Contributed by Papa & Barkley
Read time: 5:20 mins
With the New Year comes new beginnings – a chance for us to put 2020 in the rear view and start 2021 with a fresh canvas. This time of year, many people, maybe even yourself, are searching for wellness routines that will keep them healthy and balanced body and mind. Well, cannabis chocolates might just be what you’re looking for.
It’s safe to say that chocolate is one of the more beloved sweet treats. You can find it in your favorite cakes, cookies, pastries, and confections, and more simply, in bar form. While it may not seem like it, chocolate can be a form of self-care and can help your mind and body relax. For many, that first bite of delicious chocolate allows for a moment of relief (some might call it bliss!). If you don’t consider chocolate as a viable wellness ritual, get ready for Papa & Barkley to change your mind with Releaf Chocolates. Papa & Barkley pairs natural, Fair Trade Certified™ chocolate with the benefits of whole plant cannabis in the form of fresh-pressed rosin. The result is an edible, with only 1 gram of sugar and 15 calories per piece, that is both healthy and delicious. Adding Releaf Chocolates to your wellness routine can lead to a better, healthier state of mind and body.
Papa & Barkley Releaf Chocolates
Both cannabis and chocolate have been used independently as a source of wellness for thousands of years. It is only natural to pair the two together to take your health and wellbeing to a new level. That’s why Papa & Barkley partnered with Humboldt Chocolatier Jonah Ginsburg to handcraft game-changing cannabis infused chocolate bars. Papa & Barkley’s Releaf Chocolates allow you to experience cannabis edibles like no other. Now, you can crave wellness with healthy cannabis delicacies, which come in both milk chocolate and 66% dark chocolate with sea salt. These THC-rich premium edibles are made with Fair Trade Certified™ ingredients and fresh-pressed solventless rosin to provide whole body wellness. Releaf Chocolate bars are soy-free, non-GMO, and whole plant full spectrum for a blissful, balanced feeling.
Health Benefits of Dark Chocolate
There have been extensive studies on the positive health benefits of including dark chocolate in your diet. Here are just a few of the natural properties that dark chocolate contains:
- Improves blood flow and blood pressure: cocoa in dark chocolate has rich plant chemicals called flavonols that can help to lower blood pressure and protect the heart. Dark chocolate contains up to 2-3 times more flavanols than milk chocolate.
- Increases antioxidants: Dark chocolate has many natural, organic compounds and antioxidants. These include polyphenols, flavanols, and catechins. The natural antioxidants of dark chocolate can help prevent and protect our cells from damage from free radicals.
- Lowers risk factors for heart disease: Eating dark chocolate can improve several important risk factors for heart disease such as raising HDL (high-density lipoproteins or ‘good cholesterol’) and lowering LDL (low-density lipoproteins or ‘bad cholesterol’).
- Protects skin: The bioactive compounds in dark chocolate such as flavonols can protect against sun damage and improve blood flow to the skin.
History of Cannabis Edibles
Cannabis edibles became widely popular in the 1970s because of one woman: Brownie Mary. In 1974, Brownie Mary, born Mary Jane Rathbun, shared her first joint at Café Flore in San Francisco with Dennis Peron, an American activist and businessman who became a leader in the movement for the legalization of cannabis. Peron introduced her to a community of cannabis activists. After discovering cannabis could be used to help HIV/AIDS patients with their treatments, Mary began making cannabis-infused brownies at home and in a supermarket on Castro Street at the height of the AIDS epidemic. Her goal was to help those battling cancer and HIV/AIDS find some comfort. Little did she know, her magical brownies would change lives, start a revolution spanning the next six decades, and spark an industry that is still growing to this very day.
How Cannabis Chocolate is Made
Guy Rocourt, Papa & Barkley’s President & Chief Product Officer, and Jonah worked tirelessly to craft slow-churned chocolate that not only tastes great, but helps you feel good, too.
“Papa & Barkley is extremely conscientious about how we source our chocolate,” Rocourt said. “The first step is to inspect the chocolate to verify that it’s Fair Trade Certified™. Next, we move onto melting: which is where the magic really happens. We pay special attention to how we temper and cure the chocolate. If you temper it incorrectly, the natural waxes and lipids in the chocolate will separate out and show up on top as white film, making the chocolate hard and stale. We’re not about that.
“The chocolate melts and is homogenized for several days, which is when we infuse fresh-pressed rosin. We then slowly fold and churn the chocolate and rosin for 24 hours. The rosin-infused chocolate is then placed into molds and cooled back down to room temperature at the right pace to maintain the texture, flavor, and natural properties.”
Why Chocolate & Cannabis Are a Perfect Pair
There’s nothing like a good piece of chocolate! Papa & Barkley’s Releaf Chocolates pair cannabis and chocolate flawlessly. Given that the fats in chocolate are slower to metabolize, cannabis chocolate tends to have a longer-lasting and deeper effect on your body. The longer process enables a more sustained effect from the THC, and deeper psychoactivity and body high than with other types of edibles. By itself, chocolate is a treat that allows us to escape for a moment of bliss and enjoy its decadence, so when you add a hint of cannabis to the mix, you’re in for something special. There is a fine balance between maintaining the distinct flavors of chocolate and the enticing tastes of terpenes in cannabis. With Releaf Chocolates you get the best of both worlds. Both Papa & Barkley’s Releaf Chocolate bars have a hint of cannabis flavor, a trademark of Rocourt and Ginsburg.
Releaf Chocolates can easily become a wellness staple in your everyday life. Papa & Barkley designed them to not only taste delicious, but to help you find whole body wellness, treat occasional pain, find relaxation, and get a better night’s sleep. Your daily dose of dessert is not only going to quell your cravings, but help your mind and body feel better.
Chocolate with a Conscience
Papa & Barkley values caring for farm partners and delivering high-quality, natural cannabis wellness products to consumers, making the choice to ethically source Fair Trade Certified™ ingredients an obvious one. For Releaf Chocolates, they pair organic cacao with clean cannabis that is sourced from the Emerald Triangle and sun-grown using regenerative farming practices. This means that when you choose Releaf Chocolates, you are choosing solventless, natural, and high quality ingredients.
