The Canninary Arts

In the world of legal cannabis production, "canna cooks" hold a special place of honor among gastronomes who also partake in the herb. For those who don't like to smoke, and for those who just like to mix things up a bit, edibles provide an alternative that is as diverse in its offerings as the number of cannabis strains being produced in the ever-expanding legal/medical market.

In New Mexico, of course, edibles are relegated solely to the sphere of medical marijuana—for now. Still, this doesn't mean patients are stuck swallowing a bitter pill or spoonful of nasty syrup. Reading Peter St. Cyr's May 6, 2014, feature for SFR titled "Eat Your Weedies," it's easy to see that there is a fantastic array of both sweet and savory cannabis-infused treats available to patients. From sodas and chocolate bars to gummy treats, cheese doodles and tinctures made with local honey, there's something for every (registered patient's) palate.

At NewMexiCann Natural Medicine, a medical-marijuana dispensary and production unit based in Santa Fe, canna cooks work much of their kitchen magic with canna butter, one of the easiest ways to infuse a base cooking ingredient with the psychoactive form of THC. In the simplest of explanations, crafting canna butter involves separating the psychoactive ingredients in the cannabis from the cannabis plant itself by applying heat to the plant and adding it to fatty butter. The strained result is then used to make brownies, cookies and other goodies in a special on-site kitchen designated specifically for cannabis-infused cooking. There is also what canna cooks call the "goo," a thick, syrupy cannabis-oil concoction used at NewMexiCann to fashion hard candies, brittles, caramel corn and more.

The production workflow in a cannabis kitchen is a little different from your average commercial kitchen, because THC dosages for edibles must be carefully managed. Even in Colorado, where recreational use is legal for those over 21 years of age, dosage standards for edibles recently came under scrutiny by lawmakers for being too lax. In February, under the authority of the Colorado Department of Revenue, the state passed new rules stating that every packaged edible product must be clearly divisible into 10-mg (or less) portions of THC.

In New Mexico, which has experienced its own struggles determining true dosages in packaged edibles for registered patients, producers are now being proactive in verifying what's in their products. As of February, state law requires that edibles be tested for potency and various contaminants before being packaged and distributed to patients. It remains a fairly self-regulatory process, but producers are determined to keep their patients—and regulators at the New Mexico Department of Health—satisfied.

"Things in the kitchen are weighed out to a hundredth of a gram," says a canna cook at a local medical dispensary who requests anonymity. Besides going through a background check and being required to understand the rudiments of health and safety in a commercial kitchen, he says, cooks must keep detailed logs of each cooking session, noting ingredients by weight.

Ever since Colorado and Washington State rolled out their green carpets for recreational users, the appetite for new and more interesting edibles has increased exponentially. Entrepreneurs in both states have embraced cannabis tourism as a viable model, and tax collectors certainly aren't looking the other way. In Colorado, cultivatingspirits.com and coloradocannabistours.com are integrating local businesses into their tour schedules. Unsurprisingly, participating restaurants such as the aptly named, marijuana-themed Cheba Hut in Denver and Boulder are seeing serious upticks in business, even though no cannabis is served on the premises.

To make things more confusing for those producing edibles in Colorado, starting in 2016, all cannabis-infused edibles in the Centennial State must, by government decree, be "shaped, stamped, colored or otherwise marked, when practicable, with a standard symbol indicating that it contains marijuana and is not for consumption by children."

What will these new rules mean for the marketability of edibles in Colorado? Will most of them look something like Soylent Green? And can you define "when practicable"? Will there be no more gummy bears of the THC/CBD persuasion for tourists?

Some producers in Colorado see the new restrictions as a political tactic to slow down or shut down their production and packaging operations through economic means, forcing many cannabis retailers and entrepreneurs to basically re-create their brands (which ain't cheap) to fit the requirements of a vague law. I'm inclined to agree with them.

If you're luxuriating in Colorado in the weeks leading up to the 2016 changes in the law, there are bound to be some killer deals on brownies and gummy bears. Shop accordingly.

Santa Fe Reporter