For most cannabis consumers in the pre-legalization days, edibles were a hassle. Home bakers who wanted to get cosmic with their brownies had to undertake some kind of fat-based infusion process, which usually meant heating your weed in oil or butter at a low temp for hours. This had the unfortunate side effect of stinking up your house (not to mention heating it up during the summer) and the results were often unpredictable. Sometimes, the alchemy of fat and heat and weed would fail, and the brownies would be duds. Other times, you would only think they were duds and eat a second one for good measure, perhaps lamenting, “These brownies ain’t shit!” Smash cut to the next morning, and you’ve learned a valuable lesson about metabolism.

We’ve come a long way from the days of that humble dorm room staple. If you’ve recently visited a cannabis dispensary in New Mexico, you’ve probably clocked the huge variety of edible products available. There is no shortage of gummies and other cannabis candies, but these increasingly share shelf space with other infused noshes, like gourmet chocolates, honey sticks, and, yes, elevated takes on home-baked classics. For those new to cannabis, edible products like these present an easy entry point into the world of weed: According to a study done by a cannabis industry publication, edibles were the fastest-growing segment of the US recreational market in 2021, with gummies leading the pack in popularity. Nationally, cannabis gummies alone raked in almost $1 billion that year, and it’s easy to understand why—if you’ve ever tried one, you’ve probably noticed that their dosage is generally clear and their strength fairly consistent. In other words, you’re not as likely to wake up on your couch the next morning feeling like an alien abductee. Still, cannabis is a powerful substance. A well-reviewed dispensary with knowledgeable staff is always a good place to start.

Curious about what makes these modern edibles so different from the ones I knew in ye olden days, I set out to survey the current state of infused foods in New Mexico. I’ve been a regular cannabis consumer for about ten years (don’t tell my mom), and while I generally prefer to smoke my weed, I believe in the massive potential of edibles. In addition to being a healthier method of consumption than smoking or vaping, they present some exciting culinary possibilities. The old-time weed brownies were not known for their taste, but as I began to sample the market of New Mexico-made edibles, I found a lot of them tasted quite good—so good, in some cases, that I had trouble not eating more of them than I meant to.

To get the insider perspective on the matter, I talked to one of the people responsible for some of my favorite edible products: James Walker of CloudWalker Farm. A proud norteño from Santa Fe and self-described clean-cannabis enthusiast, Walker operates the farm and dispensary with his business partner Greg Autry, an experienced grower and culinary cannabis experimentalist.

CloudWalker is perhaps best known for their “gomitas”—gourmet gummies that come in a number of natural flavors and, texturally, have more in common with a French pâte de fruits than, say, a chewy Haribo. They can be found in a variety of dispensaries around the state, though CloudWalker has their own digs in downtown Albuquerque. I was given my first gomita by a friend last year, and was an immediate convert. It’s hard to articulate exactly why without sounding a little stoner-y and woo-woo, so bear with me. With most commercially available edibles, I experience the high largely in my head, sometimes as a sort of tension. It’s not entirely unpleasant, but I feel worn out after it wears off. CBD gummies, for me, typically impart an almost tingly body high that’s somewhere between relaxing and numbing. CloudWalker’s gomitas, on the other hand, offer a more fully integrated experience. The experience is similar to what I generally achieve by smoking, relaxed and pleasant, with the added benefit—common to most edibles—of a longer-lasting high. The reason for this, I learned from Walker, comes down to how the active components of cannabis are extracted from the plant before infusion.

Many commercial edibles get their punch from a process called BHO (butane hash oil) extraction, in which cold butane—yes, the same stuff you burn on your camp stove—is used as a solvent to disintegrate cannabis flowers. As the butane evaporates, it leaves behind the plant’s desirable byproducts, a class of hydrocarbons known as cannabinoids. When they interact with the human endocannabinoid system, these compounds produce what we experience as a “high.” The key cannabinoids are familiar letter combinations like THC and CBD, as well as rising stars like CBN, an increasingly popular sleep aid. In the BHO process, one cannabinoid is isolated from the bunch for infusion, usually THC or CBD. The flower that goes into these products is generally purchased wholesale by the maker, often from a third party, and is not strain-specific—meaning a variety of cannabis types are thrown together. Choosey stoners like me know that there’s a huge difference between strains, and that combining them can cause things to get freaky. 

CloudWalker’s process is different. Instead of the butane method, they press cannabis flower for the rosin that it contains, the same way olives are pressed for oil. The resulting rosin contains the full spectrum of the flower’s cannabinoids in their natural combination, rather than just isolated THC or CBD, and it’s that spectrum that produces a warm, fuzzy, full-body high.

“There are over 130 cannabinoids that we know about—likely more, because this plant has been so under-researched,” says Walker. “When we introduce an isolate of THC to our endocannabinoid system, often at a really high dose, the [system] doesn’t totally know how to handle it.”

A high concentration of a single cannabinoid produces the semi-exhausting strain of high I described before. Walker compares the difference between rosin-infused edibles like CloudWalker’s gomitas and the gummies produced via BHO extraction to the difference between fresh-squeezed orange juice and Tang—they are both technically drinks made from oranges, but the ways that orange gets into the drink are radically different.

“Unfortunately, much like many industries, [cannabis] has arrived at a place where quick, cheap, and fast are guiding principles,” says Walker. “Not that we’re out to produce products that are slow and expensive—we’re not. But we are out to produce products that we’re proud to put our name on, that are whole and healthy and are going to deliver better results.”

CloudWalker grows all their cannabis in-house, hydroponically, without pesticides or growth hormones, and the active ingredients in each type of gomita are pressed from a single strain of cannabis chosen for its specific effects. On top of that, all of their edible products are produced by the rosin method, including their recently debuted cannabis beverages. Apparently, this is an achievement in culinary cannabis chemistry, as most THC beverages are produced with isolates from BHO. These High Desert Coolers are beginning to crop up across the state in breweries, distilleries, and bars as a nonalcoholic cocktail alternative, and in spas like Ten Thousand Waves and Ojo Caliente as a relaxing tipple. I tried out the Cherry Citrus flavor during a recent evening of Dungeons & Dragons with some friends. It tastes, in the best possible way, like the bougie cousin of a Sonic cherry limeade, and I found it lent a pleasant effervescence to that evening’s monster slaying.

Much as I like Cloudwalker, they’re not the only company producing great, BHO-free edibles. According to Walker, consumers who want to avoid BHO-extracted THC should seek out product labels like “full spectrum” and “live rosin.” Edibles produced via BHO, in contrast, are often labeled as containing THC “distillates” or “isolates.” For what it’s worth, I did a little follow-up research into BHO and found no evidence to suggest edibles made with BHO isolates aren’t safe to consume. The difference in highs I experienced is subjective and should be taken with a grain of salt. That said, BHO extraction is unquestionably a more intensive, less environmentally friendly method of processing cannabis than simply pressing it for rosin—it involves a caustic, toxic, nonrenewable chemical that has to be disposed of very carefully. As a result, the National Institutes of Health advise against attempting BHO extraction at home. BHO is preferred by the cannabis industry because it’s cost-effective, not because it produces better-quality byproducts.

“These conversations around cannabis are still sorely needed,” says Walker. “Ironically, now more than ever now that it’s legal in New Mexico.”

For now, with Walker’s advice in mind, I’m favoring full-spectrum / live-rosin edibles, like the infused ice cream from local purveyor Dutch Bliss that I recently picked up at my neighborhood dispensary, Verdes Cannabis in Nob Hill. I ate about half of a three-ounce cup of their Upside Down Lemon+Aid flavor, dosed with ten milligrams of THC, before digging into the new season of Severance, and it might have been the weed talking, but I thought it was maybe the best TV show I’d ever seen. On top of the pleasant high, the ice cream had a great flavor with no hint of the skunkiness I associate with fat-based edibles from the good old days. A budtender explained to me that because of the high fat content of ice cream, the active cannabis components get absorbed quickly in your stomach, leading to a fast-acting high—no second-guessing whether or not you should have more, though given how good it tastes, you’ll definitely want to.