CBD

February 6, 2019

Editor Roundtable Podcast: AI Everywhere, CBD Crackdown & Finding Love in a Fridge

Sure you’ve tried Tinder or Bumble, but have you looked for love with a fridge?

Now you can, kinda (not really), with Refrigerdate.

Samsung’s gimmicky smart fridge dating service is just one of the topics we talk about on our latest Spoon editor’s roundtable podcast edition of the Smart Kitchen Show.

Cat Cora Thinks It’s Time to End the Stigma Around CBD, Starting with Crab Cakes

You might know Cat Cora as the first female Iron Chef on Food Network’s Iron Chef America, or the first female inducted into the Culinary Hall of Fame. But what you might not know is that this culinary celebrity is also an outspoken advocate for cannabis — specifically CBD — as a health and wellness ingredient.

While at Seattle’s Cannacon this week I got to watch Chef Cora whip up a feast worthy of a white tablecloth, all of which was infused with CBD. “The effect of CBD is not a high,” said Cora. She — along with many people around the world — views CBD as a wellness ingredient, not an intoxicant.

Onstage Cora whipped up crab cakes with mango coulis and avocado salsa, adding a teaspoon of CBD isolate (a powder that contains 99 percent CBD) to the crab mixture. She also mixed together a mocktail of pomegranate juice and muddled mint, poured over ice cubes made with Above Water, which contains 15mg of CBD in each 20-ounce bottle.

After the demo, Cora spoke candidly about what drew her to begin advocating for marijuana legalization and de-stigmatization in the first place. She saw both her parents pass away from cancer and witnessed firsthand how medical marijuana could have alleviated some of their pain. She has been experimenting “publicly” with different ways to cook with CBD for the past year and a half.

Plenty of companies are working to make CBD more accessible as a cooking and baking ingredient. Azuca infuses CBD into granulated sugar and sugar syrup, which you can add to everything from coffee to cookies. Levo is a countertop device that helps you infuse CBD into fats, like butter or olive oil. Stillwater has an odorless CBD powder which can incorporate into everything from tea to cookies, and Tarukino has a water-soluble CBD serum that can be added easily to any drink (even water).

“This is the new Prohibition,” she told the audience, referring to the fact that cannabis is technically illegal in all states, even the ones that legalize it. “I want to take the stigma out of it, I want to debunk the myths around how cannabis can be used.” For example, you don’t have to eat a bitter CBD tincture or a stale gummy to experience the wellness benefits of CBD. Instead, you can use them as functional ingredients to make really elevated dishes — including crab cakes worthy of an Iron Chef.

January 30, 2019

For the Future of Beer, “New is King” — That Means Cannabis, Automation, and Glitter

Fittingly, we held our Future of Beer food tech meetup last night at Pike Brewing Company’s Beer Museum, which features an epic collection of memorabilia spanning from the invention of beer in 6,000 B.C Sumeria to Prohibition to the craft brewery revolution of today.

But we were concerned with where beer is heading next. To tackle this subject, we brought in Erin James of Sip Northwest, Annie Johnson of Picobrew, Scott Riefler of Tarukino, and Drew Gillespie of Pike Brewing Co. Here are a few takeaways from the experts on what the beer drinking experience of the future might look (and taste) like (yes, robots are involved).

Photo: Catherine Lamb

For beer, new (and fresh, and local) is king
Our panelists all agreed on one thing: in the beer world, consumers are always looking for what’s new. That can be new ingredients — like different varietals of grain, CBD and THC, wine yeast, or even glitter (gag) — or new drinking experiences, like cans instead of bottles or breweries with child play areas.

It can also be a new twist on beer itself, like different styles or infusions, or even new drinks that beer-like (carbonated, with low-ABV), such as hard kombucha and boozy sparkling water. James called the latter trend the “adulting” of traditionally non-alcoholic beverages. She explained that this new wave of beer-ifying non-beer drinks is feeding the demand for two things: “more” and “new.”

Millennials are leading the charge
Millennials love beer. No, but really love it. According to James, in the millennial demographic, beer has surpassed spirits as the most popular alcoholic beverage. However, this audience is not just driven by taste. “They’re also very value-driven,” she explained. And they value both ingredient sources (local is king), opt for local craft breweries and prefer cans to bottles (for environmental reasons).

Turns out, they’re not so keen on brewing at home, at least with Picobrew’s countertop brewing and distilling device. “At first, we thought our customer was a millennial,” explained Johnson. “Actually, it’s more of an engineer.” Millennials prefer to drink their beers straight from the source: local craft breweries.

Beer drinking isn’t just about the beer itself
According to Riefler, when medical marijuana becomes legal in a state, alcohol consumption drops 15 percent. “It gives people a choice about how they intoxicate,” he said. Beer is one such vehicle, but not the only one, and when people have more choice, they might move away from booze. That doesn’t mean that you can’t fuse the two: In October 2018 Tarukino launched Reeb, a cannabis-infused barley soda “reminiscent of a pale ale.” But instead of alcohol, Reeb has THC.

Gillespie isn’t worried that cannabis will take too much business away from the alcohol industry — or at least the craft beer industry. “Craft [beer] is different than general liquor,” he said. He believes craft beer drinkers want a specific drinking experience, one that’s “sensory and social,” not just a new way to get intoxicated.

Photo: Catherine Lamb

Science can enable better beer drinking
Craft beer brewing may be an art, but it still relies on science and technology. “There’s a lot of science going on in the ‘back room,'” said Riefler. That can be relatively basic technology — like brewing tanks and taps — or more futuristic stuff, like Picobrew’s countertop brewer, which some would categorize as a robot.

Johnson, who has a strong craft brew pedigree (she won the American Homebrewer Association’s Homebrewer of the Year award in 2013), still thinks that in order “to get good beer, you need automation.” That’s true whether you’re a craft brewery or just an avid home brewer: automation helps ensure that beer is consistent and tastes good. Which means that, with Picobrew’s tech, you could make a batch of Pike Brewing’s Monkey’s Uncle beer at home using the same ingredients and brew method — and it would (at least theoretically) taste just as good as if you’d gotten it fresh from the source.

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We can talk about glitter beer and robotic brewers all we like, but as Johnson put it, “at the end of the day, all that matters is the taste.” Consumer tastes and brewing technology can change, but appreciation for quality and consistency will never go out of style.

For the short term, there is one type of beer you should expect to see dominating the taps at your local brewpub: lager. James explained that, after the IPA craze, lager is coming back in popularity with a vengeance. Johnson made another prediction for what’s going to be the next big thing in beer (you heard it here first): wine/beer hybrids. Cheers to that.

Keep an eye out for our next food tech meetup coming soon!

January 24, 2019

Will There Be a CBD Unicorn? Takeaways from The Spoon’s CBD Slack Chat

Last Friday we had our first ever Slack Chat, which was kind of like what would happen if Twitter chat and a Reddit AMA had a baby. Led by industry experts, each chat explores a different topic making waves in food tech. For the first installment, we decided to tackle cannabidiol, better known as CBD.

The chat was led by Kris Taylor of Lumen, a hemp elixir company; Caroline Yeh of Kiva Confections, a marijuana edibles company; and Merril Gilbert and Rhiannon Wallstedt Woo of TraceTrust, a marijuana dose-verification startup. We only had 60 minutes (time flies when you’re Slack chatting, am I right?), but still managed to take a deep dive into some of the biggest opportunities and challenges of the CBD edibles market. In case you missed it, here are a few of the takeaways:

Quick refresh — what’s the deal with (hemp-derived) CBD?
According to our experts, chemically there’s no difference between CBD from the marijuana plant and CBD from the hemp plant. Nonetheless, only CBD derived from hemp is legal under the Farm Bill, which passed a few months ago. And the FDA still considers CBD to be an illegal food ingredient. So while the sale of hemp-derived CBD may be legal, the sale of food or drink containing CBD is not. The FDA will open a comment period around the use of CBD in food soon — our panel guessed some point over the next six months.

Photo: The Spoon Slack.

When will Big Food get involved?
The panelists were pretty unified on this: Big Food will get on board when the FDA concludes that CBD is GRAS (Generally Recognized As Safe). Until then, big corporations — like Coca-Cola, which was rumored to be researching CBD — won’t make any significant moves.

While major CPGs may not launch products until the FDA gives the green light, our panelists guessed that many (if not most) of these Big Food companies are already at work developing CBD-infused products. But for now smaller, artisanal producers are dominating the space.

The Spoon founder Mike Wolf wondered if we might see a unicorn in the cannabis/CBD edibles space over the next few years, as has happened in other food tech markets like food delivery and meal kits. (Again, as soon as the FDA declares CBD as food-safe.) “I have a feeling we’ll see some big new entrants that become big mainstream CPGs,” he wrote. That is, as long as they’re not acquired by larger CPG companies first.

But not all startups will be subsumed by Big Food. Woo wrote that “I think it will be more like coffee where the explosion of the industry made room for so many small brands to flourish.”

Who’s the target CBD consumer?
Our panelists concluded that the target consumer is… everyone. Well, pretty much everyone. “[It’s] a broad segment of the population,” said Yeh. “People who are already taking supplements, interested in wellness products, etc.” Gilbert agreed, also citing those interested in health and wellness, especially older consumers — for example, ones who might use CBD to treat problems like arthritis.

But if CBD is going to achieve this widespread appeal, it’s going to need some seriously good marketing. “This is where branding and marketing comes in,” wrote Taylor. “I firmly believe that most people have a use for CBD in their lives. It’s just when and how they choose to incorporate it that is the question.” Friend of The Spoon Surj Patel had an even more optimistic take: “It’s the new quinoa,” he wrote.

Photo: The Spoon Slack.

So, what’s next for CBD?
“We have not scratched the surface on what is possible,” said Yeh. As the technologies evolve and companies develop new methods of extraction, new products and marketplaces will unfold.

While Taylor wrote that there’s no need for more CBD-processing capacity, there are new opportunities in terms of technology. For example, CBD naturally has a bitter taste; companies can use tech to develop better flavor-masking agents.

Going forward, brands will play a bigger and bigger role. As long as they can make themselves stand out from the sea of companies hustling to enter the growing CBD edibles space. That level of competition could make fundraising a challenge, especially if investors are wary to support a company making products that aren’t FDA-approved.

Until the FDA designates CBD as GRAS, there’s still plenty of opportunity for education about this trending ingredient. Brands can begin teaching consumers about the effects, (potential) benefits, and versatility of CBD now, so that when the FDA gives the thumbs up, the market is already in place.

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Our next Slack Chat is slated for February 15th from 10:30-11:30am PST, and will be all about food robotics! So sign up for our Slack channel (if you haven’t already) and mark your calendar!

January 18, 2019

Azuca Puts CBD Into Sugar So You Can Put It In Coffee (or Literally Anything)

While walking the Fancy Food Show floor this week, I was curious to see how many companies would use one of the trendiest products of 2019: cannabidiol (better known as CBD). While the number was surprisingly few (no more than three or four), I did see a few companies incorporating CBD into things like tea and chocolates.

Azuca wasn’t exhibiting at the show, but the startup was certainly there to make a splash. Started two years ago by Ron Silver, a chef at NYC’s Bubby’s restaurants, the company turns CBD (and THC) into water-soluble dry flakes that can be easily incorporated into any sort of food or drink product. They do this through a process called “dehydrofractalization,” (DHF for short), which allows them to put oil-based CBD molecules into water.

“Fundamentally, our products are a technology,” Jonathan Teeters, General Manager of Azuca’s CBD Division told me. In fact, they have three patents pending on their CBD technology.

This tech gives Azuca a few benefits. First of all, it allows them to infuse CBD into a wider range of products. Traditionally, THC and CBD (which are fat-soluble molecules) had to be dissolved into oil, which limited the ways they could be consumed. By making the molecules water-soluble, they can go into pretty much any food or drink item imaginable.

Secondly, Azuca’s products take effect much more quickly than edibles of the past: usually within 15 minutes, as opposed to several hours. And lastly, Teeters told me that their products are consistent and easy to dose (each serving contains 25 milligrams of CBD).

So far, Azuca has several CBD-infused products on the market: chocolate discs, granulated sugar, and sugar and stevia syrup. The company’s decision to put CBD in sugar/sugar syrup is interesting. It makes it super easy to add a hit of CBD to any sort of baked good or beverage, without worrying about dissolving it into baking oil (which is how edibles have been traditionally made in the past).

Azuca sells their sugar products wholesale to other edibles companies and direct to consumer online, but is also working with coffee shops who offer the CBD syrup as an add-on to everything from lattes to mochas. You might wonder why people want a hit of calming cannabidiol with their morning jolt, but it’s actually quite popular — I’ve even seen it in a few coffee shops in Seattle.

The products retail for roughly $5 per serving. That’s certainly more expensive than straight-up CBD tinctures, or other chocolates on the market. But according to Teeters, “you’re paying more for taste and tech.”

With so many new competitors in the market, taste and technology are the two main ways that brands can differentiate themselves. Azuca isn’t the only company making water-soluble CBD meant to give people a high-end edible experience — far from it. Companies like Tarukino and Stillwater have also developed technology to put both THC and CBD into everything from teas to wines to chocolates.

There’s still the teeny, tiny issue that CBD isn’t approved as a food ingredient by the FDA. But that hasn’t stopped dozens and dozens of companies from producing and shipping cannabidiol-infused products around the country. Teeters says that Azuca is just trying to stay as compliant as possible, though they have clearly taken a few steps to not rock the boat: for example, their labels read “hemp extract” instead of CBD. While technically true (as long as they use hemp-derived CBD), it could also be slightly confusing for those not in the know. But it all just goes to show how tricky it is to navigate the murky waters of CBD as edibles. Eventually, Teeters guessed the FDA might label CBD a supplement and regulate it as such.

Until then, he’s pushing to get the word out about Azuca’s CBD products and make them as consistent, reliable, and accessible as possible. “If it’s not accessible, it’s easy to take away,” he told me.

So far, Azuca has raised a seed round for $1 million. They gave me a bottle of CBD-infused simple syrup to try out, which I haven’t cracked open (yet). But maybe I’ll put a few drops in my morning coffee.

Interested in the fast-growing CBD edibles market? Join us TODAY from 10:30-11:30am PST for a Slack Chat (think Slack AMA) about all things CBD. Sign up here!

January 15, 2019

Join Us For Our Future of Beer Meetup on January 29th!

Hey, Seattle area folks! We hope you’ll join us for our next food tech meetup on January 29th dedicated to one of America’s most beloved beverages: beer.

Beer may be one of the oldest drinks around, but with the advent of new technology and shifting consumer trends it’s an exciting time to learn more about the brewsky. Innovation is especially important since beer sales in America have been struggling as of late. To combat this, companies are experimenting with new sales channels and emerging ingredients (hi, cannabis) and even developing ways to bring the beer-brewing process straight to the consumer.

We’ve assembled a group of speakers working to push the boundaries of the beer space, developing everything from THC-infused brews to smart devices that let you brew your own beer on your countertop.

Meet the panelists:
Drew Gillespie, President of Pike Brewing Company
Annie Johnson, Master Brewer in Residence at Picobrew
Scott Riefler, VP of Science at Tarukino
Erin James, Editor-in-Chief at Sip Northwest
Michael Wolf, The Spoon (moderator)

We’re pretty psyched to be hosting this meetup at Pike Brewing Company! Tickets are free per usual, and the event will include a snack spread and one complimentary Pike beer. Because what’s the fun of talking about beer if you can’t taste it?

Spots are limited, so go ahead and snag yours now! We’ll see you there.

January 14, 2019

Introducing The Spoon Slack Chats! First Topic: CBD

Did you know we have a Spoon Slack channel? No? Well, we do! It’s a place where our community can connect, talk about news and emerging startups, and discuss food tech trends from grocery delivery to robotic restaurants.

We think our Slack channel is a really valuable resource and want to put it to good use. So we’re launching a series of Slack chats, each exploring a dedicated topic or trend that we’re seeing a lot of in the food innovation space.

First up? Cannabidiol, also known as CBD. The buzzed-about ingredient has been making a splash in the health & wellness communities, popping up in everything from beers to candies to dog treats to face creams. And with the passage of the Farm Bill, which legalizes sales of hemp-derived CBD around the country, we’ll likely only see more of this ingredient in 2019.

Our first Slack Chat will be on January 18th, from 10:30 am – 11:30 am PST. We’ll have folks from marijuana edibles company Kiva, hemp elixir company Lumen, and marijuana dose validation startup TraceTrust to help lead the discussion and answer your questions about CBD.

Who’s the target consumer for CBD products? What sort of impact is it having on the culinary landscape? What exactly is CBD, anyway? Mark your calendars and join us on January 18th to find out!

P.S. You have to be signed up for our Slack channel to join. To do so, head here to fill out a quick form.

January 9, 2019

CES 2019: Levo Lets You Make Your Own Infusions, Even with CBD

You know you’re in a fancy eating establishment when they start throwing the word “infused” around. Thyme-infused butter. Rosemary-infused coconut oil. You get the picture.

If you’ve wanted to concoct your own culinary infusions at home, but didn’t know how, then perhaps you should check out Levo. Levo is a countertop infusing device that automates the infusion process. Pair the mobile app to the Levo, choose your herbs (citrus, basil, vanilla, etc.) and your oil (avocado, grapeseed, olive, etc.) and the Levo does the rest.

But you’re not just limited to herbs and fats. You could infuse just about anything with, well, just about anything (see: blueberry butter). And lately, CBD has been the big thing to infuse into just about… everything. A Levo spokesperson confirmed that their device can make CBD infusions, and the company is planning on featuring more hemp/CBD infusion recipes.

Levo also has uses outside of the kitchen, letting you create your infused soaps, salves, lip balms and the like as well.

The Levo has actually been on the market for a couple of years and is available through the company’s web site. There are two Levos to choose from. The Levo I costs $149.99 and does not include WiFi. The Levo II costs $349.99, is WiFi-enabled and connects with the mobile app, and does three “cycles”: drying, activation and infusion. According to Levo, drying and “activating” (ed.note: we’re not sure if that’s just marketingspeak) your botanicals will unlock their full potency.

Food personalization and customization is a trend we follow closely here at The Spoon. The flexibility of Levo to freewheel with your infusion creations is similar to BEERMKR, the crowdfunded home beer brewing system that also lets you toss just about anything into the batch to give your beer all kinds of different flavor.

Sure, you can still go out for fancy infused foods, but maybe it’d be more fun to make them at home.

December 24, 2018

2019 to Bring More Green to the CBD Edibles Industry

President Trump recently signed the 2018 Farm Bill into the law with customary aplomb, which, among, other things, will legalize the production of hemp, and hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD), at a federal level. That means that 2019 could be a big year for CBD, the non-hallucinogenic ingredient in marijuana.

Analysts are projecting huge growth for the CBD market. The Brightfield Group, which does research into cannabis-related industries, reported that the U.S. market for CBD products grew by a staggering 80 percent.

That’s some serious green.

Recently, CBD has had a personal makeover of sorts. As Merril Gilbert said onstage at the 2018 Smart Kitchen Summit: there’s a “cultural shift of acceptance” happening in the cannabis edibles market. Cannabis in general — but especially CBD — is no longer something relegated to stoner culture. Instead, it’s transitioning away from a recreational drug to a wellness ingredient. Consumers of all generations are turning to CBD as a natural alternative to pharmaceuticals to treat everything from insomnia to anxiety to muscle soreness.

But just because hemp is federally legal under the Farm Bill doesn’t mean that CBD will suddenly be popping up on your drugstore shelf. Legally, there’s still some ambiguity: the bill basically removes hemp-derived CBD from the DEA’s list of controlled substances, but it’s still up to states whether or not they’ll allow the sale of the ingredient for recreational purposes.

And when it comes to edibles, our main area of interest, it’s not smooth sailing. The FDA still considers CBD to be an illegal food ingredient, which means that, according to the National Law Review, it is “not allowed in food.”

Until it is, it’s likely that Big Food & Bev companies, like Coca-Cola, won’t touch CBD with a 10-foot pole. However, they’ll definitely be exploring ways to use it so they can start quickly rolling out products as soon as the FDA gives the ingredient its stamp of approval.

But that isn’t stopping a wide variety of CPG companies from incorporating it into their products: from beauty products to dog food to edibles (and drinkables) of all stripes. One of the reasons that CBD (and THC) can incorporate easily into so many products, from wine to chocolate, is because scientists have figured out ways to make it tasteless and water-soluble. Which means edibles no longer have to taste and smell like your dorm roommate’s weed brownies.

Here are just a few products we’ve seen taking advantage of CBD:

As CBD grows in popularity, consumer trust will play a larger and larger role. Even though it’s not hallucinogenic, people will want to know exactly how much they’re consuming and make sure it’s from a reliable source (i.e. hemp, not marijuana). Companies like TraceTrust, which verifies the dosage of cannabis edibles, will become more pivotal.

If you want to know what’s coming up next with CBD, look to Canada. The country legalized marijuana in October of this year, and Big Food brands have been taking advantage and forging new partnerships with cannabis companies. Especially ones making things like beer, which has been struggling with sales lately.

Shortly after Canada legalized weed, Constellation Brands (which makes Modelo and Corona) took a minority stake in Canadian marijuana company Canopy Growth. Just last week Budweiser’s parent company announced that it was partnering with cannabis company Tilray to research and develop cannabis-infused drinks for the Canadian market.

In conclusion, while CBD might not be popping up in your can of Coke in 2019, this next year you’ll definitely see more CBD — and in more places. Down the road, maybe we’ll see CBD meal kits (dessert kits?) or personalized CBD edibles strains. But for the next 365 days, it’s all about CBD establishing itself as a trustworthy, mainstream food and wellness ingredient.

December 13, 2018

The Farm Bill Just Passed — What Does That Mean for the CBD Market?

After months of back and forth, Congress voted yesterday to pass the 2018 Farm Bill. The $867 million bill contains lots of wide-reaching legislative measures, like expanded farm subsidies, SNAP revisions, and permanent funding for farmers markets. But perhaps most interestingly, the bill legalizes the production and sale of hemp at a federal level. And where there’s hemp, there’s CBD.

CBD (cannabidiol) is the non-psychoactive ingredient in cannabis. It can be derived either from hemp or straight-up marijuana, two different strains of the same plant (though hemp contains very little THC). Until now, legality of the substance was unclear at best: Though legal to buy in the 47 states where CBD sales are legal, it was still considered a controlled substance by the DEA.

But the passage of the Farm Bill has the potential to rapidly grow the already buzzy CBD market. The bill rewrites the definition of marijuana to exclude industrial hemp, essentially removing hemp-derived CBD from the DEA’s list of controlled substances. It also gives each state the power to decide if it wants to allow the sale of CBD products made from hemp.

There’s clearly a demand for the trendy ingredient, which, its proponents believe, can do everything from reducing inflammation to treating anxiety and depression. As of now, the majority of the roughly $800 million U.S. hemp market is for CBD products. CBD is showing up in beer, gummies, and skincare creams, spurred by media buzz around the substance as the next wellness miracle “drug”. And there’s no sign it’s going to slow down any time soon. The CBD market is projected to hit between $2 billion and $3 billion in sales by 2021.

According to a Consumer Reports interview with Colleen Keahey, the President of the Hemp Industry Association, legalizing hemp in the U.S. could mean “doubling or tripling domestic cultivation within the next year.” Though Ms. Keahey’s job as the President of the Hemp Industry Association means that her predictions should be taken with a grain of salt, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be justified.

Now it’s up to farmers to meet this growing demand. Since hemp will now be a regular commodity crop, like corn or soybeans, farmers are also able to buy federally subsidized crop insurance and invest in advertising — neither of which they could do before the Farm Bill. Hemp will also be eligible for institutional funds, meaning farmers can grow their farms more quickly and invest in new equipment. Combine these points, and the hemp market is indeed about to experience a boom.

It’s not all rainbows and pots (ha) of gold yet, though. The production and distribution of hemp-derived CBD may now be legal, but that doesn’t mean it will immediately start popping up in more and more consumables. The biggest reason: the FDA still considers CBD to be an illegal food ingredient.

So while farmers can now legally grow hemp across the country to produce CBD, according to the National Law Review, it is “not allowed in food” — though that hasn’t stopped plenty of companies from making CBD-infused products anyway. But until the FDA gives the thumbs-up to CBD, we likely won’t see Big Food brands (like Coca-Cola, who was rumored to be exploring a move into the cannabis drink market) releasing any products with it.

The bill will now head to President Trump’s desk, where he’s expected to sign it. This next year will be a critical test to see if the Farm Bill will indeed be as pivotal for the CBD market as many hope.

December 11, 2018

The Future of Cannabis Edibles is Wellness, Not Recreation (Podcast)

“The [cannabis edibles] consumer is probably not who you think it is,” said Linda Gilbert, formerly Managing Editor, Consumer Insights cannabis data company BDS Analytics. “The average age of a cannabis consumer is 42. This is not an 18 year old living in his parent’s basement.”

As marijuana legalization expands, so does its consumer base. More and more users of all ages and backgrounds are looking to experiment with this trendy new ingredient — but they’re not necessarily coming to it in order to “get stoned.” Many turn to cannabis as a natural way to take the edge off of anxiety, manage their pain, or just relax. “They’re doing it for more health and wellness reasons than recreational purposes,” emphasized Gilbert.

But unless they’re a historic marijuana user, they don’t necessarily want to smoke something. Instead they’ll turn to edibles. “[There’s a] cultural shift of acceptance,” said Merril Gilbert, founder of cannabis dosage labeling company TraceTrust. And more and more companies — even Big Food companies — are starting to notice.

Scott Riefler, VP of Science for cannabinoid company Tarukino, pointed out that cannabis is rapidly becoming a food ingredient in its own right. “It’s something that can be added to the culinary experience,” he said. In fact, cannabis can be a functional ingredient in everything from wine to chocolates. And as it becomes more widely legalized, its applications (and user base) will spread.

In this conversation from Smart Kitchen Summit 2018, I talk with these three panelists about the burgeoning cannabis edibles market — and where we can expect it to grow from here.

You can listen to the podcast by clicking play below, download here or find it on Apple Podcasts.

December 3, 2018

Stillwater’s CBD Powder Lets Food Manufacturers Turn “Anything Into an Edible”

If you’re looking to try trend du jour CBD (cannabidiol), the non-hallucinogenic chemical in marijuana, you’ve got a lot of options these days: the trendy ingredient is making its way into sparkling water, beer, candies, and even dog biscuits (okay, you probably won’t try the last one).

Companies big and small are hustling to take advantage of burgeoning consumer demand for CBD. Major beverage corporations like Molson Coors, Lagunitas, and Constellation Brands have all been developing drinks infused with the trendy ingredient. Even Coca-Cola is exploring ways to make use of CBD (though they won’t pull the trigger until the substance is legal throughout the U.S.).

“All of these [Big Food] companies are looking at it or at least talking to people about it,” said Jeremy Goldstein, co-founder and COO of Stillwater Brands, a company that makes cannabis edibles and drinkables. With good reason: Hemp Business Journal estimates that the CBD market is projected to grow by a whopping 700 percent by 2020, hitting $2.1 billion in sales. Greenwave Advisors, an independent research firm focused on the cannabis market, estimates CBD sales will hit almost $3 billion by 2021.

Based in Colorado, Stillwater’s products are targeted at a “new” sort of cannabis edibles consumer: someone who wants to experiment with marijuana in a way that’s safe, predictable, and consistent — and also tastes good. Everyone has had the experience where they ate too much and it “hit them like a ton of bricks,” said Goldstein. Their main product is Ripple, a tasteless, water-soluble powder that lets people turn “anything an edible,” according to Goldstein. By making Ripple water-soluble, Stillwater increased the speed of onset, so consumers will feel its full effects within 15 minutes and can decide whether or not they want to take more.

Stillwater Brands’ gummies and powder.

Thus far, all of Stillwater’s products have had at least some THC (the psychoactive element in cannabis) in them. But starting next year, Stillwater will launch an all-CBD version (less than .3 percent THC) of Ripple’s tasteless, odorless powder. And that’s where Stillwater’s business plan starts to get more interesting — and more complicated.

In order to make a CBD-only product, Goldstein told me they have to use a new facility that’s entirely separate from the one they use to make their products that contain THC. That’s because the regulatory framework is different depending on whether or not an edible contains THC and CBD, or CBD only; products that contain THC can only be made and sold in states where recreational marijuana is legal (as of now, that’s just 10 states plus D.C.), and you can only purchase them from a licensed dispensary.

The legality of CBD-only products, on the other hand, is very murky. The FDA recently approved a purified form of CBD as a treatment for certain seizure disorders, but they haven’t investigated it in a recreational context — which means it’s illegal on a federal level. Nonetheless, plenty of companies still ship CBD products, from fruit beverages to mango-chili chocolates, across state lines. As of now, there haven’t been any legal repercussions for these companies, but some, like Dirty Lemon, are backing away from the space, wary of liability issues.

Stillwater is already selling their water-soluble CBD product wholesale. Their B2B ingredients business, Stillwater Ingredients, currently provides CBD to two major food manufacturers and “five to ten” smaller clients in the U.S. (Goldstein didn’t disclose exact numbers), and also partners with a major Canadian cannabis company.

Like many other companies that make cannabis edibles (or drinkables), Stillwater frames their products as wellness tools — not party drugs. That stance goes double for products with just CBD, which many believe it has anti-inflammatory and calming effects (though it hasn’t yet been tested by the FDA).

Entering the wellness industry is a smart move: the global market is estimated to be around $4.2 trillion. By marketing their edibles as wellness tools, almost like vitamins, Stillwater can also capture a wider range of consumers than traditional “stoners.” According to Goldstein, their target demographic is anyone who might use a sleep aid, struggle with anxiety, or have difficulty focusing at work. In short: pretty much everyone.

If the 2018 Farm Bill, which is reportedly nearing the finish line, passes, Stillwater might soon be serving a lot more of these consumers. The bill would legalize sales of hemp-derived CBD nationwide, opening the floodgates for the cannabidiol market and bringing many more players, wholesale and otherwise, to the table. It could even pave the way for Big Food to release CBD-infused products. Until then, come next year, you can use Stillwater’s Ripple to edible-ize anything your heart desires, from apple juice to zucchini bread.

CBD

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