Marijuana may inspire a new culinary trend.
Chicago The History of the World in Six Glasses, a nonfiction book authored by Tom Standage in 2005, examines how human society has evolved via the lenses of beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and cola. After more than fifteen years, Ben Larson, CEO of Oakland, California’s Vertosa, thinks cannabis could be the seventh glass.
During the electronically held The Future of Food @ SXSW event on March 18–21, Mr. Larson stated, “We’re well on our way.” “There is undoubtedly going to be a future in the cannabis space if we look at how much money is waiting or going into it just to help build beverages.”
Vertosa is a technological business whose main focus at the moment is developing cannabis-derived products for food and beverage makers. According to Mr. Larson, the cannabis and hemp sectors present possibly the most promising avenue for expansion since the internet. It is also among the most significant changes in public health policy in recent memory.
Mario Rodriguez, president of Bootleg Avocado LLC in New York and moderator of the SXSW session “Cannabis: The catalyst for new food culture,” stated that the COVID-19 pandemic showed the plague of mental health concerns in the country and the need to prioritize wellness. He thinks that cannabis is a part of the answer and that it’s time to dispel the myth around it, find cutting-edge culinaryapplications for beverages.
For instance, Innoviom, Stamford, Conn., sells a line of relaxation drinks called Tranquini Wowie, which contains 20 mg of hemp along with adaptogens like chamomile, lavender, lemon balm, and L-theanine (found in green tea). Twenty calories are included in one 12-oz can.
According to CEO Ahmed ElAzizi, “Wowie helps you go from hectic to ‘hanging loose’ without making you drowsy.”
Wowie was developed to lessen anxiety and relieve stress quickly and efficiently. This validates Mr. Rodriguez’s theory that a lot of cannabis food and beverage entrepreneurs are inclined to become wellness product companies rather than cannabis companies.
Cann & Botl Co. of Venice, California offers cannabis as a social tonic. It is a non-alcoholic drink designed to provide you with a slight buzz and “a feeling of vigor or well-being.” The beverage line contains cannabidiol (CBD) and tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in different formulations.
You may also like:
Food security in emerging nations: issues and remedies
Are drinks the secret to increasing cannabis use among consumers?
Managing the lack of labour for mushroom picking
The non-psychoactive CBD components have been linked to enhanced mood, stress response, pain alleviation, relaxation, and better sleep. It should not be confused with THC, the substance that gives people the “stoned” feeling. These two substances are only two of the over 100 cannabinoids that are present in the herbaceous species Cannabis sativa. This same species includes marijuana and hemp plants.
A CBD-infused cold-pressed and high-pressure processed functional tea and juice beverage is being added to the lineup by Verde Juice Co., located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Each 10-oz bottle, made with whole leaf hemp juice, has 35 calories and no added sugar. Less than 1 mg THC and 12 mg CBD are combined in each bottle.
Ben Richardson, director of 7Thirty Capital, New York, a venture capital firm that has invested in roughly ten cannabis-related companies, stated that “when you talk cannabis, it’s more than hemp.” It goes beyond THC. It goes beyond CBD.
He mentioned companies that make hempcrete and paper. The latter is employed as insulation in building.
“Someone in this country, sitting in their apartment, has the best ideas in cannabis,” Mr. Richardson remarked. And that actually makes it necessary for us to create the system for fostering and advancing innovation.
According to Mr. Larson, cannabis can be found in a variety of contexts, including sports, pet care, health and wellness, and unexpected areas. That, in my opinion, is the major potential by nature.
It is critical that everyone understands that hemp is cannabis and that cannabis is hemp before that potential materializes, according to Mr. Larson.
The various ways that terpenes, flavonoids, and cannabinoids can be combined in food and drink enable formulators to create unique experiences. Drinks are setting the standard.
Recently, Coventry, Connecticut-based Harbor Hemp Co. expanded their line of CBD products to include CBD-infused lemonade. The 12-oz bottle of the non-alcoholic beverage offers 150 calories, 15 mg of CBD, and no THC. A patented water-soluble CBD nano-emulsion is used to make the lemonade.According to Mr. Larson, cannabis beverage innovation has a bright future.
From a biological perspective, beverage is excellent, according to Mr. Larson. Because the mouth’s soft tissues allow the (functional) droplets to enter the bloodstream more quickly, it offers rapid absorption. It involves distributing a viscous oil that was derived from a plant in water and attempting to make it stay there. However, it’s comparable to the most intricate salad dressing you’ve ever prepared. However, we are executing it.
He advocates for formulators to approach cannabis with a “experience-first” mindset. Marketing must determine who the target consumer is and what the product should be made to accomplish. Finding the promise and the talking points is necessary to get it correctly.
It’s important to decide up front about any restrictions on allergens and product claims, such plant-based or organic, just like with other items. This choice will affect the assortment of carrier oils, terpenes, flavonoids, and cannabinoids that are available.