New Jersey’s first legal weed brownie was created by a fine dining pastry chef
When Morristown’s Matha Figaro began her career in fine dining as a pastry chef almost 15 years ago, she didn’t have making history as the creator of New Jersey’s first legal weed brownie on mind.
On Tuesday, April 16, Figaro’s company ButACake will release a cannabis-infused peanut butter and jelly fudge brownie to New Jersey’s adult-use and medicinal marijuana markets. Since cannabis was legalized in New Jersey in 2021, it’s been years in the making for the first true food-based weed edible to hit the dispensary shelves, as until now there have only been oral cannabis products like gummies, tinctures, capsules, and lozenges.
But last September, the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commissionvoted to allow licensed recreational and permitted medicinalmanufacturers to expand the categories of their edible products to a wider variety of shelf-stable products, like chocolates, gummies, baked goods, butters, jams, and jellies. The new rules also pave the way for cannabis-infused drinks, however the regulator board maintains no alcoholic weed beverages are allowed for the commercial market.
Before the rule change, no edible cannabis product could “resemble food,” due to initial difficulties of regulating the commercial kitchens needed to safely process food-based cannabis edibles. The loosening of these regulations is a watershed moment for the industry, Figaro said, who went through a 6-month process since last September to be able to start serving weed brownies to the public.
Figaro — a first-generation Haitian-American who’s been baking since her first Easy-Bake Oven at eight years old — climbed the ladder of fine dining through Philadelphia’s James on 8th, South Beach Miami’s LT Steak, and Roots Steakhouse in her hometown. She soon found that her butter cake recipe was something special and founded her own operation in 2016.
Now, she’s the first Black woman-owned edibles brand in the Delaware and New Jersey cannabis markets.
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