All About The Edibles
Welcome to NJ Cannabis Insider
Hello everyone!
This issue I sat down and had an extended conversation with some manufacturers to explain the market ramifications and nuances behind what the promise of more edibles means. It’s also a deep dive into the science of best practices and things for businesses to keep in mind.
How edibles come at the intersection of the food scene is going to be a lot more exciting.
Our events team just recently had a food festival and that does bring to mind what an edibles festival would look like.
All in all, it’s a move forward for the market and normalization. I hope you enjoy the conversation and takeaways.
Take care and until next time...
— Jelani Gibson
What more edibles means for the market
This week we have a deep dive conversation with CannPowerment’s Matha Figaro and Cannademix’s Josh Alb, to weigh in on some of the most important topics in edibles, including education, potency, the type of testing the products will need and more.
Q: Matha, you’re the food expert here, how do you calculate an expiration date?
Figaro: It’s not really the THC that would expire. It would be all of the other things that make it. Your butter, eggs and all of that stuff is going to go bad. That’s another reason why I don’t think they’re [CRC] going to allow us to do pastries and things that have creams, because those products can go bad in two days. THC wouldn’t go bad that fast.
Q: What are some examples of stuff that can last longer?
Figaro: Cookies, brownies, cupcakes, anything that’s not cream-filled.
Q: What about pies?
Figaro: The only way I can imagine a pie working is if it’s a miniature pie and it’s already been baked all the way through. Most pies with the fresh fruit — the fresh fruit is what’s going to cause it to go bad sooner than later.
Q: Can a manufacturer sell toppings as a shelf stable item?
Figaro: Sauces, condiments, all of that is fair game. I may not be a sauce queen because baked goods are really my thing, but everybody has their favorite local spot that has that sauce that they love and I’m going to go to that local spot.
Q: So, THC pizza sauce?
Figaro: Yeah, I’m 99.9% sure that’s one of the things that will be able to be done. We’re going to have testing labs, so once we get into R&D phases, I would for instance make the pizza sauce, I would send it to the the testing lab and then they would do shelf stability testing for it. So, when I present it to the CRC as a product we want to put out, they already know the testing lab shows that this product will expire in X amount of days.
Q: What goes into a shelf stability test?
Figaro: Let’s say I send them 6 ounces of sauce. They’ll take 2 ounces and they’ll mix it with all kinds of different chemicals to see how it will react. They will take another 2 ounces, they’ll let it sit in perfect conditions where mold and yeast would grow for 48 hours to see what would happen.
They would take another 2 ounces, hold onto it for a month and every week or every couple of days they would report the process of the degradation of the food. With all that information that’s how we prove what’s shelf stable and what isn’t.
Q: What are some future things you’re excited about we haven’t touched on yet?
Figaro: I think people are going to start asking for some pretty cool things. Somebody hit me up talking about ice cream, I don’t know if ice cream is going to be approved.
Q: If weed ice cream is allowed, what’s your flavor?
Figaro: I think I might follow suit with chocolate mint. For some reason, chocolate mint and weed just always taste so good together. I’d love to manufacture for Ben & Jerry, so if ice cream does become a thing in New Jersey, let them know that I’m available.
Q: So, there’s a lot of food science attached to being a manufacturer?
Figaro: It’s crazy right? We’re a bunch of nerds working together to feed people.
— Jelani Gibson