This 420 celebration month, we are looking into all things cannabis and peeling back the curtain to show the behind-the-scenes of how the legal cannabis world works. We caught up with Joshua S. Cobos, COO of Dolce Folgia, to get the inside scoop on how to make perfect edibles and how flavors and terpenes work. Dolce Folgia is a family-owned, Los Angeles-based flavor house that caters to the cannabis industry.
What makes a great edible, and what are some flavor secrets that most people misunderstand or get wrong?
The right formula is the kick-off to start a great edible product along with using precise measurements of each ingredient to ensure consistency each and every time, and of course, one of the most important items will be using the correct flavors that are soluble and able to be properly and effectively mask the smell and the taste of the THC/CBD products.
This is what drove us to create the first flavor house that specializes in creating and manufacturing flavors specifically for the cannabis and CBD industries. From being consumers of THC products, we weren’t crazy about the taste and smell of edibles and felt there was a great opportunity to help create a much better tasting edible, hence the creation of Dolce Foglia!
How can terpenes be used to enhance flavor, and why are they so important to understand?
We don’t use terpenes in our flavors; we use only FEMA GRAS-approved ingredients in all our flavors. We source the highest quality of ingredients from all over the world in order to achieve our goals of creating incredible and unique flavors for the cannabis and CBD industries.
What are some of the biggest misconceptions about terpenes and flavor?
Terpenes can be derived from cannabis, and most natural products such as from the fruit of oranges, lemons, etc. that also carry natural terpenes. However, they’re not strong enough to mask the smell and taste of THC/CBD. This is more of a personal preference in taste.
What advice would you give to someone looking to unlock the best flavor possible?
The best advice is to find the exact flavor level based on taste and use our famous Dolce Foglia flavors.
What specific product innovations do you think your team has added to the flavor community?
We have developed flavor-enhancing technology that’s unlike anything out there. Amazing bitter blockers designed for those that like their current flavors and don’t want to change them. We’ve also designed an all-natural sugar flavor that can enhance the sweetness of any edible product. These can truly improve the quality and taste of any edible or beverage.
One huge deal we’re working on is a celebrity line that will be disruptive which we’re finalizing currently and should roll out in the next few months. Interest from these celebrities has been growing organically, and they are commissioning us to create specific products tailored to their brand. We will be making a huge announcement in the coming months.
Is there anything else you’d like to add?
Yes, we’re a family-owned and operated business. It’s myself, my brothers Max and Levi, my dad, Stephen, along with his long-time friend Fabio that he’s known since they were 13 years old, along with Fabio’s father-in-law, Ed Vanderloo. He has been in the flavor business for over 45 years now, working with some of the largest flavor houses in the world including PepsiCo, international flavor and fragrances, Sanofi, Pfizer, Bacardi, among other large, Fortune 500 companies over the years.
He’s perfect and created some of the most unique processes of creating flavors that set us aside from any other flavor house. We are very proud and excited to share our newly created bitter blocker line, sugar flavors and custom flavors, that are four to eight times more powerful than any other flavor on the market currently.
