Although outlawed federally, cannabis is legal in more than three dozen states either medicinally, recreationally or both. Just last month, a handful of states had marijuana on the ballot, and Nebraska voted to allow medical marijuana.

Marijuana, which is the most commonly consumed illegal drug in the United States, according to the Centers for Disease Control, was used by 52.5 million people, or 19% of Americans, at least once in 2021. And an estimated 17.7 million people used marijuana daily or nearly daily in 2022, according to the US National Survey on Drug Use and Health. While much of cannabis is smoked or vaped, it can be found in a variety of edibles, including gummies — by far the most popular — chocolate, baked goods and more. 

Clearly these numbers show that there is a market for edibles, although a variety of obstacles stand in the way of any baker interested in serving this community. Chief among them is that cannabis products cannot cross state lines. Even if cannabis is legal in two adjoining states, a producer of brownies or gummies containing delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), which is the psychoactive ingredient in cannabis, would have to obtain licenses in each state, then produce them in both places.

“The greatest challenge to any plant touching marijuana-related business — grower, processor, manufacturer, dispensary — is profitability,” said Steve Schain, attorney for Smart Counsel LLC, which serves the cannabis, hemp and psychedelics industries. “Cannabis generates enormous revenue but has a razor-thin profitability line. Part of the reason is the ridiculous inefficiencies plaguing cannabis due to wild overregulation.”

Despite all this, businesses are still producing products with delta-9 THC to sell in states where it’s legal. Moreover, THC products aren’t the only ones that can be produced from the Cannabis sativa plant species. Hemp, which generally contains less than 0.3% of delta-9 THC, was legalized federally under the 2018 Farm Bill. And hemp-derived THC, or rogue intoxicants that include delta-8 and delta-10, are not federally illegal and often require no licensing to make, are less regulated and are available online and over the counter in many states, Schain said.

Hemp ingredients come in a variety of formats, including cooking oil, hemp seeds and powders, and it is rich in vitamin E and healthy fats like omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids, according to WebMD. Hemp also acts as an antioxidant, is a healthy source of protein, and whole hemp seeds are good sources of soluble and insoluble fiber.

A variety of cannabinoids can be derived from hemp, including cannabidiol, or CBD, which has been used to treat ailments, including seizures, anxiety, insomnia and pain. 

Producing hemp and marijuana products poses several challenges. Bakers must ensure that each serving has the proper dosage, especially if it contains THC, as well as ensuring that the marijuana or hemp is dispersed evenly throughout the product.

“You’re constantly fighting with homogeneity; you’re constantly fighting with dosage,” said Jessica Cristadoro, president and chief executive officer, Food Business Consulting. “It’s very tough to be accurate on your dosage so what’s your mechanism to add your cannabis in? Is it going to be a powder? A liquid? Where are you getting that from?”

Cristadoro has manufactured THC products and helps brands with formulation. She has found that when working with sweet foods, it’s most effective to work the cannabis oil into sugar.

“Take the cannabis oil, and mash it into sugar, then take that sugar and extend it out with more sugar and more sugar until you have some degree of confidence that you have homogeneity,” she explained. “That’s on the dry side. On the liquid side, you need to use a combination of emulsifiers to allow the oil and water to blend and stay suspended. You can blend it, but over time if you’re not constantly agitating, it will just fall out.”

Because cannabinoids are bitter, particularly CBD which can require larger quantities for an effective dosage level, formulators must figure out how to counterbalance it.

“The bitterness is typically at the back end of the sensory experience and can leave consumers with an unpleasant aftertaste,” said Keith Woelfel, director of research and development, Ripple, a THC edibles manufacturer located in Commerce City, Colo. “It’s important to design products that drive repeat purchases, so reducing or eliminating cannabinoid back-end bitterness is important. Well-designed products account for this and leverage flavor selection such as savory, spicy or higher sweetness levels to improve the taste.”

Some THC users actually prefer grassy or hashy notes in products, said Steffen Weck, senior managing consultant, Food Business Consulting. 

“The older generation smoker wanted that hashy flavor. I think it boils down to assurance. If you taste the cannabis, you know it’s there,” he explained. “The folks who are longtime users want to have the hashy notes versus the younger female segment. They don’t want to smell like cannabis; they don’t want the odor of cannabis on their clothes. They want something fruity, so that’s where masking ingredients come into play.”

Dave Owens, chef and culinary director of Proper Brands, which sells edibles in Missouri under the Honeybee Edibles brand, said he sometimes works to complement those flavors.

“Our strawberry basil mojito gum drop, which has basil extract, gives it some herbaceous notes that complement the grassiness of the cannabis,” he explained.

Another concern in producing products with cannabinoids is onset time, or the time it takes for the body to feel the effects of them. 

Consumers need to understand this as they could overdose if they think the product is not providing any benefits.

“Cannabinoids are oil-based, and when added in its native oil-based form, absorption time of the cannabinoids, and feeling their benefits, for example, pain relief, relaxation, can take over an hour until there is peak absorption,” Woelfel said. “When the cannabinoid oil is converted into a water-soluble emulsion, onset time is vastly sped up — starting within 15 minutes — as well as more greatly absorbed, which can increase 200% to 400%, helping to deliver a more efficacious product to consumers.” 

Hemp seeds and powders are good additions to several baked goods, including granola bars, cookies, muffins and crackers, said Joy McCarthy, master of hemp and certified holistic nutritionist for Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Manitoba Harvest, which sells hemp seed oil, hemp hearts, protein powder and more.

“Hemp has a slightly earthy, nutty taste, so if you’re using it in a sweet recipe like a baked good, use flours that would complement it such as oat, almond flour or coconut flour,” she suggested. “Also, it can absorb a lot of moisture, so any easy solution is to just add a bit more liquid — water, milk or plant-based alternative — to achieve a softer texture.”

This article is an excerpt from the December 2024 issue of Baking & Snack. To read the entire feature on Cannabis/CBD/Hemp, click here.