show you how to eliminate, balance, or mask them. Which means they taste better—which means people return for more, instead of risking it on something new that might taste terrible.

Scientific consistency also helps you deliver on your promises of quality, dosage, and effect—which means customers will trust your product and tell their friends. And you’ll be able to scale to meet the growing demand.

That’s how to capture and maintain a profitable market share with chef-quality, science-grade cannabis edibles.

Product Formulation Optimization #3

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The Troublesome Yet Terrific Tortilla (Part 3)

In part 3 of our look at the troublesome yet terrific tortilla, following as it does from a general description of the tortilla quandary in part 1, and some specific details regarding the tortilla challenges anticipated in part 2, finally I’ll begin to explain how I approached the task of optimizing the formulation, or in simple terms, how I made the very best tortilla.

What Is “Best?”

As mentioned previously, I’ve already defined that I am speaking of wheat-flour-based tortillas; so my goal in optimizing a tortilla formulation is to produce the wheat-flour-based tortilla with the best organoleptic characteristics. It’s worth taking a moment to consider what I mean by “best.” In this case, I am considering only my own preferences, whether I’m talking about aroma, overall flavor, mouthfeel, or even appearance. However, if I were developing this tortilla for a regional restaurant chain, it would make sense to do consumer evaluation that includes a sample of the regular customers of that chain, and perhaps also consumers that the chain is trying to convert to customers. My specific preferences, for example, may or may not overlap well with those of the restaurant customers. But luckily, since the tortillas in question are for me, I can more simply consider my own preferences.

All Wheat-Flour Tortillas Are Not Created Equal.

Also, it is important for me to clarify that I want a tortilla that tastes great when fresh. I’m not at all concerned about storing the finished product on the shelf, or in the fridge or freezer. I want a tortilla that I can griddle now, eat, enjoy thoroughly, and then move on. If I were developing a tortilla for a grocery chain, I would have to reconsider this approach, because in that case the end consumer has little chance of buying the tortillas fresh and hot. They will need to be reheated out of necessity, and they will likely need to be able to remain free of mold for at least a week on the shelves, and perhaps longer. Such a tortilla would have characteristics that are dramatically different from the type I want to eat for my own enjoyment.

Are there Additional Constraints?

There are plenty of other details to consider. Do I want to work with ingredients available at the local grocery? Am I interested milling grain into flour? Does the tortilla need to be vegetarian? What types of equipment are available for processing and cooking the tortillas? And speaking of production constraints, while I’m willing to deal with dough that is a bit sticky or stiff and difficult to roll out in order to achieve a better tortilla, there is a limit to my patience. I don’t want to make my life 50% more difficult just to squeak in an extra 1% increase in improved mouthfeel. So, as I’m rating the various sensory characteristics of each tortilla, I can also consider rating things like dough stickiness, dough toughness, and perhaps overall workability.

Pulling Everything Together.

I’ve said that I want to optimize the formulation for a wheat-flour-based tortilla that is best according to my own preferences. I want to be able to make it at home with a 4’x4′ maple butcher block serving as the work surface, a wooden rolling pin, a 6-qt stand mixer, an induction range, a cast-iron skillet, and a spatula. I would also generally like to use ingredients that are readily available (e.g., King Arthur AP wheat flour, sea salt, and filtered tap water), but I’m willing to put in a little extra work to improve the quality of the added fat.

Ingredients.

For the fat in the tortillas, I’ll render my own lard from the backfat of locally raised hogs. As part of the rendering process, I’ll use a temperature high enough to brown the cracklings once they are void of fat, which adds additional roasted complexity to the lard’s flavor profile. At the end of the rendering process, I’ll also add some smoked bacon to give the lard a subtle smoky note. I will not be using plant-based oils in this recipe, as I know from experience that they have bland or off flavors in tortillas. I will also not be using baking powder. As mentioned in part 2, baking powder is quite a common ingredient in modern tortillas, but I would prefer to depend upon steam–from the added water–to leaven and lighten the texture of the tortillas. In my experience, the mouthfeel of the end product is better than when baking powder is used. So now I’ve clearly defined the constraints for this project. What’s next?

Freshly griddled wheat-flour tortillas made with freshly rendered pork lard, filtered water, and sea salt

A Product Optimization Experiment.

We now have to take our known constraints and design an experiment that will allow us to optimize the tortilla formulation. How should we proceed? One variable at a time? Often seen as the acronym OVAT, this is thought by most non-scientists to describe how experiments are run according to the scientific method. Actually, even some scientists believe this. But here’s the thing, it’s dead wrong. Even in a relatively simple food like our tortillas with only four ingredients (i.e., flour, water, lard, salt), changing the amount of one variable at a time, let’s say the flour, while holding all else constant, is likely to be, at best, an incredibly inefficient way to determine what the optimal tortilla recipe is, and at worst, will never find it at all. In short, OVAT has significant disadvantages. Arguably, the most important disadvantage is that important “interactions” usually exist in foods, and will be missed with the OVAT approach.

Interactions!

In this project, if we simplify for a moment to say that our only goal is to improve the flavor of the tortilla on a scale from 1-10, then any positive main effect would be one related to any of the individual ingredients that increases quality. For example, maybe more lard increases quality on average. That’s lard’s main effect. But what happens when water and lard are both present? Does water, in addition to having its own main effect on quality also impact the degree to which lard has a positive impact? If so, then that would be an interaction effect. It might be the case that with smaller amounts of water, lard is hugely positive in its impact, but with more water it makes a much smaller positive difference. It is immediately clear why interactions can cause huge problems with the OVAT approach; because if you only change one variable/ingredient at a time, you can’t determine if interactions exist. And guess what? Interactions almost always exist to some degree, and sometimes they are hugely influential. So what can we do about this?

Optimal Design of Experiments.

When the OVAT approach can’t be trusted to work, which is usually, instead we can rely on the considerable theory in the field of statistics that supports what is called “design of experiments,” along with modern computers and software, to produce an optimal experimental design. Such a design is able to help determine what the optimal formulation would be of a tortilla, again from the flavor quality standpoint defined above, but more than that, such a design even allows the experienced product development expert to determine the optimal formulation while considering several characteristics at the same time. This is sometimes called multiple objective optimization. How it does this is easier to show with an example than to explain in prose, so we’ll take a look at a tortilla-development optimal design in the final part of this series (part 4).

–Alan McClure

Product Formulation Optimization #2

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The Troublesome Yet Terrific Tortilla (Part 2)

Continuing on with the product formulation optimization theme, using tortilla formulation specifically as an example, we dig in further. As a reminder, tortilla formulation is more complicated than it may at first appear. As I wrote previously:

“From the standpoint of the uninitiated, a tortilla seems a simple beast. As a plain product on its own there are no fillings or inclusions, no added flavors, swirls of color, or fancy shapes. Even the plastic bags in which they’re sold ten at a time are nothing special. But the phrase “deceptively simple” does exist for a reason. And one could reasonably argue that it was coined as a product formulation expert was doing some deep thinking about the common, yet commonly unimpressive, tortilla.”

In this recent post I also spoke about the two different types of tortillas (corn and wheat flour), and noted some of the complexities of both of them including nixtamalization in the case of corn tortillas, and the presence of gluten and necessary added fat in the case of the wheat flour tortillas. Clearly, when done well, both types of tortillas are fantastic, but my family was handed down a wheat flour tortilla tradition from my Mexican great grandmother Guadalupe Otila Macias, and since I was a wee child I’ve been truly mesmerized by this type.

Watching my grandmother mix and knead them by hand, roll them out with a flick or two of the wrist, and then bake them on top of a cast-iron griddle on the stove–the incredible smell–and then passing one steaming and blistered with flavor from hand to hand with nearly burnt fingertips, taking bites and smiling uncontrollably. These are some of the most powerful memories of my childhood. Why would I ever want to change a single detail in my original family recipe?

As I mentioned previously, wheat flour tortillas can be tricky because the gluten proteins in wheat (i.e., glutenin and gliadin) when hydrated, help to create a stretchy and springy dough that is notoriously hard to roll out. To produce a less tough and easier to roll tortilla, people traditionally added some amount of fat to the dough in the form of freshly rendered pork lard. The added lard reduces the overall gluten development, and the tortillas become more aromatic and the mouthfeel more tender and less chewy. And when everything is just right, the tortillas puff magically like perfect little pillows, making them even lighter in texture. But what about when everything isn’t just right?

tortillas freshly cooked
Freshly griddled wheat-flour tortillas made with freshly rendered pork lard, filtered water, and sea salt

The Baking Powder Bandage

The problem is that getting the ratio of ingredients just right can be very tricky. If it is even a bit off, or the griddle temperature is not optimal, or the tortilla maker is just not paying the right amount of attention, the tortillas can end up dense and unpleasant. The solution to this problem used by most is an addition of baking powder. It allows the tortilla maker a bit more flexibility in all of the important conditions. However, the texture of a baking-powder-risen tortilla is not quite the same as one without, and it has been written more than once by tortilla aficionados that the baking powder version is simply not as good.

The Vegetable Oil Blunder

Another problem is that as refined plant-based vegetable oils have become much cheaper, and good fatback from which to make lard has become less readily available in the marketplace, recipes have begun to call for either liquid oil or hydrogenated oil, also called shortening. These oil-based tortillas simply aren’t capable of tasting as good as those made from the roasted and rendered fat of flavorful hogs.

So, the modern homemade wheat-flour tortilla, which itself is scarce compared to the store-bought versions with little personality, is itself a shadow of its former glorious self. But if these changes to the modern tortilla have led to a poverty of quality, what is to be done about it? How can we possibly attempt to recreate a product formulation that most of us have never tasted?

I’ll explain how I approached this challenge in an effort to do just that. Stay tuned for más detalles in Part 3.

–Alan McClure

Product Formulation Optimization #1

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The Troublesome Yet Terrific Tortilla (Part 1)

From the standpoint of the uninitiated, a tortilla seems a simple beast. As a plain product on its own there are no fillings or inclusions, no added flavors, swirls of color, or fancy shapes. Even the plastic bags in which they’re sold ten at a time are nothing special. But the phrase “deceptively simple” does exist for a reason. And one could reasonably argue that it was coined as a product formulation expert was doing some deep thinking about the common, yet commonly unimpressive, tortilla.

So where should we start to understand the product formulation challenge better? It’s often the case that the very best examples of foods are traditional ones. And certainly where tortillas are concerned, traditional versions are far better than the most familiar brands at the local grocer. For those who have had incredible tortillas, the kind that are calling out to be eaten, simply, steaming hot from the Mexican comal, fingers burning, we know this in our gut. But if one wants this beautiful experience far away from a Mexican market or abuela, is it even possible?

What is a tortilla anyway?

First, let’s simplify the issue. Tortillas come in two main types: corn- and wheat-flour-based. Corn tortillas are traditionally made from alkali-treated heirloom corn, called “nixtamal,” a Nahuatl term borrowed from the Aztec. This process, often referred to as nixtamalization, uses a relatively dilute solution of culinary lime, aka calcium hydroxide, in water to catalyze hydrolysis and conversion of various compounds in the corn kernels’ hull. This process makes the corn easier to digest, more nutritious, less likely to contain harmful mycotoxins, and most people would claim, myself included, more delicious. In fact, the flavor is so good, that traditional corn tortillas require nothing more than ground nixtamal, water, and bit of salt, to create a fabulous flat food fit for an Aztec king. But, as previously mentioned…

Corn is not the only way…

In northern Mexico and Texas, which also used to be part of Mexico, where wheat flour was more readily available, tortillas made from this grain were more common. And because the proteins in wheat, when hydrated, help to create a stretchy and springy dough that is notoriously hard to roll out, people added some amount of fat to the dough in the form of freshly rendered pork lard. The lard reduced the overall gluten development, making the thin disks of dough easier to roll out, and moreover, made the tortillas more aromatic and the mouthfeel more tender than chewy. And when the proportions of flour:water:lard are just right, the tortillas puff magically, making them lighter and more tender in texture, and giving the surface of the tortilla a deliciously mottled appearance, due to light charring of the steam-puffed pockets on the surface, thereby creating even more flavor–Maillard reaction pathways y’all.

tortillas freshly cooked
Freshly griddled wheat-flour tortillas made with freshly rendered pork lard, filtered water, and sea salt

Now, I’m a sucker for both types of tortilla, and I’ve made countless batches of both, nixtamalizing my own corn, experimenting with many of the countless heirloom Mexican varieties, and for the wheat tortillas, rendering my own lard, getting the roasted, almost smoky pork flavor just right. But I have to admit that having grown up with wheat flour tortillas in my family, a cultural contribution of my Mexican maternal great-grandmother, Guadalupe Otila Macias, who emigrated to Texas as a young girl, I have spent considerably more time thinking about, making, and certainly eating wonderful wheat flour tortillas. And I can assure you that even with four ingredients, they are tricky to perfect, or more technically, to optimize the product formulation.

But I’ll tell you what; recently I did just that. Stay tuned for más detalles in Part 2.

–Alan McClure

Good, Better, Best?

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Sage advice from the product developer:

How good is good enough? Is it just fine to be as good as the competition, or does a product always need to be even better to compete? And what if better isn’t even good enough? Developing award-winning products that utterly destroy the competition means aiming for the best possible version of a product. With all of the choice in the marketplace these days, it’s the only reasonable approach to ensure sales superiority and passion for the product on the part of consumers, tastemakers, and influencers. But how does one achieve the very best?

The little-known hard truth is that creativity, inspiration, passion and dedication simply aren’t enough. Every single product has an infinite number of possible iterations. Tweaking one ingredient at a time based on experience may give you a better product than the one before, but is it actually the very best? Without following well constructed optimally designed product development experiments, the answer is almost certainly “No.” Luckily for us, such experiments make the product development process more precise and more efficient, saving time and money while producing not just a better product, but the very best!

-Alan McClure

Microbes May Make Mouths Merry

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Sometime back I came across an article at Science Daily that got me thinking about the impact of our little microbial friends on the flavor of our favorite foods and beverages. The authors of the study noted that certain normally tasteless compounds, when exposed to microbes that are naturally present in the mouth and/or throat, are transformed into aromatic flavor compounds, in some cases even giving off the characteristic odor of a particular food in the aftertaste.

Thinking about the variety of foods and beverages that I’ve tasted over my life, some with magnificent, long-lasting finishes, and others that seem to spiral so quickly to an unsatisfying demise, it makes me wonder to what extent the microbes in my mouth had any say in the matter. There are countless implications to all of this, including whether it is possible to optimize conversion by the microbes by altering the flavorless reactant concentration, but also potentially by altering environmental conditions in the mouth (e.g., pH, calcium or sodium ion concentration, amount of saliva, etc.).

That’s lots of food for thought, so to speak, and speaking of thought, who knows, maybe they’ll find out that there are microbes that change the way we think as well.

-Alan McClure

The Chemistry of Chocolate

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Chocolate has perhaps the most complex flavor of any food in the world. With the running count now numbering at least 40,000 compounds found in cacao/cocoa beans, this means that even the simply fermented “cocoa bean comprises more detectable and resolvable analytes than any other processed food thus investigated (Milev et al, Food Research International, 2014).”  This is undoubtedly part of the reason that scientists struggle to tell us exactly which of the thousands of compounds give chocolate its magnificent, delectable and unmistakable flavor. It is perhaps most likely that this quintessential chocolate aroma is due to a combination of the many chemicals produced during roasting through various Maillard reaction pathways, but it may also potentially be due to an as yet undiscovered compound present at a very low concentration, yet still perceptible due to its very low odor threshold. And so it is at the start of the 21st century, as we find ourselves at the dawn of space tourism, regularly cloning plants and animals, and building supercomputers smaller than wristwatches, that we still can’t fully explain why chocolate is so gosh darn chocolaty.

However, even though there is so much we still don’t understand about chocolate, we do know that many people, if asked to choose between their favorite chocolate and any other beloved food, would not hesitate to choose what Carolus Linnaeus regarded as “food of the gods” (i.e., Theobroma cacao), and this despite the fact that cacao cotyledons just off the tree taste incredibly bitter and astringent, and not chocolaty in the least. How does such a transformation from detestable to exceptional occur?

It’s in the processing, including fermentation, drying, roasting, refining, and conching.  More specifically, it is our control over and optimization of the chemical-based flavor changes during chocolate processing that eventually reveal to us a flavor of beauty! And who am I to argue with anyone who believes that this achievement is equally as impressive as Jeff Bezos strapped into a flaming phallic vessel shooting for the stars.

-Alan McClure

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