Early Winter 2019: Cannabaceae—The Hemp & Hops Issue

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NEW MEXICO THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD, SEASON BY SEASON IN NEW MEXICO

Cannabaceae The Hemp & Hops Issue

ISSUE 65 · EARLY WINTER • DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020

®

NEW LOCATION: 505 CERRILLOS, SANTA FE AT THE LUNA CENTER

radi sh andr ye.c o m 5 05 .9 3 0.5 3 25

photos: doug merriam

FA RM I NSPIRED C UI SI NE

Member FDIC

MORE THAN A KITCHEN. A COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIP. Together. That is how we build community. Kids Kitchen is a shinning example of how partnerships in northern New Mexico have come together to create positive and lasting impacts in our community.

Learn more about Kids Kitchen at more.enterprisebank.com

EARLY WINTER: DECEMBER / JANUARY DEPARTMENTS 2

GRIST FOR THE MILL

By Willy Carleton and Candolin Cook

54 COOKING FRESH

Cooking with Hemp and an Interview with Alto Dinner Series

60 EIGHT AROUND THE STATE

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CONTRIBUTORS

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WISHBOOK GIFT GUIDE

80 SOURCE GUIDE / EAT LOCAL GUIDE

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ON OUR COUNTER

86 #EDIBLENM

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LOCAL HEROES

87 LAST BITE

Three Sisters Kitchen, Bosque Brewing Company, Talin Market World Food Fare, Briana Olson

Craft Brews

Butternut Squash Bundt Cake with Lemon + Sage + Hemp Glaze and Hemp Cannabutter

AT THE CHEF'S TABLE A Winning Formula by Robin Babb

DOUBLE FEATURE

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THE PLATE

66 HEMP DREAMS

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FERMENTI'S PARADOX Small Batches, Big Vision by Liz Maliga

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BACK OF THE HOUSE

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FORAGED

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MEMBER OF EDIBLE COMMUNITIES

NEW MEXICO

®

THE STORY OF LOCAL FOOD, SEASON BY SEASON IN NEW MEXICO

Cannabaceae The Hemp & Hops Issue

ISSUE 65 · EARLY WINTER • DECEMBER 2019 / JANUARY 2020

30

Radish & Rye by Douglas Merriam

ON THE COVER

Cannabaceae + Cake. Photo

by Stephanie Cameron.

Cultivating Cannabis in the Land of Enchantment

by Briana Olson

74 UNTAPPED New Mexico Hop Growers See Unlimited Future

by Michael Dax

Ganja Gourmet by Joanna Manganaro Toto New Mexico’s Native Hops by Ellen Zachos

WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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GRIST FOR THE MILL PUBLISHERS Bite Size Media, LLC

Chances are, you know them by their scent . . .

In this issue, we look at two of the best known genera of the cannabaceae family, hemp (cannabis) and hops (humulus), which are showing a profound potential to change the state’s agricultural, culinary, and cultural landscape. We consider these crops together because they share more than just a distant botanical ancestor, an unmistakable dank aroma, and an ability to thrive in New Mexican soils; they share a place in the imagination of agriculturalists, chefs, legislators, and consumers across the state as an opportunity to bring economic growth, new flavors, and healing properties to our farms and kitchens.

Throughout these pages, we examine the culinary sides of hemp and hops from many angles, from visiting local breweries to seeking out wild hops along mountain streams, from admiring the edible treats at medicinal marijuana dispensaries to talking with local chefs developing hemp-centered dinners. We learn along the way about the many uses of these plants.

Because of the potential for locally grown hops in an already established craft beer industry and the seemingly unbounded potential of the emerging hemp industry, we also dedicate feature articles to each. The pieces address the promises and pitfalls intrinsic to tapping into a burgeoning market; the technical, legal, and commercial considerations involved in cultivating these crops; and the people responsible for paving the way.

There is undoubtedly an excitement surrounding these two crops in New Mexico. It is too soon to know where exactly the limit of these growing markets might be, how their effects on New Mexico small businesses and farms might look, and what impact they can have on the cuisine of our region. It is not too soon, however, to say that the potential is great, and that, as our writers in this issue attest, there is good reason to support these blossoming industries.

Stephanie and Walt Cameron

EDITORS Willy Carleton and Candolin Cook

COPY EDITORS Margaret Marti and Briana Olson

DESIGN AND LAYOUT Stephanie Cameron

PHOTO EDITOR Stephanie Cameron

EVENT COORDINATOR Natalie Donnelly

DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER Joshua Hinte

VIDEO PRODUCER Walt Cameron

SALES AND MARKETING Kate Collins, Melinda Esquibel, and Gina Riccobono

CONTACT US Mailing Address: 3301-R Coors Boulevard NW #152 Albuquerque, NM 87120 info@ediblenm.com www.ediblenm.com

SUBSCRIBE ∙ BUY AN AD ∙ LETTERS 505-375-1329 WWW.EDIBLENM.COM We welcome your letters. Write to us at the

Willy Carleton and Candolin Cook, Editors

address above, or email us at INFO@EDIBLENM.COM Bite Size Media, LLC publishes edible New Mexico six times a year.

We distribute throughout New Mexico and

Stephanie and Walt Cameron, Publishers

nationally by subscription.

Subscriptions are $32 annually.

Printed at Courier Graphics Corporation Phoenix, Arizona No part of this publication may be used without the written permission of the publisher. © 2019 All rights reserved.

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edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

first course CELERY ROOT REMOULADE

black garlic puree second course LINGUINI EGG NOODLES

marinated artichokes, roasted italian red peppers, herbs, preserved lemon, pecorino third course CRISPY POTATO CAKE

mushrooms, roasted green chile, grainy mustard sauce Introducing an exciting Los Poblanos Dining Series event

fourth course

SaVoR De LeGuMbReS

TOASTED LOCAL GRAINS

local blue corn, yellow mole, butternut squash, micro herbs fifth course BEET SORBET

In celebration of a season of self-care and new beginnings, Chef Jonathan Perno and his culinary team at Los Poblanos are proud to announce our first long table dinner of the new year. Our talented chefs are prepared to surprise and delight with exciting new dishes using locally harvested ingredients, and each course will be expertly paired by our resident sommelier, Dylan Storment. This vegetableforward menu invites you to experience an evening that creatively explores flavors in a refreshing new way.

JaNuArY 18 6 Pm

Executive Chef Jonathan Perno’s passion radiates from these wonderfully developed dishes that celebrate the pure and flavorful characteristics the vegetables bring to the plate.

Visit lospoblanos.com for tickets and event information.

bittersweet chocolate dessert CARAMELIZED ONION CHOCOLATE CAKE

fennel ice cream, candied herbs

CONTRIBUTORS ROBIN BABB Robin Babb is a writer and editor in Albuquerque.

For more than three years, she was the Food and Drink Editor at Weekly Alibi. She regularly contributes to edible New Mexico, New Mexico Magazine, and Southwest Contemporary.

STEPHANIE CAMERON Stephanie Cameron was raised in Albuquerque and earned a degree in fine arts at the University of New Mexico. After photographing, testing, and designing a cookbook in 2011, she and her husband Walt began pursuing Edible Communities and they found edible in their backyard. Today Cameron is the art director, head photographer, marketing guru, publisher, and owner of edible New Mexico.

WILLY CARLETON Willy Carleton is co-editor of edible New Mexico.

He recently completed his PhD in history at the University of New Mexico, with a dissertation examining the cultural history of twentieth-century agriculture in the Southwest.

CANDOLIN COOK Candolin Cook is co-editor of edible New Mexico; an associate editor for the New Mexico Historical Review; and a PhD candidate in history at the University of New Mexico, specializing in culture and myth in the American West. She loves all local farms, but especially Vida Verde Farm in Albuquerque.

MICHAEL J. DAX Michael J. Dax lives in Santa Fe and writes about environment and culture in the American West.

He is the author of Grizzly West: A Failed Attempt to Reintroduce Grizzly Bears in the Mountain West (2015).

LIZ MALIGA Liz Maliga is a freelance writer based in Socorro.

She earned a master's in English from the University of Maine and teaches writing at CNM and New Mexico Tech. Her writing focuses on food, popular culture, and points where the two intersect.

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edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

DOUGLAS MERRIAM Douglas Merriam is a travel and lifestyle photographer with a passion for anything food-related. He published Farm Fresh Journey, The Santa Fe Farmers Market Cookbook (farmfreshjourney.com), now in its second printing. Merriam gives the farmers market a percentage of every book sold.

JOANNA MANGANARO TOTO Joanna Manganaro Toto is a freelance writer and designer of the jewelry line SonĂĄmbulo. Before returning to her home state of New Mexico in 2014, she worked in fashion in New York City for many years. She is thrilled to be back! In her spare time, Joanna loves scouring estate sales and thrift stores with her husband, uncovering exciting vintage finds. Follow her on Instagram via @howdycimarron.

BRIANA OLSON Briana Olson is a freelance writer and editor, and lead editor for the New Farmer’s Almanac, a miscellany of writings and art by farmers, ecologists, and other land-loving types. She enjoys long mountain walks, taking risks in the kitchen, and seeking out new and interesting things to eat, from Bangkok to Albuquerque.

ELLEN ZACHOS Ellen Zachos is the author of seven books, including Backyard Foraging and The Wildcrafted Cocktail. She teaches at foraging events, public gardens, and flower shows across the country, and shares tips on her website backyardforager.com.

Ellen also offers online foraging courses at backyard-forager.thinkific.com.

El Palacio magazine, first published as not much more than a pamphlet in 1913, continues to serve up the art, history, and culture of the Southwest with verve and style.

El Palacio: The name endures. While the title acknowledges the museum’s first home, the magazine itself has become a royal residence — a “house eminently splendid”— for the narrative that is New Mexico. Explore 106 years of stories for free at ElPalacio.org.

Counterclockwise from lower right: Chocolatero, ceramic from China, 17th c., lid from Mexico, 18th c.; stone molcajete late 19th–early 20th c.; wood molinillo, late 19th–early 20th c.; copper chocolate pot, 19th c.; Talavera plate, 1750–1800; stone metate y mano, late 19th–early 20th c.; Talavera pitcher, Mexico, 1775–1810. Photo by Kitty Leaken.

A Wonderful Mix of Friendship and Philanthropy

Become a Member of The Circles The Circles is the premier membership of the Museum of New Mexico Foundation.

Join us and enjoy an exclusive calendar of events that is especially designed to enhance your appreciation of the art, history and culture of New Mexico. You’ll discover unparalleled camaraderie with an intimate group of fellow members.

For more information contact Cara O’Brien at 505.982.6366, ext. 118 or email cara@museumfoundation.org or visit museumfoundation.org/circles.

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edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION

edible

WISHBOOK

THE SMELL OF NEW MEXICO IN THE FALL An artisanal perfume made from the smoke of roasting green chile. $58 Dryland Wilds drylandwilds.com

VIÑA CARDINAL

Aperitif wine to be enjoyed before or after any meal. 500ML. $32 Vara Winery & Distillery 315 Alameda NE, Albuquerque, 505-898-6280, varawines.com

GIFT IDEAS D.H. LESCOMBES LIMITED RELEASE COLLECTION

Includes a 2014 Petite Sirah, 2014 Petit Verdot, and 2015 Mourvèdre in a wooden, fire-branded box. Grown, produced, and bottled in New Mexico, these limited-production wines are a reflection of Lescombes' unwavering passion to craft the finest wines from their family-owned New Mexico vineyard. $195

Purchase at Hervé Wine Bar in Santa Fe · lescombeswinery.com

SANTA FE SPIRITS COLKEGAN WHISKEY

Award-winning, handcrafted, mesquite-smoked American Single Malt Whiskey. $54.99 Santa Fe Spirits Tasting Rooms @ 7505 Mallard Way and 308 Read, Santa Fe, santafespirits.com

“COWGIRL BANDANA” –DOLAN GEIMAN 24x30-inch Limited Edition Archival Print. $260 Ampersand Old & New 428 Sandoval, Santa Fe, 505-231-3886, ampersandoldandnew.com

NAVAJO COPPER AND STERLING BRACELETS Multiple widths. New Mexico. $35–$45

VINTAGE HAND-CARVED ACACIA WOOD ANGELS. Philippines. $18 and up.

AUTHENTIC MATA ORTIZ POTTERY Artist-signed – in hundreds of sizes and shapes. Mexico. $15–$300 BRONZE AND BRASS STATUES AND AMULETS of Buddha, Ganesha, and Guan Yin. Thailand. $14

HANDCRAFTED FELT ORNAMENTS Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, and Guatemala. $8–$16

HAND-CARVED AND PAINTED SANTOS Mexico. $27

Gallery Ethnica · 1301 Cerrillos, Santa Fe · 505-557-6654 · galleryethnica.com WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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TRADITIONAL ACETO BALSAMICO OF MONTICELLO

GIFT IDEAS

America’s only traditional balsamic vinegar, aged 21 years in Italian casks of seven rare woods. Made in New Mexico with estate organic grapes. Stunningly delicious.

Prices Vary Old Monticello Organic Farms organicbalsamic.com Also find at the 10th annual Monticello Holiday Store in Monticello on December 7–8 and 14–15 at wholesale prices.

CLIFFDWELLER, ANCESTRAL PUEBLOAN MUG

This style of Ancestral Puebloan pottery, known as "black on white" for the stark contrast of black paint on white clay, reveals a people with a flair for design who believed that each piece of pottery had its own story.

14 ounce mug. $26 Detours at La Fonda 100 E San Francisco, Santa Fe, detoursatlafonda.com

NEW MEXICO OLIVE OIL & BALSAMIC GIFT SET

Four-pack includes Red Chile Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Green Chile Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Red Chile Dark Balsamic, and Green Chile White Balsamic. $42.50 Santa Fe Olive Oil & Balsamic Co. 116 Don Gaspar, Santa Fe, santafeoliveoil.com

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edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

HEIDI’S ORGANIC JAM

Full sampler set combines all five of Heidi's favorite organic jams in their new 3-ounce size or your choice of any three of Heidi’s delicious flavors of raspberry jam in 10-ounce jars. $20–$30 Heidi’s Jam Factory 3427 Vassar NE, Albuquerque, heidisraspberryfarm.com

PICKLED AND PROBIOTIC

Barrio Brinery’s new Dilly Beans. Their sauerkraut, pickles, and other products are fermented in small batches, probiotic, fat-free, gluten-free, vegan, and delicious! $6 Barrio Brinery 1413 W Alameda, Santa Fe, barriobrinery.com

GREEN CHILE JAM

A much-loved classic, created in the Los Poblanos kitchen. $12 Purchase at Farm Shop at Los Poblanos or online at farmshop.lospoblanos.com 4803 Rio Grande NW, Los Ranchos De Albuquerque

KITCHEN SINK GIFT SET

Essential accompaniments for spending time in the kitchen. $65 Purchase at Farm Shop at Los Poblanos or online at farmshop.lospoblanos.com

ON OUR

Counter

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edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

EDIBLE RISTRAS FROM HATCH Edible's staff is always trying new local products. Take a look at what we are enjoying this month. Drop us an email at info@ediblenm.com if you know a product we should try.

One- to four-foot available. Chile Pequin Wreaths also available. $15 per foot Tin-Nee-Ann 923 Cerrillos, Santa Fe, 505-988-1630

Garlic Ristra from El Bosque Garlic Farm We found El Bosque Garlic Farm selling gorgeous garlic ristras at the annual Dixon Studio Tour this fall.

Fresh garlic bulbs will last from two to six months when stored properly. Braids or ristras may last longer because they are usually hung on the wall and air can circulate around them. These garlic bundles make a beautiful addition to any kitchen and are an essential ingredient in so much of our cooking. stanleycrawford.net Kinna’s Vegan Tamarind Chile Sauce Kinna Perez of Kinna’s Kitchen has brought the flavors of Laos to New Mexico. The trademark characteristics of Laos chile paste are its intense sweet and spicy aromatic and herbal flavors that come from the chiles, garlic, galangal, shallots, and more. Laotian Chicken Enchiladas is one of our favorite ways to enjoy this sauce, and you can find the recipe on ediblenm.com.

Kinnas.net AlbuKirky Seasonings Red Chile Piñon Coffee Rub Wake up your tastebuds with the bold flavors of New Mexico Piñon Coffee and spicy red chile. Warm, smoky notes will give your palate a jolt and elevate your steaks, pork chops, and roasted chickens. Our preferred meat is pork ribs with a dry rub—or check out AlbuKirky’s website for their Coffee Braised Beef Ribs recipe.

Albukirky.com Dry Spell Bourbon Whiskey from Dry Point Distillers We at edible love our whiskeys and we are excited about how many are now being distilled in New Mexico. This premium bourbon whiskey from Dry Point Distillers in Mesilla is a essential addition to your collection of local spirits. Try their bourbon cocktails like The Night Hawk, made with with cold-pressed coffee and coconut cream, and the Lazy Jay, made with chamomile bourbon and honey. This bourbon is also delicious on the rocks. drypointdistillersnm.com

EDIBLE NEW MEXICO SUBSCRIPTION

SAVE 30% off a one-year or two-year subscription for your loved ones this year. $22–$40 Subscribe at EdibleNM.com with promo code: HOLIDAY19

LOCAL HEROES An edible Local Hero is an exceptional individual, business, or organization making a positive impact on New Mexico's food systems. These honorees nurture our communities through food, service, and socially and environmentally sustainable business practices. Edible New Mexico readers nominate and vote for their favorite local chefs, growers, artisans, advocates, and other food professionals in two dozen categories—including this year's new Innovator Award. In each issue of edible, we feature interviews with a handful of the winners, allowing us to get better acquainted with them and the important work they do. Please join us in thanking these Local Heroes for being at the forefront of New Mexico's local food movement.

Three Sisters Kitchen AN INTERVIEW WITH ANZIA BENNETT, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR BEST NONPROFIT ORGANIZATION Photos by Stacey M. Adams

Top row, left to right: Craig Jones, Jaelyn Bransford, Josh Nez, Michael Sedillo, Julia Wall.

Bottom row, left to right: Anzia Bennett, Cecelia Garcia, Erik Elkins, Jordan Billiot.

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edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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Top left, clockwise: Enchiladas with seasonal veggies, spritzer of the day, sourdough toast with ricotta and house-made jam, and biscochito latte.

Anzia Bennett’s love of food and community drives her work. As founder and executive director of Three Sisters Kitchen in Albuquerque, she works with farmers, ranchers, health systems, and community-based organizations to develop wellness and economic engagement programs. These programs respond to community-articulated needs and address the social and structural determinants of health. Bennett received her masters degree in American Studies and in public health from UNM and sits on the boards of the Rio Grande Farmers Coalition and Working Classroom. She currently serves as a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Culture of Health Leader.

How did Three Sisters come about and what was the need you saw in the community that Three Sisters could address?

Three Sisters Kitchen is a nonprofit community food space that uses the power and love of local food to create economic opportunity, improve community health, and bring our diverse communities together 16

edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

around the table. We spent years asking people all over New Mexico what they thought a “community food space” should be. What we heard was that people wanted a beautiful, welcoming, multigenerational space where they could share their food traditions, learn how to take control of their nutritional health, access affordable local food, and feel connected to where it comes from. [They also wanted to] explore their own food business dreams. The kitchen is designed for experimentation and exploration—whether it’s our own experimentation with how to pay a living wage and provide benefits to all of our employees, an entrepreneur exploring food business development, or a student using new techniques or ingredients in a community cooking class.

Tell us about some of the businesses that are utilizing Three Sisters.

We have amazing community partners who use our community classroom regularly for cooking classes, shared meals, and other events including Kids Cook!, Together 4 Brothers, Centro Savila, Street

Food Institute, UNM Continuing Education, and many more.

We host our own community nutrition classes; operate a food and nutrition program for home health aides in partnership with Encuentro, Meals on Wheels, and Presbyterian Healthcare; and offer a fifteen-week Food Business Training class twice a year with commercial kitchen access for graduates to use as they launch and scale their food businesses. Palm Trees Confections—an amazing vegan bakery and program graduate—is selling delicious baked goods all over the city now!

What have been some of your favorite classes or workshops that Three Sisters has hosted?

We are lucky to have so many incredible cooks share what they love in our community classroom. Kids Cook! leads monthly free family cooking classes and it is so fun to see kids of all ages cooking together and building their confidence in the kitchen. Beyond the Plate, a program of Lutheran Family Services’ Refugee Resettlement Project, runs cooking classes led by women from all over the world, building community around the table. Pasta M’ama’s Italian cooking classes are amazing. I learned how to make my first double-crust pie in a Pie Pals class. I could go on and on . . .

What is the most challenging part of running a nonprofit?

What has been the most rewarding?

Securing the funds we need to operate a values-driven organization—ensuring that our programs are accessible, that we pay a living wage, that we prioritize the needs of local food producers—is challenging. That’s why we partner with so many other amazing organizations. We know that we are stronger together. It has been so exciting to watch the kitchen grow from an idea planted by a group of farmers in 2015 to a full-fledged organization employing fourteen people and providing space for so many different people to build and grow and eat together.

What are some of your favorite local food products?

Right now I can’t stop eating Red Tractor’s apricot jam, Pop Fizz’s mango paletas, Cornivore’s Rosemary Garlic Popcorn, NM Sabor’s green salsa, and Three Sisters Kitchen’s TSK Spice Shake.

What plans do you have for the future?

We are excited to relaunch our evening winter food market on Wednesday nights from 5 to 7pm. It will run from November 13 to December 11, and then every Wednesday in February and March, so people can buy directly from farmers, ranchers, and other food producers from all over the city in one spot. Our 2020 cooking class calendar is shaping up to be really great, too.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with edible readers?

Our Local Foods Shop and Café is open Monday through Friday from 7:00am to 2:00pm. Come enjoy a delicious meal and learn more about our community cooking classes, food business training programs, and other community events celebrating the power and love of local food!

109 Gold SW, Albuquerque threesisterskitchen.org

LOCAL HEROES

Bosque Brewing Co.

AN INTERVIEW WITH JESS GRIEGO, CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER AND CERTIFIED CICERONEÂŽ; GABE JENSEN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER; AND JOHN BULLARD, BOSQUE NORTH BREWMASTER AND CHIEF PRODUCTION OFFICER BEST BREWERY Photos by Stephanie Cameron

Bosque North Brewery and Taproom in Bernalillo.

Bosque Brewing Company is an inclusive local business that aspires to improve their community by creating world-class beer, food, and experiences in their five locations throughout New Mexico for both their coworkers and their customers.

the state, as well as in southern Colorado, which is bringing revenue back into New Mexico. This revenue is reinvested into our business to create more jobs and manufacturing facilities, and also plays a part in making New Mexico a craft beer tourism destination.

Tell us a bit about the hops Bosque uses. Where are they sourced?

Are all hops created equal?

In such a prolific beer brewing community, what is something unique about Bosque Brewing Co.?

Bullard: Bosque uses hops from around the world, though the majority of our hops come from the Pacific Northwest. Every hop imparts its very own character to beer. Some are only used for their bitterness contribution, while others are highly prized for specific aroma qualities. It really comes down to the brewer’s preference when selecting the right hops for the right beer.

Griego: This is always an interesting question to answer . . . we are all so unique in our individual ways in this industry, and also have many similarities. One thing I can say for certain about Bosque is that our focus is less on what sets us apart from our competition, and is rather a constant internal look at ourselves to assess how we can be even better today than we were yesterday.

How is your beer connected to the local area?

Do you have a favorite craft beer or is there one that made you fall in love with brewing?

Griego: Quite literally, outside of our own taprooms, you can find our products in hundreds of restaurants and retail stores throughout 18

edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

Bullard: I took a trip to Northern California in my early twenties and

your home for the holidays since 1966 Christmas Eve Dinner Christmas Day Dinner New Year’s Eve Dinner

lunch • dinner • bar

visit the new CompoundRestaurant.com for menus & more 653 Canyon Road 505.982.4353 reservations recommended

Left to right: Gabe Jensen, chief executive officer; Jotham Michnovicz, chief development officer; and John Bullard, chief production officer. Not pictured, Jess Griego, chief experience officer and certified Cicerone®.

discovered two beers that changed my life. Pliny the Elder from Russian River and Old Rasputin from North Coast both interested me so much that I started homebrewing. My career as a professional brewer started shortly after.

To what do you attribute Bosque’s success?

Jensen: I believe the biggest single factor is making sure we surround ourselves with talented people. It started with both the brewery and taproom management. Early on it was obvious that Jess was better at running a taproom day-to-day than I was, and giving her freedom to do that was a key step in our growth. It was quickly obvious that I wasn’t all that great a brewer, and bringing on John to take that on and push us to a new level of quality was very key. Now, we are always trying to find people that can take a job and run with it. That has found its way into all aspects of our evergrowing and evolving business.

How does Bosque Brewing give back to the community?

Jensen: What a tough thing to do well! We are always wanting to impact the community in a positive way, hoping that if we were ever gone, the neighborhoods we’re in, the state we love, would genuinely miss us. We strive to foster long lasting relationships with community 20

edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

partners that are already doing great things and hope that we can help strengthen or continue what they are already doing rather than try to do something new or on our own.

What’s next?

Jensen: Right now we have a focus on additional taprooms and replacing our specialty brewery. The wholesale space is tough right now and growth is slow for craft beer. Once we open our five additional taprooms over the next twelve months, we will assess where we are, where the market is, and how we feel we fit into the space. A lot has changed over the last seven years since we opened, and we don’t want to force anything that may have once been a goal but doesn’t make sense anymore.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with edible readers?

Griego: Thank you, edible readers, for the honor of naming us your Local Hero! We look forward to continuing to grow our community together and to enjoy some world-class beers with you along the way.

Cheers! bosquebrewing.com

B AR C ASTAÑED A

NEW

L ITTL E B EAR C O FFEE C O.

LOCAL HEROES

Talin Market World Food Fare AN INTERVIEW WITH VICTOR LIMARY, DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS BEST RETAIL Photos by Stephanie Cameron

Talin Market World Food Fare.

Growing up in his family’s grocery business and helping his grandmother prepare meals in his youth, Victor Limary developed a passion for food. Limary grew up in Albuquerque after having emigrated with his family from Laos. Despite taking a detour to pursue a career in computers, he now manages Talin Market, New Mexico’s largest international grocer, importing specialty goods from around the world.

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What has been the biggest challenge for Talin over the years and how have you overcome it?

Finding and getting all of our exotic products to the middle of the desert is the biggest challenge. It’s always disappointing to tell a customer that something is not available, but we’ve worked hard at anticipating customer needs and food trends. We’re always looking for new ways to bring the exotic to New Mexico.

FORAGED

A new Santa Fe floral boutique inspired by the more wild and less ruly nature that surrounds us

Blending Culture, Coffee & Delicious Food Monday–Saturday 8 to 4 pm Trailhead Compound, 922 Shoofly Street, Santa Fe 505-310-0089 | cafecitosantafe.com

• Distinctive floral arrangements • • Nature-inspired installations for home, events, and business • • One-of-a-kind gift worthy vases and vessels • 333 Montezuma Ave, Santa Fe at the Guadalupe Center 505.365.1122 | foragedsantafe.com

WI N E BI S T RO

Celebrate with Us! Open for Dinner Tuesday Sunday

Lunch Monday-Saturday Dinner Every Evening Happy Hour Wines $6 before 6pm

Douglas Merriam

Chef's Prix Fixe Menu offered Tuesday - Thursday

304 Johnson St Santa Fe

210 Don Gaspar Ave., Santa Fe NM 87501, Inside Hotel St. Francis

505-989-1166 terracottawinebistro.com

505-992-6354 www.marketsteersteakhouse.com

Victor Limary, director of operations.

What has been your experience with purchasing locally grown or processed foods in New Mexico? Are there any specific foods that you wish you could procure from local farms or businesses?

Tell us something surprising.

A lot of what we sell are exotic or imported foods that don’t always lend themselves to being produced locally. However, we’ve worked with some local farms and businesses, but are always looking for more, especially produce.

What plans do you have for the future?

What has been the most rewarding part of running Talin?

I love learning from our customers and sharing tidbits of information about food. I know that I’m in good company when I see complete strangers meet while shopping at Talin, ask about the strange items in the other’s basket, and end up becoming friends.

The best part of the job is seeing a customer ecstatic that they have the ingredients and the knowledge they need to make that special dish or meal. It feels great to know that we’ve helped them make some new, special memories.

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edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

I’m surrounded by food all day, and there are many times when I don’t know what to eat.

We’re expanding and remodeling our tea shop and restaurant area.

Is there anything else you’d like to share with edible readers?

88 Louisiana SE, Albuquerque, talinmarket.com

‘ tis

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LOCAL HEROES

Briana Olson BEST FOOD WRITER

Photos by Stephanie Cameron

Briana Olson is a writer and editor based in Albuquerque. She contributes regularly to edible New Mexico and Southwest Contemporary, teaches writing at CNM, and is lead editor for The New Farmer’s Almanac, a miscellany of writing and art by farmers, ecologists, and other land-loving types. She’s also working on a land access toolkit for the Agrarian Trust’s FaithLands initiative. Readers selected Olson as Best edible Food Writer for her fall 2018 article “A Farm, a Ranch, a Refuge,” which focuses on conservation along the bosque.

What drives you as a writer?

Words! Language has always been one of my obsessions, and drives me both as a reader and a writer. In a roundabout way, that might 26

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relate to another obsession—to consider my subject from as many angles as possible before I put my pen to it. I don’t like to write about something until I feel I know it.

As the editor of the New Farmer’s Almanac, has the experience of working with writers from across the country and hearing their stories shaped how you think and write about local food in New Mexico?

Both experiences—working with national and international farmers and land-based writers, and writing locally—feed off and into one another. Visiting folks around New Mexico is an intimate, physical experience that grounds my work with writers who farm in, say,

Migratory birds forage along the middle Rio Grande. Photo featured in "A Farm, a Ranch, a Refuge."

The word "environmentalist" probably does not conjure the picture of a woman driving a tractor or a cowboy driving cattle or a figure in camouflage, crouched in the predawn light, but farmers, ranchers, and hunters have contributed land and labor to form and manage protected spaces throughout the West.

—Briana Olson, "A Farm, a Ranch, a Refuge" Oregon. And NFA contributors from other states have given me insights on local issues. For instance, I learned about some of the conflicts that developed in rural Oregon when industrial-scale marijuana farming moved in, and that probably influenced my approach to exploring hemp production in New Mexico.

shift from consumers to producers. We’re all responsible, but I can’t unpour a coffee that’s been served to me in a plastic cup, and 500,000 people can’t be expected to remember to say “no straw, please” or ask whether the takeout container will be plastic or styrofoam before they consent to having their leftovers wrapped.

Who is your favorite food writer and why?

What is the best meal you’ve ever eaten?

I don’t know that I have a favorite, but MFK Fisher and Jonathan Goldman are two that I return to. I also enjoy Ed Lee’s ruminations on cooking (and his recipes). Then there are writers like Stuart Dybek and Carmen Maria Machado and Alice Munro who are not food writers, but who write eating and food into their stories in bizarre, exhilarating, and sometimes frightening ways.

I don’t know about best meal, but one of the best food cities I’ve visited is Hue, Vietnam. There was bun bo hue, an amazing rendition of banh canh cua, and lots of nem lui and banh khoai, both served with a heap of fresh herbs and vegetables (including the strange and delicious vả fig). And unlike most other towns in Vietnam, Hue is known for its exceptional vegetarian food.

Has writing about food changed the way you eat?

Is there anything else you’d like to share with edible readers?

I started growing more of my own food around the same time I started writing for edible, and both things have drawn me even further away from industrially raised and processed food. Lately, I’m trying to avoid restaurants that overuse plastic. I’d like to see the burden of plastic

Learning about the incredible work (and food!) you are all doing has been something of a life raft in these tumultuous, mind-bending times. Thank you.

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AT THE CHEF'S TABLE

A Winning Formula JOSH KENNON’S NEW ENCHILADAS RESTAURANT, THE JEALOUS FORK, LETS CUSTOMERS BUILD THEIR OWN

By Robin Babb · Photos by Stephanie Cameron

Red chile pork posole and build-your-own enchiladas at The Jealous Fork.

For Josh Kennon, owner and executive chef of Fork & Fig, opening up an enchiladas restaurant means going back to his roots. The Deming native grew up with enchiladas as a regular feature on the dinner table, and his love of the dish hasn’t faded in the intervening years. At The Jealous Fork, his new restaurant, Kennon lets customers choose between a lot more than just “red or green.”

Located next door to Fork & Fig at Louisiana and Menaul in Albuquerque, The Jealous Fork opened its doors in October. “I was out visiting in Phoenix and I just came across a few places that gave me some 30

edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

ideas for grab-and-go enchiladas. I mean, New Mexico is known for enchiladas, so why not improve the wheel, if you will?” says Kennon of his inspiration for the new restaurant.

After going to culinary school in Phoenix and living there for ten years, he’s definitely grown to appreciate the subtle differences between Mexican food in New Mexico and Mexican food in Arizona.

“Mexican food is much more Mexican and a lot less green chile out there,” he says. At The Jealous Fork, his take on enchiladas meets somewhere in the middle, with options like tomatillo chile and queso

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AT THE CHEF'S TABLE

Left: Josh Kennon. Right: Customized enchilada.

Oaxaca pointing more toward southern Mexico, while the red chile pork posole and the green chile from Young Guns Produce in Hatch are decidedly local.

The Jealous Fork lets diners fully customize their enchiladas, from the wrap to the filling to the sauce and cheese on top. One can go the traditional route and get corn tortillas with chicken inside and green chile on top, or try something a little different, like brisket enchiladas wrapped in a flour-and-corn tortilla, topped with tomatillo chile. For vegans, there’s a wild mushroom filling, and there's an option to wrap your enchilada in a roasted poblano instead of a tortilla, skipping the carbs. “People are really gravitating toward the brisket, and the poblano wrap, too,” says Chef Daniel Melendez, who’s now running The Jealous Fork kitchen after working at Fork & Fig for several years.

Their pork, which they braise for eight hours, is quickly becoming another favorite.

Though the restaurant doesn’t serve spirits, their location right next to Broken Trail Distillery is ideal for both businesses. “We’re all symbiotic,” Kennon says. “Fork & Fig has full service and it’s counter service [at The Jealous Fork], so we have pagers that will page the guests to come pick up their food and take it over [to Broken Trail].” The Jealous Fork is in the process of getting its beer and wine license, but in the meantime they’re serving up aguas frescas and Mexican sodas.

Another menu item worth a try is their wafer waffles, a dessert courtesy of a waffle iron that Kennon got when his family owned 32

edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

a Dairy Queen. Instead of churning out ice cream cones, it’s now making thin waffles that Kennon layers with mascarpone and cream cheese, then drizzles with strawberry coulis, chocolate sauce, and crumbled Oreos.

The Jealous Fork isn’t Kennon’s only new venture in the works. He’s got plans to open up two stalls in the upcoming Highland Central Market, a food hall currently being built across the street from Presbyterian Hospital on Central. This new market, scheduled to open next summer, will include a butcher, a fishmonger, a baker, and several restaurant stalls—including Little Fig, Kennon’s scaled-down version of Fork & Fig, and another Jealous Fork location. “It’s a perfect area where they’re doing it, right across from Presbyterian,” Kennon says—not to mention it’s within reach of Downtown and Lovelace, and not far from UNM and CNM. This food hall concept, which has recent examples in Portland, Austin, Chicago, and other cities, holds exciting potential for Albuquerque foodies.

When asked if he has considered expanding even more in the coming years, Kennon says, “I'd like to get both [Fork & Fig and The Jealous Fork] into airports. I figure if you can make it here in this airport, you can probably make it in any airport, period. It’s a tough market.” But with Kennon’s track record and ambition, breaking into new markets might not be so difficult after all.

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THE PLATE

Radish & Rye

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Executive chef and co-owner Dru Ruebrush.

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Radish & Rye, owned and operated by Camille Bremer and Dru Ruebush, recently moved to a rustic and eye-catching space in the Luna complex on Santa Fe’s Cerrillos Road. As always, their innovative, seasonal menus are the result of support from local farmers and ranchers. Chef Ruebrush’s current menu features items such as cauliflower steak served with corn relish; shishito peppers served with pickled blueberries and charred corn aioli; and corn chowder served with green chile and smoked marrow. Radish & Rye’s equally creative cocktail menu has the largest selection of bourbon and rye in the state.

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Co-owner Camille Bremer.

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FERMENTI'S PARADOX

Small Batches, Big Vision TUMBLEROOT HITS ITS STRIDE

By Liz Maliga · Photos by Douglas Merriam

Walking into Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery’s Agua Fria location on a sunny October Sunday, I’m greeted by a woman singing and playing guitar to a table full of friends.

Other small groups are scattered throughout the spaciousyet-cozy space. Familiar faces from behind the bar are preparing for tonight’s event—blues artist Christone “Kingfish”

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Ingram, a sold-out show. “Are you sure it’s completely sold out?” a smiling woman queries the bartender. He replies yes, and she accepts his answer with a wink that says if you don’t ask, you’ll never know.

One venue can’t contain the tremendous plan spearheaded by cofounders Jason Fitzpatrick and Jason Kirkman, and to-

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FERMENTI'S PARADOX

Left to right: Jason Kirkman and Jason Fitzpatrick at Tumbleroot's Agua Fria location.

day Tumbleroot encompasses both the Agua Fria taproom and the Bisbee Court tasting room in Santa Fe. The former was previously home to Club Alegria, and the new taproom carries the entertainment tradition by regularly hosting musicians, comedians, burlesque shows, and film screenings on their stage.

I catch up with Kirkman, owner and master brewer and distiller, earlier in the week at the Bisbee tasting room. The tasting room is infused with personal touches: Kirkman walks in carrying a large bag of rosemary from the family garden; Painkillers and other tiki-style drinks are served in pottery mugs fashioned by his wife, Angela Smith Kirkman (who runs Paseo Pottery); and hanging on the wall is a guitar, which Jesus Velazquez, our bartender, is known to play for guests.

“We have to hide the mugs from the boss because he uses them for coffee,” Velazquez says with a wink.

We walk back to the brewery and distillery floor, a bright white room glowing with late afternoon sun, and are greeted by towering copper and steel stills and vessels. A former teacher, Kirkman nimbly explains the most complex aspects of the brewing and distilling processes with ease and enthusiasm, starting with one simple, essential ingredient: water. “As a brewery and distillery, we want to get as much mutual benefit from having both operations in the same place as possible,” he explains. “We try to integrate. We use our water three times, which we’re very proud of.”

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Both brewing and distilling use—and can potentially waste—large volumes of water in heating and cooling. Distillation is the process that separates components by heating liquid into steam and cooling it back into a liquid. Steam containing pure water and alcohol is cooled back into a liquid using water, which is typically discarded. At Tumbleroot, this water is siphoned off and cooled again, then used to cool wort. From the wort, the heated water is captured a third time in a hot liquor tank, becoming process water for the next day’s brewing.

In addition to these eco-savvy measures, Tumbleroot’s approach to brewing, distilling, and entertaining nods to tradition, authenticity, and place in community. Many beers, including an upcoming Helles release, use malts sourced from Germany, and their agave spirits are made from organic blue agave nectar from Jalisco.

Other ingredients are sourced much closer to home. “I have four to five acres, where I can wild harvest prickly pear, juniper, piñon, and cholla cactus,” Kirkman says. “Earlier this year, we did a whole spruce-tip thing. We spent June doing a hike every week, where we would have to go higher and higher into the mountains, above twelve thousand feet, to harvest spruce tips as they’re budding.” The spruce tips went on to infuse a beautiful green amaro used in Tumbleroot’s riff on a Vesper. The prickly pears are steeped into the liquor that flavors the current wild-harvest cocktail offering, a prickly pear

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FERMENTI'S PARADOX

Stills and bright tanks at the Tumbleroot Brewery and Distillery.

margarita. Kirkman’s garden and property also provide the pears in the pear thyme shrub and the sage, juniper, and lavender that flavor Tumbleroot’s botanical gin.

“When I built these gin recipes, I would do single-ingredient distillations on a smaller still,” Kirkman explains, “one ingredient at a time.” Tumbleroot offers three varieties: the Botanical, High Desert (a London dry), and a barrel-aged Navy Strength. “‘Proof ’ goes back to when the navy gave sailors rations of alcohol, and to prove the strength, they would put gunpowder in it,” Kirkman continues. “If the gunpowder still lit, it was ‘proven’ to be 100 proof British, which is 114 proof in the US.” Back at the Agua Fria taproom, we check out the new cocktail menu. I try the Corpse Paint, a take on the Corpse Reviver featuring the botanical gin and a house-made grapefruit amaro, and Kirkman orders a Pho Kit. The latter arrived, to my delight, as a bowl of pho. A slate board holds a bowl, a small glass of the spirits (Tumbleroot Oro Rum with a simple syrup flavored with pho spices), and fragrant addins: lemongrass, star anise, chiles, and fresh herbs. Once assembled, 42

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the drink is sipped from the bowl, continuously infusing with the herbs to the last spicy, fragrant sip.

The first beer I tried was the double brown, recently awarded a bronze medal in the Other Strong Beer category at the Great American Beer Festival. I also tried the Honey Double IPA, the Smoked Porter, the Festbier, and the Farmhouse Ale. The Honey Hibiscus Wheat features hibiscus flowers, quickly steeped and kept cold to preserve the flavor. “We tried heating it,” Kirkman explains, “but it radically changed the flavor. It’s a delicate beer, and we have to keep it cold, so its distribution is limited. But it’s an excellent flavor.”

“Nobody does what we do from scratch,” Kirkman says. It becomes evident that while he’s talking about distilling, it’s true of Tumbleroot from their spirits to the spirit of the entire operation. Bringing all of these elements together and executing it in a way that works is a huge task, but if you don’t ask (or try), you’ll never know.

32 Bisbee Court and 2791 Agua Fria, Santa Fe tumblerootbreweryanddistillery.com

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BACK OF THE HOUSE

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TWO SANTA FE DISPENSARIES GIVE EDIBLE CANNABIS A DELICIOUS SPIN

By Joanna Manganaro Toto

Tetrahydrocannabinol eclairs at Best Daze. Photo by Stephanie Cameron.

Medical marijuana dispensaries may not be the first place one thinks of when searching out delicious desserts and confections. However, two Santa Fe–based companies are making an effort to change perceptions surrounding cannabis edibles and to elevate the market in the process.

Best Daze and Kure Cannabis offer a diverse line of high-end treats made to appeal to a variety of appetites. Single-origin bean-to-bar chocolates, gourmet ice cream, made-to-order cakes, and fresh juices have replaced the musty pot brownies of yore, and the dispensaries’ clients have responded with resounding appreciation. In addition to receiving the medical benefits of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in the edibles, clients can now enjoy the treats’ bold flavors and creativity.

Minka Ingersoll, who cofounded Kure Cannabis with business partner Fredrick Lucas, describes her dispensary’s edible offerings 44

edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

as “gourmet meets conscious eating meets alternative medicine.”

While most other dispensaries start their operations focused on selling the marijuana flower, producing delicious edibles using healthy methods has been a priority for Kure from the start. Ingersoll was inspired to enter the cannabis business after observing a family member struggle to find sugar-free marijuana edibles to support her through a serious illness. Ingersoll identified the gap in the local market and worked together with Lucas, a nutritionist and chocolate maker, to take on the arduous task of applying to become a medical cannabis producer in 2015. Ingersoll and Lucas’s partnership was among thirteen entities, including Best Daze, selected to become licensed non-profit producers of marijuana in the state of New Mexico that year.

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BACK OF THE HOUSE

Left: Carlos Torres, head chef at Best Daze, icing eclairs. Right: Sorting cannabis flowers at Best Daze. Photos by Stephanie Cameron.

Since Kure Cannabis opened its doors, edibles have been a key component of the business. Ingersoll says, “I really wanted to make a difference in the edibles world with fresh juices, teas, and homemade ice creams that have a gourmet flair. We try to use as much organic as possible, and we source ingredients from local farms, as well.” Lucas obtains premium cacao beans from around the world and makes them into bulk chocolates, which Kure’s bakers use in the confections they create. One of the bakers, Angelica “Jelly” Chavez, honed her dessert-making skills in sweets shops in New York City and at Santa Fe’s own Kakawa. Discussing the inspiration behind the creations she makes for Kure, Chavez says, “I’m always paying attention and looking for interesting flavor combinations everywhere I go. I’ve even been inspired by cocktails.”

For Ingersoll, who grew up eating organic vegetables and herbs from her mother’s garden, clean and healthy ingredients have always been important, but the look of the edibles Kure presents is also essential. She says, “I love aesthetics. I love beautiful food. Not only is the food thoughtful, and the ingredients are thoughtful, but the presentation is priority, as well.” Her commitment to aesthetics extends to the interior design of Kure’s shop, which features chic blonde 46

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wood, marble, and stone accents. It is not a surprise to learn that Ingersoll formerly worked in design.

In the near future, Kure will open a second location in Santa Fe on Siler Road. The company is also planning to collaborate with local chefs on special edition edibles, to add savory creations, and to expand their vegan, gluten free, sugar free, and sugar alternative options.

When asked about the biggest challenge of learning to cook with cannabis, Carlos Torres, head chef at Best Daze, says with a laugh, “Not getting high!” Torres began working for the dispensary in last May, after a stint under Dallas-based, James Beard Award–winning chef Stephen Pyles. His gourmet aesthetic has helped elevate Best Daze’s edibles offerings, even if the learning curve was initially steep. In addition to minimizing the tasting of his creations during the cooking process, Torres also faced outside speculation on the limits of cannabis edibles.

“There’s a lot of things that people think you can’t do with cannabis.

I like to prove them wrong,” says Torres. Inspired by the changing seasons, he creates sweet medicated treats with restaurant-quality precision and gourmet flair. On a chilly October morning, he listed oneoff edibles he plans to release during the cooler months, including green chile apple pie, biscochitos, gingerbread, and bûche de Noël.

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BACK OF THE HOUSE

Various tetrahydrocannabinol edibles at Kure Cannabis. Photos courtesy of Kure Cannabis.

Prior to Torres’s hiring, Best Daze’s kitchen was headed up by Ryan Lampro, who held managerial positions at Santa Fe institutions, Chocolate Smith and Whoo’s Donuts. Having Torres in-house has allowed Lampro to open up his focus on the manufacturing process as a whole and to strategize on how best to serve clients. With regard to the dispensary’s edibles, Lampro explains, “We have our staple items that are always going to be there and that we try to always keep in stock . . . but we’ve been introducing more one-off items and things with a shorter shelf life, and they seem to be moving. . . . We’re constantly rotating to something else, and it keeps the fire going.”

ing before you get a sense of where you’re at.” He recommends that those partaking go “low and slow! . . . Give yourself two hours before you decide that you haven’t dosed effectively.” With a new dispensary opening soon on Mercer Street in Santa Fe and two others in the works, Goodman looks forward to bringing the benefits of Best Daze’s edibles and other products to new markets. He says, “Every single person who comes in the store on a regular basis is finding relief and benefit in their life. They have a card for a reason . . . and it’s pain, inflammation, and emotional discomfort due to whatever illness or condition. Cannabis helps.”

Eli Goodman, who cofounded Best Daze with his father, Len, a pioneer in the New Mexico cannabis market, says, “One of the interesting things about edibles is dosing. The big complication with eating cannabis is that you have an hour and a half or two of digest-

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edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

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FORAGED

New Mexico’s Native Hops IT’S WHAT HERE TASTES LIKE

By Ellen Zachos

Wild hops. Photo by Bryant Olsen.

I’m not a beer lover, but I love hops. So I was thrilled to learn about New Mexico’s native hops, Humulus lupulus var. Neomexicanus.

Craft brewers consider this North American variety to have a rougher, more bitter flavor than its European cousins. It embodies the flavor of the wild west, and in recent years, New Mexican hops have grown in popularity, appreciated for their novelty, their scarcity, and their unique local flavor.

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Despite their name, New Mexican hops (sometimes referred to as neos) are native to most of the western United States. They tolerate drought well and commonly grow near streambeds and riverbanks.

You’ll find them all around the state—in the Gila, in the Jemez, in the Pecos, and in many moist spots between.

These hops have several unique characteristics, including higher drought tolerance and disease resistance than many cultivated European

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Dried hops. Photo by Ellen Zachos.

varieties. Neos are often self-branching, which means they may produce more flowers than non-branching hops. As interest in our native hops increases, breeders working with New Mexico State University are using New Mexican hops to create new varieties selected for specific flavors, cold resistance, flower size, and insect resistance.

H. lupulus (common hops) is a member of the cannabaceae family. While it contains no THC and isn’t considered a drug, the female flowers have been used for centuries to induce sleep and reduce anxiety. Herbalists may suggest a pillow stuffed with hops flowers to counter insomnia or a medicinal tea (one teaspoon dried hops flowers in a cup of boiling water, infused for fifteen minutes) as a pre-bedtime ritual. Not to burst anyone’s bubble, but neither has worked for me.

Hops flowers have antibacterial and antimicrobial properties. In fact, they were initially used in beer not for their flavor, but because they helped preserve the brew. Today, hops extract is an essential ingredient in Tom’s of Maine’s deodorant, because it inhibits the growth of odor-causing bacteria.

Hops plants are dioecious, which means male and female flowers are born on separate plants. It’s the female flowers (aka cones) that do the heavy lifting in beer brewing. Many commercial growers pull up male plants, because fertilized cones contain seeds that can have a negative impact on flavor.

So why do I love hops if I’m not a beer drinker? New Mexican hops is a beautiful plant, with large, deeply lobed leaves and stems that can grow up to twenty-five feet per year. Its stems are technically known as bines, not vines, the difference being that vines climb via tendrils 52

edible New Mexico | EARLY WINTER 2019

and bines use stiff hairs to grasp the item they are climbing. In fact, touching the rough, hairy, sticky stem of a hops plant is an excellent first step in identifying this plant in the wild.

And here’s the best reason to get to know our native hops plant: young shoots make an excellent spring vegetable. Harvest them when the stems are slim and flexible. If you can snap a hops shoot easily, it’s at the right stage for eating. Hops produce two kinds of shoots in spring: bull shoots, which emerge first and are larger and more vigorous than regular shoots; and regular shoots, which are slower to emerge from the ground, but produce many more hops for brewing.

Both types of young shoots make for good eats.

As with so many early spring stem vegetables, hops are often described as having a flavor similar to that of green beans or asparagus.

Their shoots are slimmer than those of asparagus, but can be grilled or sautéed in much the same way. Try tossing your shoots in olive oil, then sautéeing briefly (2-4 minutes) until the shoots become flexible and the green color intensifies. And while cooking intensifies the bitter flavor of hops flowers, it has the opposite effect on hops shoots, eliminating any slightly bitter flavor found in a raw shoot.

First try preparing hops shoots simply, to get a feel for the flavor, then experiment with adding chopped, blanched shoots to egg dishes, soups, or stews. And if you’re a beer lover, fear not! Harvesting the young bull shoots in spring will actually provide a better harvest of cones later in the season. So you can drink your hops and eat them, too.

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COOKING FRESH

Cooking with Hemp AN INTERVIEW WITH DEREK RUGSAKEN, DAVID BANCROFT, AND GAIBI VOLLBRACHT OF ALTO DINNER SERIES Photos by Stephanie Cameron

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Omega Toasty, recipe on page 58.

The Alto dinner series is a culinary collaboration between Southeast

by Southwest events and CBDJay LLC. Earlier this year, Alto hosted a dinner featuring hemp and hemp products. For this installment of Cooking Fresh, we interview the owners of Alto on the benefits of cooking with hemp, and they share some of their favorite recipes featuring the often misunderstood plant.* Derek Rugsaken is a part-time private chef and cofounder and popup chef for Southeast by Southwest events, which serve family-recipe Thai food with New Mexico influences. He is also co-creator of the Alto dinner series. Rugsaken learned everything he knows about food from his father and father’s family, who brought Thai food to east central Indiana in the 1990s, and from the good-hearted people of northern New Mexico, who willingly share their home cooking secrets. When not cooking, he is probably in the mountains with his radiant wife/co-conspirator and three beloved children or providing mental and behavioral health services to youth and families in the Española Valley.

David “DJ” Bancroft is the founder/owner of CBDJay LLC and co-founder of the Alto dinner series. At eighteen, Bancroft moved to Amsterdam, where he worked in kitchens and coffee shops, and quickly developed a love for both cuisine and cannabis. He has worked in the medical cannabis industry in cultivation, extraction, production, and consulting for the past fifteen years. After Bancroft became a father of two boys, he realized the potential of CBD and hemp, and decided to develop a hemp production company.

trend with recreational marijuana is, of course, emphasizing the high or psychoactive effect, while hemp is prepared and consumed for its variety of health benefits—mental, physical, and ecological.

What parts of the hemp plant do you cook with? Can you describe the flavor?

Several parts of the plant are edible, but the most commonly available at present are the hemp seeds (hearts) and oil. Hemp has a wide range of flavor potential, from rich, fatty, and nutty to piney and herbaceous to fruity. The juiced leaves are almost wheat-grassy and have a distinct flavor, while the young seedlings are sweet and floral. The flowers are somewhat overpowering to taste, but deeply aromatic due to the terpenes, or aromatic compounds in the plant, which also influence the flavor and effects of edible hemp. For example, d-limonene in hemp is almost identical to the compound found in limes and is associated with uplifting, energizing effects; linalool (also found in lavender) is known for its calming effect; and myrcene (found in mangoes) is noted for its heavy sedative effects. These terpenes can be extracted from hemp and have pretty exciting culinary possibilities.

What are the culinary or medicinal benefits of cooking with hemp?

Hemp has a wide variety of health benefits, ranging from basic nutrition to supporting and regenerating multiple systems in the body.

Hemp seed is high in protein, fiber, omega-3s, and vitamins. It is a rare complete protein, providing Gaibi Vollbracht, Derek Rugsaken, and David Bancroft. all nine amino acids essential for our survival. Studies have even sugGaibi Vollbracht is the cofounder and manager of Southeast by gested that CBD oil might contribute to neural regeneration for indiSouthwest. She and Rugsaken live in Dixon with their three kids. viduals suffering from Alzheimers and Parkinson’s.

Vollbracht is a doula, yoga teacher, and artist. She uses her skills as What made you interested in cooking with hemp? an artist and organizer to transform Rugsaken’s wild creativity in the Hemp (and marijuana) have been used in Chinese and Indian medikitchen into intimate, beautiful events. She also runs her own two cine for more than five thousand years, and there is a huge precedent businesses: Mama’s Hands Birth Services and Yoga; and Wayward for cooking with it in human history. We entered into it initially Flower Studio, where she specializes in pyrography and paint. while involved in a project trying to start a CBD company, and were What is the difference between eating hemp and marijuana? Does presented with the task of developing edible gummies. To do this in hemp contain THC and/or CBD? a health-forward and regenerative way, a series of conversations arose The legal distinction between the two is that marijuana has amounts around hemp and food as medicine in the kitchen. of THC exceeding 0.3 percent.

Rugsaken: At the time I was just starting my pop-up dinners, and DJ Hemp is 0.3 percent THC or less and its flowers and leaves can contain upwards of ten percent of other medicinal phytocannabinoids, including CBD, CBG, CBN, and CBC, along with hundreds of other compounds that have not been fully identified yet. The dominant

came on for the first event as my sous chef. We realized immediately that we have a special synergy in the kitchen, and after cooking together for a year of pop-ups, we started to question how to incorporate the hemp plant.

*The FDA has not approved CBD for use in food. Only hemp seed and its derivatives have been federally approved for consumption.

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Hemp Harvest Salad with Four Directions Dressing, recipe on page 58.

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COOKING FRESH Bancroft: It all started when I pitched the idea of the all-hemp salad.

From working in the CBD company, we had access to extraction equipment that allowed us to play around with flavor in a whole new way. Our first experiment was extracting pure pine oil from piñon resin collected from all around my house. The smell was deep and immediately took us back to childhood memories of playing in the woods. Although it was not suitable for consumption, it was perfect as an ingredient for an arnica salve. Knowing that hops are cousins of hemp, we tried heat and pressure extraction of a freshly dried hop.

We are excited to introduce this calming hop rosin into a dish at an upcoming event!

Bancroft: For our second event, we had the honor of doing a pop-up at our friends’ Leaf and Hive Brew Lab in Santa Fe and pairing our dishes with their amazing honey brews for another small crowd of brilliant individuals. In this dinner, we emphasized the flavors of the New Mexico spring season across eleven plant-based courses.

These dinners are a joy for us to throw and we look forward to many, many more.

How did you go about developing recipes? What are some favorites?

Bancroft: Hemp is regulated as of July 2019 by the New Mexico Environment Department, and we suggest supporting those who have qualifying hemp manufacturing licenses. As with produce, seek a relationship with a local farmer. Consumers can source other products from qualified, licensed hemp growers using methods designed to ensure the highest qualities of hemp for edible and medicinal purposes while maintaining ecological sustainability.

Rugsaken: We are two sides of a brain when it comes to recipe development. It often starts with a text or a DM. Outside of an emphasis on hemp and its culinary potential, the other side of our mission with these dinners is to locally source/wild harvest ingredients that are not currently seen as edible and incorporate them in ways that are not currently considered. Extraction of piñon sap opened a Pandora’s box of applications of local smells and textures that could be applied to food to spark intrigue and nostalgia.

Bancroft: My favorite dish was the dessert we served at our Alto dinners. We combined Derek’s handmade coconut ice cream and infused it with palo santo smoke. To that, I added a pressed hemp flower dipped in chocolate from raw cocoa mixed with reishi, maca, cordyceps, and agarikon, covered on one side with 24k gold leaf, sitting in a bath of terpene floral fog.

Rugsaken: I think the dish that best showcases what I love about edible hemp is the avocado toast. The avocado and hemp play together so well.

Tell us a bit about the pop-up dinner you did featuring hemp.

What was the reception from diners? Will you be hosting more?

Vollbracht: Derek and DJ inspire each other to explore new combinations of flavors and textures by blending their unique skill sets and passions, and the result is Alto. Not only do the dishes feature elements such as long-fermented sourdough and homegrown hemp starts, but at our first Alto dinner, the courses followed a storyline.

The hemp grew up at our dinner: in one dish the hemp was sprouted seeds, then a small hemp start with its tiny roots, and later a mature leaf covered the plate below lavender parsnips and edible flowers. We served a spring course and a winter course following the shifting of the seasons throughout the year. The dishes are inspired by the local seasonal vegetables, which we gather from our markets to grow an unforgettable evening of flavors.

Rugsaken: We grilled fresh river trout in corn husks with rosemary butter and perfumed it with lemon and full-spectrum hemp oil just before serving. Our intention to bring wellness and joy to our guests seemed to bear fruit in the lightness of the atmosphere and the energy of the conversations.

Where do you source your hemp? How should home cooks go about sourcing hemp products for their own recipes? How can the home cook determine which of those sources are the highest quality?

Rugsaken: I feel very lucky to have DJ, who has cultivated relationships with hemp growers across New Mexico, and is now committed to producing his own premium-quality hemp products. [Products] that I know I can trust. Just like with my food-growers, knowing the respect and the loving care that he puts into his plants and products is everything to me.

Bancroft: Current regulations make hemp growing cost-prohibitive for personal use. For those with a medical cannabis card, the ideal would be to grow your own hemp plants for culinary purposes. We’ve been told that regulations are in the works to allow the sale of leaves and other parts of the plant for culinary purposes, such as at the farmers markets. If readers are interested in how they can participate in hemp advocacy and push the possibility of hemp, they can contact us for more information at cbdjay.com.

Where do you see culinary hemp headed?

Rugsaken: Once chefs see the potential and regulation evolves, I think we will see an explosion in hemp cuisine and the recognition of hemp as a food.

Bancroft: At this moment, it seems like regulation is still trying to catch up with the complexity of producing and selling hemp-based products, but I have faith that it will, and when it does it’s going to be huge!

Do you have any future pop-ups planned that will feature hemp?

Rugsaken: Yes we do! If you are interested, sign up for our mailing list via altodinner@gmail.com and get sneak peeks of recipes we are working on for an upcoming cookbook.

Bancroft: I’m happy to announce that I’ve just submitted the application for a hemp manufacturer’s license and expect to be ready by late November. We look forward to sharing the culinary magic of hemp with our New Mexico community.

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COOKING FRESH OMEGA TOASTY 2 slices hemp seed or sourdough toast 1 avocado 1 lime 1 tablespoon piñon nuts 1 tablespoon hemp seed oil 1/2 cup sprouted hemp or mung beans 2 teaspoons hemp hearts (hulled hemp seeds) Dash of Maldon sea salt 4 tablespoons salted butter 6–8 sage leaves

Make sage butter in advance by heating butter and sage in a double-boiler for 20–30 minutes and straining through a cheesecloth or strainer. Set aside.

Toast piñon nuts in a dry pan with a dash of salt until golden brown. Halve the avocado and cut each half into 6–8 slices. Butter both sides of bread with sage butter and brown in a pan or char on a grill. Remove toast and arrange avocado slices on top. Sprinkle with hemp hearts and sprouts. Drizzle each toast with hemp seed oil and the juice of half a lime. Finish with a generous sprinkle of Maldon sea salt. Serve while the toast is still warm.

FOUR DIRECTIONS DRESSING 1/2 cup hemp seed oil 1/2 cup olive oil 1/4 cup basil, packed 1 sprig rosemary, stem removed 5–6 sage leaves 6 juniper berries 3 cloves garlic 1 teaspoon honey 1 teaspoon of sea salt 1/2 teaspoon black pepper Juice of 1/2 of a lime Blend all ingredients in a blender on high to fully incorporate.

Assorted ingredients for Hemp Harvest Salad.

HEMP HARVEST SALAD 1.75 ounces sprouted hemp seed or your favorite microgreens 1/4 medium-sized kabocha squash 1 large carrot 1/2 tablespoon roasted chia seeds 1/2 tablespoon raw hemp hearts 1/8 cup slivered almonds 2 tablespoons pomegranate seeds Parmesan to taste Four Directions dressing (see recipe above) 58

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Peel and cut kabocha squash quarter into 1/4-inch slices. Add olive oil to a pan and sauté squash on both sides until browned. Remove from pan, salt lightly, and set aside. Sliver one large carrot using a peeler or mandolin and combine it with microgreens in a mixing bowl. Lightly toast chia seeds in a dry pan over medium heat 2–3 minutes; remove. Follow with sliced almonds in a dry pan, toasting until golden brown and aromatic, 2–3 minutes. Sprinkle Four Directions dressing over carrots and microgreens in mixing bowl and add warm toasted almonds, tossing to combine. Set sauteed squash slices on plates and top with dressed salad in equal portions. Sprinkle with equal parts roasted chia, hemp hearts, and pomegranate seeds. If you have access, garnish with a young hemp seedling. Grate parmesan over the salad to taste and serve.

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EIGHT AROUND THE STATE

Craft Brews

By Stephanie and Walt Cameron Publishers Stephanie and Walt Cameron are sharing some of their favorite finds around New Mexico in edible’s newest department, Eight Around the State. For this issue, they searched for craft breweries.

Albuquerque and Santa Fe have definitely put New Mexico on the map with their brewing scenes, but we wanted to explore the rest of the state to find some lesser-known players. We love craft brews, but for us, it’s everything that comes with a local brewery—the ambiance, the people, the food—that makes the beer taste so good. We found lots of fabulous patios, bars, people, and food in our search and now share them with you, our readers.

Drop us an email at info@ediblenm.com with your best finds from anywhere in the Land of Enchantment.

Truth or Consequences TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES BREWING COMPANY What we are drinking: Cerveza Gold Worth noting: After visiting T or C several times over the last decade, and seeing a clear need in the town for a brewery, we were delighted to find that this watering hole has become a bustling hub for its community. With the Me Gusta World Street Food truck permanently parked out back, you can enjoy flavors from around the world—from poutine to elote and from Korean BBQ sliders to mojo pork tacos.

Find: 410 N Broadway Street, Truth or Consequences

Mesilla SPOTTED DOG BREWERY What we are drinking: Cerveza Worth noting: This was by far the friendliest patio we sat on and you could feel the love and hospitality from the staff. And, damn, it was the best “board” we've ever had— the Nuevo Nosh Board comes with bold links of sausage, a variety of cheeses, warm pretzel rolls, compote, and beer cheese sauce. Oh, and did we mention that there are buckets of unshelled peanuts on every table?

Find: 2920 Avenida de Mesilla, Las Cruces

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EIGHT AROUND THE STATE

Lincoln BONITO VALLEY BREWING COMPANY What we are drinking: Gauss Golden Wheat Worth noting: As historian and Bonito co-owner Tim Roberts might tell you, “Come for the beer, stay for the history.” When you visit, you are sure to learn something new about the legendary town of Lincoln, which has become another small community brought together by craft beer.

Check out their Facebook page for community gatherings— this town likes to celebrate.

Find: 692 Calle la Placita, Lincoln

Cloudcroft CLOUDCROFT BREWING COMPANY What we are drinking: A flight with Adobe Wheat, Trainwreck IPA, Railspike Red Ale, and Amber Ale Worth noting: A spectacular brewery and entertainment venue (inside and out) set in the mountains with the feel of a giant open-air log cabin. With a kitchen that specializes in wood-fired pizza, you won’t go hungry here. Their beers are brewed with rainwater caught in giant rainwater catchment barrels housed in the brewery, and they do micro-batches featuring hops that grow up their walls.

Find: 1301 Burro Avenue, Cloudcroft

Rinconada BLUE HERON BREWING COMPANY What we are drinking: Amber Sun Ale Worth noting: We have been whizzing past this unassuming brewery for the last several years on our way to Taos on NM 68, but until recently we never took the time to discover that it was a little gem along the Rio Grande. We were delighted to find a nice patio out back for enjoying the fresh river air with our brews. They also have live music several nights a week—another great example of a small-town community hub.

Find: 2214 NM-68, Embudo

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Open for Lunch Tuesday-Sunday. Open for Dinner Everyday.

Happy Hour Tuesday-Sunday 2-5 PM. 30 craft beers on tap.

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Full Retail Bottle Shop + Wine Bar Craft Beer + Small Bites

Visit us on the Taos Plaza thegorgebarandgrill.com (575) 758-8866

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EIGHT AROUND THE STATE

Eagle Nest COMANCHE CREEK BREWING COMPANY What we are drinking: Golden Aspen Oktoberfest Worth noting: After brewing for nine years in an old blacksmith shop, Comanche Creek opened their new taproom and brewery in May 2019, just a couple of miles down the road. We don’t know that you can beat this view of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains across grassy green fields, and this mighty little brewery is definitely worth the miles traveled.

Find: 5 Comanche Creek Road, Eagle Nest

Angel Fire ENCHANTED CIRCLE BREWING What we are drinking: A flight of Hells Bells Helles Lager, Fuzzy Nubian, Panty Tosser Peach Wheat, and Oktoberfest Marian Lager Worth noting: Their tongue-and-cheek beer menu and the backs of the servers’ T-shirts are definitely a conversation starter with sayings like “Good Food . . . Great Head” and “I got my panties tossed @ Enchanted Circle Brewing.”

With a solid bar food menu, we loved their beer-battered fries with green chile, bacon, and beer cheese. Take in the fresh air with a great view of the ski area from their deck.

Find: 20 Sage Lane, Angel Fire

Red River RED RIVER BREWING COMPANY What we are drinking: Lazy Bear Blonde Worth noting: With two floors, inside and out, this is one of the state’s largest breweries. Whether it is a beautiful summer evening or snowy winter day, the brewery is equipped to make you comfortable in the crisp mountain air with a brew in hand. Taking advantage of the heating elements on the patio, we enjoyed a rousing game of big Jenga on a cold fall day with bar-goers cheering us on. With twelve beers and a root beer on tap, there is something to pair with each of their many gastropub offerings.

Find: 217 W Main Street, Red River

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Hemp Dreams CULTIVATING CANNABIS IN THE LAND OF ENCHANTMENT

By Briana Olson

Photo by Stephanie Cameron.

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“W

hat can’t hemp do?” my partner asked @TravelNewMexico when I texted him someone’s claim that, because hemp is referenced in the Bible, some users of hemp products find it a “truly spiritual experience.” I laughed, but I had to think for a minute. Hemp can be used to make textiles and rope. It can be used to produce building materials, animal bedding, paper, and fuel. It can be used in the fabrication of bioplastics. It’s said to sequester more carbon than other crops, and has been used in phytoremediation, perhaps most famously in Chernobyl. Its seeds can be eaten or pressed into oil. And its various chemical constituents—most notably, at least for now, cannabidiol (CBD)—can be extracted and used in a myriad of topical and edible products that users believe to have a dizzying array of beneficial effects.

“It can’t kill people,” I finally replied, with relative certainty.

plant Cannabis sativa L. and any part of that plant, including the seeds thereof and all derivatives, extracts, cannabinoids, isomers, acids, salts, and salts of isomers, whether growing or not, with a delta-9 tetrahydrocannabinol concentration of not more than 0.3 percent on a dry weight basis.” Translation: hemp is cannabis with less than 0.3 percent of the psychoactive compound tetrahydrocannabinol, more commonly known as THC. The New Mexico Department of Agriculture issued the first license to grow hemp in December 2018. As of October 2019, when I speak with Brad Lewis, administrator of the hemp program for the NMDA, four hundred licenses have been issued, approving 7,500 acres of outdoor and one hundred acres of indoor growing.

“It’s kind of a bucket list thing for me,” says Caldwell. So, instead of retiring, she secured two of those licenses, teamed up with experienced growers, and transitioned her greenhouse space to hemp.

If I were speaking of almost any other crop, this would be an insignificant statement. But hemp has been conflated with marijuana since the passage of the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act of 1937, and marijuana, since 1970, has been listed as a Schedule 1 drug in the Controlled Substances Act, meaning that in addition to being characterized as having a high potential for abuse and no known medical value, it is characterized as unsafe to use even under medical supervision. Theories abound as to the motivations behind both pieces of legislation, but there is no dispute about the outcome: virtually no hemp was produced in the United States from the end of World War II to 2014.

A one-night freeze is forecast the afternoon I visit Caldwell at Atrisco Valley Farm, and a few workers are busy harvesting the last of the tomatoes and peppers from the raised beds out front. I peek into a greenhouse and see a small forest of what look like mature, robust marijuana plants—mothers, I’ll learn, from which hundreds of clones have been cut for sale. Inside the house, young people stand trimming flowers (the plump, hairy buds produced by female cannabis plants). In the next room, dozens of fuzzy green flower-laden stalks hang upside down, drying. The intensely pungent, skunky odor of hemp—identical in profile to marijuana—permeates the house.

FIRST, THE WORD

It should not be surprising that plants of the same species would be very, very similar. Yet there has been so much effort to distinguish between marijuana and hemp that I had come to perceive them as fundamentally different. So it comes as something of a shock to realize that the naked eye (and nose) can’t tell them apart.

To enable the cultivation of hemp, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) first had to define it.

“I was ready to retire,” says Kathi Caldwell, well-known among Albuquerque farmers for her years running Rio Valley Greenhouses, where she started thousands of the vegetables that made their way into the local produce circuit. “I used to tell my husband I was going to grow hemp; he’d say that’s never gonna happen in our lifetimes.”

But then it did.

The 2014 Farm Bill opened the door by allowing licensed growers to research hemp. Four years later, the next farm bill legalized commercial production. According to the 2018 Farm Bill, hemp is “the

“T

“The FDA’s definition is not botanical,” confirms Dr. Rich Richins of Rio Grande Analytics, one of two in-state facilities approved by the NMDA to test the THC content of hemp and hemp products. “It’s the same plant.”

That doesn’t mean Richins doesn’t take the testing process seriously.

Nor does it mean the plant should be feared. What it does mean is that if you want to grow ten acres of hemp, you might want to hire security.

(It turns out that former governor Susana Martinez’s concern about

The New Mexico Department of Agriculture issued the first license to grow hemp in December 2018. As of October 2019, when I speak with Brad Lewis, administrator of the hemp program for the NMDA, four hundred licenses have been issued, approving 7,500 acres of outdoor and one hundred acres of indoor growing.

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Hemp grown and delivered by McClain Greenhouses/Fresh Grown Systems. Photo by Manuel Ordaz, owner/operator, Fresh Grown Systems.

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hemp being confused for marijuana wasn’t entirely off the mark— but it’s thieves, not law enforcement, who are having trouble telling the crops apart. In October, a man with a truckload of stolen hemp, which he’d mistaken for marijuana, was arrested in Chaves County.)

root systems,” some seedlings and some clones, to multi-generation farmers who raised about two hundred acres around the state. This winter, instead of taking a seasonal break, he’s running a seed project, raising three thousand plants to strengthen his genetics.

THE SEARCH FOR SEED

“You’re going to have a poinsettia shortage,” I tell Ordaz as he walks me through an expansive greenhouse whose tables support a sea of the festive plant’s pointy, dark green leaves. Once the poinsettias move out, young hemp plants will take their place. Next year, Ordaz anticipates shifting the entire operation to hemp—a prospect far too exciting for him to worry over who will supply hardware stores with their 2020 holiday blooms.

For decades, cannabis advocates have lamented the dearth of research that resulted from the criminalization of both marijuana and hemp. For armchair philosophers (and even for legislators), the lack of hard data means debates over cannabis have often devolved into defenders proclaiming cannabis a panacea (Cannabis cures Alzheimer’s! Cancer! Intellectual atrophy!) and opponents clutching at dubious correlations between THC and insanity. For farmers raising hemp for the first time, the long prohibition translates into a more hands-on problem: seed stock.

To acquire seed in 2014, when the first research permits were issued, Colorado farmer and architect Arnie Valdez had to order from a co-op in France. Valdez, who’s working on a permaculture design at Rezolana Farms, views hemp as “kind of a miracle crop,” not because of its chemical properties, but because of its versatility and heartiness.

On top of frustrating negotiations with the DEA, Valdez says, the seed imported from France was protected, so it had to be repurchased every year. In 2016, he bought from a local Colorado grower, and since then has been using a local mix.

Thanks largely to Susana Martinez, New Mexico ran no pilot programs on hemp between 2014 and 2018, so there was no local New Mexico seed.

“Most crops, like corn,” says Stephen Sisneros of New Mexico Hemp, “go through several hundred generations before becoming a stable commercial crop.” With hemp, farmers are dealing with firstand second-generation phenotypes. The genetics are unstable, and the plants are often unpredictable. Sisneros, who works with Caldwell at Atrisco Valley Farm, bought seed through Colorado-based Salida Hemp. There are seven expressions of the phenotype, he says—red stalks, green stalks, bushy plants, tall plants—but “so far, none of them have gone hot.”

“Hot” is the industry term for cannabis plants whose THC content exceeds 0.3 percent. Until marijuana is legalized in New Mexico, having a crop “go hot” is the worst-case scenario for a hemp farmer; the entire crop must be destroyed, so it’s equivalent to (and possibly more expensive than) total crop failure.

No one I’ve spoken to had to destroy crops, and Richins says he’d estimate a ninety-five percent pass rate on tests run by Rio Grande Analytics, but everyone seems to have heard stories of a farmer who’s lost ten acres or ninety acres or even four hundred acres due to the crop “going hot.” Environmental factors matter—heat and water stress can raise the level of THC—but it starts with the seed.

“Seed is the biggest cost,” says Manny Ordaz of Fresh Grown Systems. Ordaz, who raised cannabis in Colorado before returning to New Mexico to grow hemp, paid a dollar a seed to Oregon growers who also gave him pointers on the crop. In 2019, he sold “developed

Ordaz, like most of this year’s growers, is cultivating plants for CBD. These growers are building off lessons learned in the marijuana business, not least of which is the importance of feminized seed. Cannabinoids, like CBD, concentrate in the flowers, produced only by female plants. If a grower buys seed that produces too many males (or clones that turn out to be male), pulling the plants becomes a labor problem. And it might lead to a crop with lower CBD levels. Since the going price for hemp is directly tied to the percentage of CBD, that matters.

As says Lewis of the NMDA, “Returns are good now, but so is the risk.” On top of noncompliant fields, he says, some growers “have walked away because they couldn’t keep up with the weeds.”

RAISING HEMP No one quite agrees on hemp’s water needs, but the plants mature more quickly than alfalfa, so the water used per acre harvested is likely less. Hemp is highly absorbent—hence its value for phytoremediation—so it needs good soil. (The team at Atrisco Valley Farm talks my ear off about mineralizing, the importance of providing plants with a full mineral diet instead of the nitrogen-heavy inputs common in industrial farming.) As a “new” crop, the EPA has not yet registered any pesticides or herbicides specifically for use on hemp, so weeds and insects have to be managed primarily organically. At Atrisco Valley Farm, some plants were assaulted by tiny red mites. For Ordaz’s partner-farmers, it was worms, cucumber beetles, and leafhoppers.

“There were times I had twenty-five people out there, trimming flowers,” says J.J. Griego, who raised six acres of plants purchased from Ordaz. “I had people out there looking at our field every day.”

The day we speak, he’s finalizing the harvest, and says their loss was only twenty-five percent. The state average is upwards of fifty percent.

“Just to take it out of the field,” Griego tells me, “you need ten to twelve people.” Because of the labor, it can cost from six to ten dollars a pound just to harvest. (This might be why, when I began researching this article, the internet targeted me with ads for a machine best described as a monster hemp harvester.)

“A lot of farmers aren’t prepared,” says Jae Sanders of Grow the Hemp Shed, who organized a summer workshop series on hemp farming in New Mexico and is working to build a Northern New Mexico Hemp Processors Co-op. “It’s such a different crop than alfalfa.” In addition to the intensive labor costs, Sanders notes some WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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Atrisco Valley Farm. Photos by Stephanie Cameron.

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farmers don’t have the indoor room needed to dry the plants prior to sale—much less space to store it if they want to wait out for a better price in a potentially glutted market.

Griego agrees that the market at harvest time is cut-throat. Because of the crop’s sudden abundance, he says, large buyers are coming in to try to buy up biomass at twenty dollars per pound, half the going market rate. He conjectures that some farmers will say yes to that price just to cover the cost of getting their crops out of the ground.

“We get calls every single day wanting us to process other farmers’ stuff,” says Bob Boylan of Roadrunner CBD, one of just nine processors and manufacturers licensed in New Mexico as of October.

Boylan, who is also licensed to grow, suggests that manufacturing is inaccessible to most farmers. He adds that when the New Mexico Environment Department (NMED) released rules on processing and distribution in August, he had to spend seven thousand dollars printing new labels. And most processors, Boylan says, ask for deposits upwards of ten thousand dollars. “So a small family farmer can’t necessarily bring their product to market.”

TRIALS AND ASSAYS (THE PATH TO CBD) “I need a bigger office,” says Johnathan Gerhardt, manager of food and hemp programs at the NMED. “My floor is covered in applications.”

Fifteen, to be exact—and so far, Gerhardt tells me, none have been turned down. Contrary to some of the growers I’ve talked with, Gerhardt doesn’t see the regulation of hemp as being any different from the regulation of any other food product. On the one hand, this is difficult to parse. On top of licensing fees and recall plans, the Hemp Emergency Rule requires product labels to list THC and CBD content in milligrams; even coffee roasters don’t have to quantify the caffeine in a pound of beans. On the other hand, it’s spurious to compare hemp to a food crop like onions or corn.

“Testing is really important,” says Richins. The rules established by the NMED, “That’s really needed. So many oils tested way under what the labels said. People need to trust that the product they’re purchasing has the CBD it says it does.”

Growers are not mandated to test the CBD content in their crops, but most do. To sell “smokable flower”—a market that’s generating a lot of buzz among growers—they need a batch that tests at twelve percent CBD or higher. A testing center like Rio Grande Analytics can also break down the terpenes, which are responsible for the plant’s aroma. “Terpenes and cannabinoids kinda work together,” says Richins. “That’s why you see a lot of full-spectrum oils . . . of course, pharma works the opposite way.”

“It’s more synergistic,” Lori Boylan tells me, contrasting their fullspectrum products to CBD isolates. We’re standing in the spotless trailer where Roadrunner CBD products are manufactured, talking about their process of extracting hemp oil, breathing in the scent of disinfectant.

Boylan’s blue eyes play with the light in her blue tortoiseshell glasses while she explains how the flowers are pressed—a form of extraction that, unlike many industrial-scale operations, involves no chemical solvents.

I watch from the sidelines while Boylan and her manufacturing technician heat cold-pressed hemp seed oil in a silver bowl. When it’s just warm, he releases the thick, rich brown hemp oil from a syringe, and it ribbons like molasses into the bowl. Once they mix in the base for their muscle gel—a blend of essential oils and capsaicin—the mixture transforms into something like an Orange Julius. Then they put it into bottles, weighing each one to measure the quantity of CBD. It’s a remarkably simple process. This is one reason most hemp in New Mexico is being grown for CBD. There’s also building consumer demand for CBD products, and the fact that hemp grown for CBD is more lucrative than hemp grown for fiber.

But how much CBD can the market bear? And how much CBD do we need?

When I talk with Gemma Ra’Star of Wumaniti Earth Native Sanctuary, she’s just finished negotiating with Cid’s Market in Taos to get her products back onto the shelves. She says Cid’s is getting calls from fifty companies a week, all vying to sell the store their CBD products.

However, with major drug stores and big box stores just starting to carry CBD products, the market is young. The Brightfield Group, a market research firm focused on cannabis, predicts that the hemp-derived CBD market in the US will top $23 billion in revenue by 2023.

FELLOWSHIP Everyone feels obligated to point out that you can’t get high off hemp, but thrill is a common note in the voices of the people I’ve talked to. They’re riding the natural high of diving into unknown— and formerly taboo—territory. The risks may be stressful, and there is apprehension about the future, the possibility of conglomeration, the small guys getting squeezed out in a pattern that has come, in late capitalism, to seem inevitable, but for now, a spirit of collaboration pervades the industry.

“It’s really important that people team up,” says Ra’Star. Despite her concern about the CBD craze, she believes the crop has a lot of potential for farmers, and she emphasizes Wumaniti’s support of local growers. “We’re here to help grow New Mexico strong and we’re here to help sustainability,” Ra’Star says.

“Yes, yes, yes,” says Jane Pinto, cofounder of Santa Fe–based First Crop, which contracted with farmers in Abiquiu to grow one hundred fifty acres of hemp that will be processed in the San Luis Valley.

First Crop has plans that extend beyond New Mexico (and beyond CBD), but Pinto assures me that the company is committed to staying anchored in New Mexico, to supporting New Mexico farmers, to being known as a New Mexico company and holding corporate and ecological responsibility to the state. “Farmers are teaching us,” Pinto says. “It’s a partnership,” and “the long view is that we will have profitsharing with the farmers.”

THE FUTURE Where is this crop going? Will research uphold or undo faith in the healing powers of CBD? Will pharmaceutical companies isolate other cannabinoids, and patent new medications containing those WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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Atrisco Valley Farm. Photos by Stephanie Cameron.

compounds? How will formal USDA regulations—still being finalized at the time of writing—impact growers in New Mexico? Will states ban smokable flowers? Or will smokable hemp become the next better alternative to vape pipes and tobacco? Not least, will billionaires swoop in and take over, pushing out New Mexico’s smaller farmers and producers?

age of hemp hearts (hulled hemp seeds) they send me is the first I’ve received in weeks that contains no plastic whatsoever. They currently source hemp hearts from Colorado, but they’re trying to turn people onto producing locally.

“I think people need to lean toward making building materials, making plastics, making fuel,” Ra’Star says. Valdez, at Rezolana Farms, has experimented with making adobe bricks with hemp fiber, and envisions a cottage industry for hemp adobe for sustainable housing. At Wumaniti, they’re building a prayer dome with hemp adobe.

Not having eaten the seeds on their own, I’m skeptical when Rice tells me she carries hemp hearts in her purse. Then I find myself sprinkling them on ice cream, snacking on them raw, and wondering if I’ll drag myself away from my desk long enough to make anything with them before I’ve devoured the entire package. (The answer is yes, but only because they sent me a ten-minute recipe.) I wouldn’t call eating hemp a spiritual experience, but the hemp cacao bites I made are damn good—like little spheres of flourless chocolate cake. And while the first round of CBD-centric questions are still being answered, I don’t think it’s too soon to ask not what hemp can’t do, but what else are we going to do with it?

Then there’s hemp’s culinary potential. “The leaves have a really great flavor,” says Anne Delling, “kind of like arugula.” Delling and Tracy Rice founded Grow with Hemp to share resources and connect people around processing, especially for food and fiber. The pack-

riograndeanalytics.net, growwithhemp.com, facebook.com/TheHempShed, freshgrownsystems.com, facebook.com/Atrisco-Valley-Farm, roadrunnercbd.com certified.naturallygrown.org/producers/4672

The answers are still unfolding. But many hope to see local cultivation of the plant variety most familiar as industrial hemp: tall, fiberheavy, densely planted, loaded with seed. Low in CBD as in THC, this is the true hemp of many uses.

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Untapped NEW MEXICO HOP GROWERS SEE UNLIMITED FUTURE

By Michael Dax

Photo by Ariana Habich.

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F

ive years ago, Diego Marlar, co-owner and founder of Stone Lizard Hops Farm in Belen, was enjoying a beer at a local brewery when he asked the bartender where the brewery sourced its hops. To his surprise, the answer, as it is for most New Mexico breweries, was the Pacific Northwest.

Although the craft beer industry has been built, and depends on, the aesthetic of staying local and responsive to its community, many New Mexico breweries continue to source their ingredients from outside the region.

Marlar, along with his sister Alyssa Marlar, had recently returned home and they were looking to revamp the asparagus farm their grandparents had owned since the 1950s. With over eighty breweries in the state, Marlar instantly recognized the potential niche.

Around the same time, Matt Oler, who was raised on a ranch near Magdalena, was a few years into serving as foreman for the Crossed Sabers Ranch on the outskirts of Cerrillos. For decades, the ranch had grown alfalfa, but in the mid-1990s, the owners ceased production after operation costs, including equipment and labor, began to exceed profits. They were looking around for a new, small-scale crop that had outlets beyond local farmers markets and could be profitable on limited acreage.

Another friend, Rich Headley, had recently planted a single Cascade hop plant, one of the most common and widely employed varieties, in his backyard in Santa Fe. The hop plant naturally inspired Headley to take-up homebrewing. As hobbies often do, this one snowballed and eventually led to Headley and their other partners convincing Oler to plant a small test plot on the ranch.

With support from the local brewing community following favorable reviews of a test batch of beer, three years later Crossed Sabers Hop Company was born.

The farm has since expanded to four acres, representing more than a quarter of the fifteen and a half acres of hops being grown across the state on seven registered farms from Belen to Chama.

With the state closing in on being home to one hundred breweries, current production represents a mere drop in the keg relative to breweries’ need. This means nearly unlimited opportunity, but as New Mexico’s brewing industry continues to mature, hop growers have a steep learning curve. Penetrating the tight schedules, systems,

“D

and expectations that brewers demand will require not only making a quality, consistent product, but understanding and learning to complement the industry they aim to serve.

Despite seemingly limitless growth potential, the cost of entry for a commercial hop farm is high. Like many perennials, hop plants take three to five years to mature. As the saying goes, the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap. For a backyard gardener, this may be just part of the process, but for a commercial hop farmer trying to get off the ground, it means at least three years before seeing the first significant harvest.

Although relatively short compared to the lead time for crops like pecans or almonds, this wait means farmers must pay significant up-front costs for three years before any profits are realized.

In addition to investing in irrigation systems and the trellis and cables required for the hop vines to climb, farmers must also navigate the uncertainty surrounding which varieties to grow and how best to irrigate fields. “You have to be prepared to put in a lot of work in the beginning and not see many benefits for the first few years,” warns Oler.

However, once established, hops become much easier. They generally require less water than most other crops grown in New Mexico, maintenance is limited, and there’s no need to purchase and plant seed annually. “It should become more of a turnkey product once you put in the time and energy on the front side,” continues Oler.

Even so, farmers still have a lot to learn about growing hops in New Mexico. Although the only subset of hops native to western North America is called neomexicanus and is most commonly found in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona, how the domesticated version of the plant will fare in the state’s unique climate remains to be proven.

Typically, the fourty-fifth parallel is considered the ideal latitude for growing hops due to the long summer days. At thirty-five degrees, Albuquerque is at the southernmost latitude where growing hops is considered feasible. But thanks in part to New Mexico’s elevation and warm climate, so far, farms have done well. Hops are also susceptible to seasonal variation, and figuring out how to deal with a warm, dry year such as 2018 versus a colder, wetter year like 2019 has kept growers on their toes.

Despite seemingly limitless growth potential, the cost of entry for a commercial hop farm is high. Like many perennials, hop plants take three to five years to mature. As the saying goes, the first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap.

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Stone Lizard Hops farm, photos courtesy of Alyssa Marlar.

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Yields have generally been less than in the Pacific Northwest, but the New Mexico climate does provide some advantages. The intense heat of New Mexico has led vines to produce multiheads, a phenomenon where multiple cones will grow off a single tip and thus increase yields. Additionally, the warm climate has allowed some growers to experiment with growing for multiple harvests in a single season. And when it comes time for drying, the arid climate requires less equipment and cones can be thoroughly desiccated more easily prior to storage. The desert climate also decreases the risk of pests and viruses that are frequent in more northern regions.

Additionally, growers have witnessed their hops expressing a degree of terroir in which common varieties assume unique qualities, thanks in part to the growing conditions. Many hops have produced higher alpha acids—the compounds responsible for bitterness— and, to a certain degree, have also generated higher beta acids as well, which help beers maintain flavor as they age.

New Mexico State University is in the process of setting up a beer analysis center that will include research into hop varieties, and the New Mexico Department of Agriculture has also expressed an interest in supporting the industry, but for the past several years, Stone Lizard Hops has provided all the research and development for New Mexico hop growers. “People call us the mad scientists,” notes Marlar, proudly.

Almost immediately after planting their first crop, Marlar dove headfirst into experimenting with breeding new and different varieties of hops. Using neomexicanus as the basis for all his breeds, he has bred more than forty different varieties, employing more common hops like Glacier, Mount Hood, and Columbus to stabilize neomexicanus strains. That means they will be better suited for a wide array of beers while also remaining ecologically suited to be grown in New Mexico. Currently, he is breeding a hop designed for each of the seven farms so that all of them will have a unique product.

“My goal is to be able to create only New Mexican breeds for New Mexicans to enjoy in New Mexican beers,” says Marlar.

Growers will undoubtedly continue to face challenges, especially as they scale up, but the past several years have been instructive, and growers like Stone Lizard and Crossed Sabers have been able to impart some of that knowledge and experience to newer farms like La Capilla Hops Farm in La Cienega and Sherrog Hops in Pecos.

inspired growers to form the New Mexico Hop Growers Association (NMHGA), which should receive its 501(c)3 status early next year.

As president of NMHGA, Brewer’s most pressing task is making sure farmers are able to get their product in the hands of brewers. “Some of these folks don’t have any marketing skills,” he notes.

“They’re just really good farmers.”

Last year, one hop farm was forced to throw away hundreds of pounds of hops they hadn’t been able to sell. “Not only did they not have the capacity to dry, but they didn’t have them sold,” says Headley, who in addition to serving as vice president of NMHGA is also one of the founders of Beer Creek Brewing Company on the Turquoise Trail. “They didn’t have the relationships with the brewers.” Additionally, not all farmers are fully knowledgeable about the brewing process and aren’t able to communicate to brewers about how and in what kinds of beers a hop might be used to its greatest effect—something Brewer and Headley have been pressing members to do. But this is also where they have an important role to play.

Although most brewers are excited at the prospect of sourcing their hops locally, there continue to be barriers. New Mexico growers aren’t yet producing enough hops to cover the needs of larger breweries. Because of the smaller scale, New Mexico hops are more expensive, and New Mexico hop growers are selling their hops as whole leaf cones—as opposed to the pelletized version that most brewers are accustomed to working with.

These factors can all be obstacles, but they’re also opportunities for growers to educate brewers. “Most brewers are very cognizant of wanting to advertise how they do things, and if that means using local ingredients, they’re all about that,” says Brewer.

New Mexico growers may not produce enough hops for large breweries to offer an entire batch using solely New Mexico hops, but dry-hopping (adding a relatively small amount of hops at the end of fermentation) is ideally suited for the scale of New Mexico growers.

Additionally, dry-hopped beers highlight the hops’ aromatic flavors and present a good opportunity for a fresh, local product to shine.

But according to Leah Black, executive director of the New Mexico Brewers Guild, working with small brewers can be a good fit. “A lot of these smaller breweries are doing these really neat experimental one-offs,” she says.

Being able to turn out consistent quantity will be key, but if the past several years have taught growers anything, it’s that growing a good product isn’t the only key to success. When Crossed Sabers and Stone Lizard started growing, each of them believed they were the only hop farm in the state. Tom Brewer, who founded Red Hat Hops in Albuquerque in 2016, thought the same thing. It didn’t take long for these growers to meet, and once they did, they all recognized the need to organize themselves and work together. “We’ve got each other’s backs,” says Brewer. “We help market each other’s products, we help with field work, we help each other harvest, all kinds of stuff.”

Despite New Mexico grown hops being more expensive, experience has demonstrated that customers are willing to pay more for them. Brewer has sold hops to both Toltec and Red Door Brewing, and in both cases, those beers, which the breweries advertised as featuring New Mexico grown hops, sold out within weeks.

Compared to places like the Pacific Northwest, where hop farms cover thousands of acres, this spirit of camaraderie is unique and has

Conversely, Brewer and Oler both insist that whole leaf hops, which haven’t been subjected to any processing, boast far more complex and

Some brewers also have been nervous to work with whole leaf hops. Although whole leaf requires some additional equipment, Brewer and Headley insist it’s easier than some brewers believe. Using whole leaf hops also requires brewers to adjust their recipes, since hoppy beers like IPAs require significantly more whole leaf hops than pellets to achieve the same effect.

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Left: Red Hat Hops, photos courtesy of Tom Brewer. Right: Crossed Sabers Hops, photos courtesy of Matt Oler.

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intricate flavors and aromas. Hops contain more than two hundred different oils, many of which are are lost once heat is added and cellular walls are broken down during the pelletization process. These include earthy, grassy tones as well as floral notes that give wet-hopped beers their characteristic nose burst. Additionally, there’s a good chance that hops coming from the Northwest are from last year’s harvest, whereas all New Mexico hops being sold are fresh.

To help showcase these flavors, Brewer and Marlar will bring whole cones to breweries as toppers to be added to individual pints. Not only is it a chance to form a more direct connection with the end customer, but it also demonstrates some of that value to the brewery.

“It’s important to keep the breweries engaged and thinking of the farmers,” says Brewer.

In October, NMHGA hosted a successful Hoptober Fest, featuring fourteen beers from ten breweries, including Beer Creek, all of which included New Mexico grown hops. In addition to featuring a number of really good beers, the event attracted brewers who had yet to work with New Mexico hops and provided a platform for the growers to start building those relationships. “There were some brewers that came to try some of their peers’ beers, and they didn’t even know these hops were available,” says Black.

For Oler, events like this help establish a dynamic where, as he describes it, “They come to us as much as we go to them.” Brewer shares a similar vision. “Even though we’re farmers and they’re brewers, it’s one industry,” he observes. “What I want to strive for most is for the brewers to not just look at us as farmers, but to look at us as partners.”

Black is on board with this vision, and as she visits breweries across the state, she’s been making sure brewers are aware that there are locally grown hops available to them. To further its marketing reach, NMHGA wants to attract more support from the New Mexico Tourism Department in hopes that the state’s “New Mexico True” ad campaign can elevate hops the same way it has served the state’s chile growers.

In the meantime, they’re getting creative with how they market their products. More than anyone else, Stone Lizard is leading the way in finding new markets outside the brewing industry. After having trouble selling to breweries, Marlar began thinking outside the box. “When we started, I looked at it and was like, cool, we have cones. Everybody’s got cones, everybody’s got pellets,” he recalls.

“What else can we do?”

In addition to medicinal applications, Stone Lizard has also started selling the shoots after they emerge from the ground in the spring. Similar to other microgreens that have become popular among high-end restaurants, hop shoots can sell for as much as two thousand dollars a kilogram—a great high dollar market, especially for new growers.

Capitalizing on hops’ medicinal, sedative benefits, Stone Lizard has begun to use shredded hop vines to make pillows, which are designed to aid sleep. They have even started making jewelry out of hops, gilding them and turning them into earrings. “There’s a big market for hops,” notes Marlar. “It’s just untapped.”

If you ask any of these farmers, they’ll tell you that it’s an exciting time to be growing hops in New Mexico. “I don’t know how to put into words how cool it is what we’re doing,” gushes Brewer.

At the same time, as a number of farms are expecting their first full harvest in 2020, the industry has reached a point where it must produce the necessary quantity and sell to enough brewers to make a notable impression and demonstrate that they can contribute to the state’s craft beer industry.

But beyond beer, farming hops has the potential to be a significant outlet for small-scale agriculture in the state. “Hops is a beautiful thing on the small scale,” says Oler. “To be able to take four acres and turn some money on it . . . that’s where this industry can really grow and build.”

Brewer recognizes the importance of this next year for the industry.

“If we can prove viability, we can bring more growers in,” he says. He acknowledges that a lot of that will fall to him to ensure farmers are equipped to sell their product, but he’s still looking to the future. Ten years from now, he hopes to see two hundred acres of hops growing across the state. “If I do my job right, we will be fully integrated into our industry,” he adds. When that happens, it will be possible to make a true New Mexico beer. instagram.com/redhathops, instagram.com/stonelizardhops, crossedsabershops.com, beercreekbrew.com, nmbeer.org

In addition to experimenting with different breeds, Stone Lizard has started to distill the different essential oils from hops to make salves, tinctures, and soaps. Because hops are related to cannabis, they contain compounds that are analogous to compounds found in hemp and marijuana. These extracts can be used for medicinal purposes similar to those suggested for CBD products, like relieving anxiety, insomnia, and pain. Stone Lizard has even started breeding hops specifically for their different oils better suited to medicinal applications than brewing.

While there are no scientific studies proving these benefits, Brewer has become a big advocate and is excited for New Mexico growers to embrace these alternative markets. “I use their salve,” he exclaims, “and it works!”

Photo courtesy of Tom Brewer.

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Creative Culture

Specializing in exotic paper, greeting cards, art supplies, and unique gifts. A makers’ paradise. 3001 Monte Vista NE, Albuquerque, 505-200-2785

Live globally! 1301 Cerrillos, Santa Fe, 505-557-6654, galleryethnica.com A new Santa Fe floral boutique inspired by the more wild and less ruly nature that surrounds us. 333 Montezuma, Santa Fe, 505-365-1122, foragedsantafe.com Irresistible and gently used gourmet cooking and entertaining ware. 1222 Siler, Santa Fe, 505-471-7780, kitchenangels.org

Next Best Thing to Being There

505-344-1253, sarabandehome.com

Tierra Madre Botanicals

Handcrafted plant-powered skincare and CBD products. All organic, small batches crafted using pure, plant-based ingredients.

1345 Pacheco, Santa Fe, 505-982-4494, tierramadrebotanicals.com

Tin-Nee-Ann Trading Co.

Family operated and family friendly since 1973. 923 Cerrillos, Santa Fe, 505-988-1630 facebook.com/TinNeeAnn

WINE STORES

An eclectic shop for handmade products.

1315 Mountain NW, Albuquerque, 505-433-3204, beingthereabq.com

Arroyo Vino

Sarabande Home

Susan's Fine Wine and Spirits

We have a passion for finding the perfect gift. 4022 Rio Grande NW, Albuquerque,

218 Camino La Tierra, Santa Fe, 505-9832100, arroyovino.com 1005 S St. Francis, Santa Fe, 505-984-1582, sfwineandspirits.com

E A T & DRI N K LOCAL G UID E 11225 Montgomery and 5600 Coors NW, eatgrassburger.com

Hartford Square

Cozy downtown eatery; local, organic, and seasonal menu. Breakfast, brunch, lunch, & dinner-to-go. 218 Gold SW, 505-265-4933, hartfordsq.com

Il Vicino

Serving authentic wood oven pizza in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. Multiple locations in Albuquerque and Santa Fe. ilvicino.com

Little Bear Coffee Co.

Nob Hill cafe now open! 5123 Central NE and 2652 Pennsylvania NE, littlebearcoffee.co.com

MAS Tapas y Vino

ALBUQUERQUE

Ajiaco Colombian Bistro

Ajiaco’s varied Colombian cuisine is influenced by the diverse flora and fauna found around Colombia. 3216 Silver SE, 505-2662305, ajiacobistro.com

Artichoke Café

Fresh, local, seasonal ingredients, classic French techniques, extensive wine list, private dining, catering, and great atmosphere. 424 Central SE, 505-243-0200, artichokecafe.com

Campo at Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm

Rio Grande Valley cuisine rooted in seasonal organic ingredients from our own farm. 4803 Rio Grande NW, 505-344-9297, lospoblanos.com

Cutbow Coffee

The culmination of more than 25 years' experience by one of the nation's most accomplished artisan coffee roasters, Paul Gallegos.

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1208 Rio Grande NW, 505-355-5563, cutbowcoffee.com

Farina

MÁS is a full-service restaurant and tapas bar located in the Hotel Andaluz, 125 Second Street NW, 505-388-0088, hotelandaluz.com/mas-tapas-y-vino

Starting with the finest organic flour, our pizza crusts are made by hand and topped with the freshest ingredients, including artisan cured meats. 510 Central SE, 505243-0130, farinapizzeria.com

Nob Hill Bar + Grill

Farina Alto

Salt and Board, a charcuterie-based cork and tap room in the heart of the Brick Light District. 115 Harvard SE, 505-219-2001, saltandboard.com

Farina Alto offers fresh, creative fare. Gather over a glass of wine, a good story, and a phenomenal plate of food.

10721 Montgomery NE, 505-298-0035, farinaalto.com

Farm & Table

Enjoy delectable seasonal dishes created from scratch, sourced from local farmers and our beautiful on-site farm. 8917 Fourth Street NW, 505-503-7124, farmandtablenm.com

Grassburger

The feel-good, award-winning burger— 100% grassfed beef, vegan, or poultry!

A collaboration between the owners of Bar Castañeda and Little Bear Coffee.

3128 Central, nobhillgrill.com

Salt and Board

Savoy Bar & Grill

California wine country in the Northeast Heights. Farm-to-table dining and a casual patio. 10601 Montgomery NE, 505-294-9463, savoyabq.com

Seasons Rotisserie & Grill

Oak-fired grill, local and seasonal ingredients, and the best patio dining in Old Town.

2031 Mountain NW, 505-766-5100, seasonsabq.com

Est. 1984

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Wholesale Specialty Cheese/Meats/Provisions 300+ Cheeses from around the World www.b-cow.com · 505-473-7911

Celebrate with us!

139 W San Francisco St, Santa Fe, NM 87501 (505) 795-7075 │ LescombesWinery.com

TRIFECTA COFFEE COMPANY

413 Montano NE, Albuquerque 505-803-7579, trifectacoffeecompany.com We roast coffee, and brew it in unique ways utilizing some of the best methods available. All of our baked goods, sweet, and savory are made in house.

Genuine Food & Drink Enchanting, Dusty...

Wild West Style 28 MAIN STREET LOS CERRILLOS 505.438.1821 Thursday - Sunday blackbirdsaloon.com

colombian bistro

now open

tuesday-saturday 11am-8pm

3216 Silver SE, Albuquerque 505-266-2305, www.ajiacobistro.com

CafĂŠ & Bakery

Ajiaco’s varied Colombian cuisine is influenced by a diverse flora and fauna found around Colombia. Cultural traditions of different Colombian ethnic groups play a role in our choice of ingredients.

505-204-7869 1291 San Felipe Ave, Santa Fe WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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Creative Casual Cuisine 221 Highway 165, Placitas 505-771-0695, www.bladesbistro.com

seasonal • local • organic HOLIDAY CATERING

South Indian cuisine

218 Gold Ave SW, ABQ 505-265-4933, hartfordsq.com

Chef and owner Kevin Bladergroen brings together fine and fresh ingredients, artistic vision, and European flair in every dish.

Sunday brunch, fabulous cocktails, and an award-winning wine list.

E A T & DRI N K LOCAL G UID E The Grove Cafe & Market

Dolina

Ohori's Coffee Roasters

The Shop Breakfast & Lunch

Dr. Field Goods Kitchen / Butcher Shop & Bakery

Paper Dosa

The Grove features a bustling café experience serving breakfast, brunch, and lunch.

600 Central SE, 505-248-9800, thegrovecafemarket.com Latin and Creole influenced spin on American classics. Serving breakfast and lunch Tuesday through Saturday. 2933 Monte Vista NE, 505-433-2795

Trifecta Coffee Company

We roast coffee and brew it in unique ways utilizing some of the best methods available.

All of our baked goods are made in house.

413 Montano NE, 505-803-7579, trifectacoffeecompany.com

Zinc Restaurant & Wine Bar

A three-level bistro featuring contemporary cuisine and late night bar bites.

3009 Central NE, 505-254-9462, zincabq.com

SANTA FE

Anasazi Restaurant & Bar

Contemporary American cuisine inspired by locally sourced seasonal ingredients.

113 Washington, 505-988-3030, innoftheanasazi.com

Arable

Inspired by the bounty of New Mexico, and the small community of Eldorado, Arable was born. 7 Avenida Vista Grande, 505-303-3816, arablesantafe.com

Arroyo Vino

We serve progressive American fare inspired by our on-premise garden and local purveyors. 218 Camino La Tierra, 505-983-2100, arroyovino.com

Cafecito

Cafecito is a family-owned business blending the cultures to bring you a delicious menu in a beautiful gathering space. 922 Shoofly, Santa Fe, 505-310-0089, cafecitosantafe.com

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We serve modern American brunch with Eastern European influences. Open 7 days a week. 402 N Guadalupe, 505-982-9394, dolinasantafe.com

2860 Cerrillos, 505-471-0043 and 505-474-6081, drfieldgoods.com

Eloisa

Creative, elevated takes on traditional New Mexican fare plus tasting menus and craft cocktails. 228 E Palace, 505-982-0883, eloisasantafe.com

Hervé Wine Bar

Enjoy a glass of of locally produced D.H. Lescombes wine with your meal in our spacious comfortable lounge.

139 W San Francisco, 505-795-7075, lescombeswinery.com/santa-fe-herve

Iconik Coffee Roasters

Come visit the best specialty coffee shop in Santa Fe with amazing food, unique coffees roasted onsite, and super fast high-speed internet. 314 S Guadalupe and 1600 Lena, 505-428-0996, iconikcoffee.com

Il Piatto

An authentic Italian farmhouse experience, sourcing its ingredients directly from local farms and ranches. 95 West Marcy, 505-984-1091, ilpiattosantafe.com

L’Olivier

Serving classic French dishes made with local ingredients and Southwest influences.

229 Galisteo, 505-989-1919, loliviersantafe.com

Loyal Hound

Locally sourced modern comfort food paired with craft beer, cider, and wine. 730 St. Michaels, 505-471-0440, loyalhoundpub.com

Madame Matisse

A cafe and bakery with French specialties.

1291 San Felipe, 505-204-7869, madamematisse.com

The original source for locally roasted coffee beans, gifts, and gathering. 505 Cerrillos and 1098 St. Francis, 505-982-9692, 507 Old Santa Fe Trail, ohoriscoffee.com Bringing fresh, authentic homestyle South Indian dishes to your table. These bright and exciting flavors will leave you wanting more.

551 W Cordova, 505-930-5521, paper-dosa.com

Posa’s Restaurants

Posa’s tamales—our New Mexican tradition since 1995. 1514 Rodeo and 3538 Zafarano, 505-820-7672 or 505-473-3454, santafetamales.com

Radish & Rye

Farm-inspired cuisine: simple yet innovative food and drinks sourced locally whenever possible. 548 Agua Fria, 505-930-5325, radishandrye.com

Red Sage

Red Sage at Buffalo Thunder is perfect for your next romantic night out. Fare rotates seasonally. 20 Buffalo Thunder Trail, 505-819-2056, buffalothunderresort.com

Santa Fe Brewing

The beer made with the spirit of the Southwest! Multiple locations in Santa Fe and Albuquerque, santafebrewing.com

TerraCotta

Seasonally changing, globally inspired cuisine and an extensive, value-priced wine list.

304 Johnson, 505-989-1166, terracottawinebistro.com

The Compound Restaurant

Chef Mark Kiffin preserves a landmark tradition of elegant food and service at his Canyon Road institution. 653 Canyon Road, 505-982-4353, compoundrestaurant.com

GREATER NEW MEXICO Bar Castañeda

Fresh takes on Fred Harvey classics.

524 Railroad Avenue, Las Vegas, kinlvnm.com

Black Bird Saloon

Genuine food and drink, wild west style.

28 Main Street, Los Cerrillos, 505-438-1821, blackbirdsaloon.com

Black Mesa Winery

Black Mesa Winery is an award-winning New Mexican winery using only New Mexican grapes. 1502 Highway 68, Velarde, 505-8522820, blackmesawinery.com

Blades’ Bistro

Chef and owner Kevin Bladergroen brings together fine and fresh ingredients, artistic vision, and European flair in every dish. 221 Highway 165, Placitas, 505-771-0695, bladesbistro.com

edible

Local Hero Awards POLLS NOW OPEN Vote by December 19, 2019 at ediblenm.com/local-hero-awards

Michael's Kitchen Restaurant and Bakery

Regionally inspired eats with a tongue-incheek menu in a casual space decorated with knickknacks. 304-C N Pueblo, Taos, 575-758-4178, michaelskitchen.com

Pajarito Brewpub & Grill

Open for lunch Tuesday–Sunday. Open for dinner every day. Happy hour Tuesday– Sunday 2–5pm. 30 craft beers on tap.

614 Trinity, Los Alamos, 505-662-8877, pajaritobrewpubandgrill.com

Parcht

/pärCHt/= the physical condition resulting from the need to drink wine, eat good food, and shop…in Taos. 103 E Plaza, 575-758-1994, parcht.com

Revel

Farm to table, elevated comfort food, in a fast-casual environment. 304 N Bullard, Silver City, 575-388-4920, eatdrinkrevel.com

Doc Martin’s

30+ year Wine Spectator Award Winner. Patio dining, fresh local foods, and live entertainment. 125 Paseo Del Pueblo Norte, 575-7581977, taosinn.com

The Gorge: Bar and Grill

Our menu is straightforward, yet eclectic, and chock-full of favorites made from scratch using as many fresh and local ingredients as possible. 103 E Plaza, 575-758-8866, thegorgebarandgrill.com

The Skillet

American, Southwest, vegetarian friendly.

619 12th Street, Las Vegas, 505-563-0477, giant-skillet.com

WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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#EDIBLENM

EdibleNewMexico TAG us or use #edibleNM and your pics could be featured here.

burquebakehouse our mushroom tart is the perfect side to accompany your or the show stopper main for all your veggie guests this #thanksgiving. #edibleNM

oninoodlesnm Come get this gorgeous purple cabbage from #cerrovistafarm in Taos! Vegetarian Special: Spicy Squash Miso Ramen- smoked tofu, winter squash, purple cabbage, shiitake, garlic chile oil, slow egg. #edibleNM

sagebakehouse Today’s line-up of handmade, hearthbaked goodness. #sagebakehouse #edibleNM

taosgem_risa369 Part of today's #wildharvest #wildstrawberries #redclover #yarrowflower #edibleNM

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LAST BITE BUTTERNUT SQUASH BUNDT CAKE WITH LEMON + SAGE + HEMP GLAZE For the cake 2 cups flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 teaspoon salt 1 cup brown sugar, packed 1/3 cup hemp cannabutter, softened (see recipe on page 88) 2 eggs, lightly beaten 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1 tablespoon fresh hemp leaves, finely chopped 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh hemp leaves (optional) 1 3/4 cups butternut squash puree (1 medium squash) 1 cup Greek yogurt For the glaze 1 cup granulated sugar 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh sage, finely chopped 1 1/2 tablespoons fresh hemp leaves, finely chopped 1/4 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed 1 teaspoon vanilla 1 teaspoon hulled hemp seeds for garnish

Serves 8–12 For the cake Preheat oven to 400ºF. Cut squash in half and seed. Poke squash halves with a fork a few times, then place both halves on a baking tray and roast for about 1 hour. Remove from oven and let cool to touch. Scrape out all of the flesh, and puree in a food processor until smooth.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease and flour a bundt pan; set aside.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together sugar, hemp butter, eggs, vanilla, sage, hemp leaves, squash puree, and yogurt until smooth. Add dry ingredients to the wet, mixing until just combined.

Pour into prepared bundt pan and bake for 50–60 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool for 15 minutes, then invert onto a wire rack.

For the glaze Chop fresh sage and hemp leaves into thin, small pieces and add to granulated sugar. Pour in lemon juice and vanilla; stir to combine.

Brush the glaze onto the warm cake. Important: Use all the glaze and brush on the while the cake is still warm. Sprinkle with hemp seeds. Let the cake cool completely before serving. To get a nice crust on the cake, refrigerate for two hours before serving.

WWW.EDIBLENM.COM

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LAST BITE Hemp-infused oil is the starting point for CBD cookery; it’s commonly made from “trim,” which includes small leaves, stems, and occasional half-formed buds. As a solid, fat is more versatile than a liquid; most prefer unsalted butter, with coconut oil being a vegan alternative.

HEMP CANNABUTTER Adapted from edible Seattle

1 quart water 1 ounce hemp trim (buds and leaves of hemp high in CBD) 1 pound unsalted butter

Makes 1 pound of butter To prep trim, dry and decarboxylate it by cooking at low heat. Preheat oven to 200°F. Spread trim on a parchment-lined sheet tray and place a large piece of light aluminum foil loosely over the top of it. Crimp the edges to keep in any odor and bake for 60–90 minutes until completely dry.

Temperature control is important to the rest of this process.

Put water in a medium saucepan and set over high heat. While the water is heating, grind hemp trim finely, using either a mortar and pestle or coffee grinder. Once the water is boiling, add the ground hemp to the water, and reduce the temperature to low. Add the sticks of butter. Attach a candy thermometer to the pot.

Stir occasionally as the butter melts, and continue stirring on occasion for about 2 hours. Watch the thermometer; you want the liquids to stay hot but not boil—185°F to 195°F is the goal. Turn off heat, and let mixture cool to room temperature, until butter is fairly solid. Return the pot to low heat for an additional 2 hours, again maintaining the 185°F–195°F temperature.

Turn off heat and let cool to about 140°F. Strain into a deep bowl through two layers of cheesecloth, pouring slowly and squeezing firmly, as the butter will want to cling to the wet plant matter. Place the bowl in the refrigerator to set. Once set, the water will have sunk to the bottom of the bowl and a pale green butter will sit on top of the water.

For best ease of use when cooking with cannabutter, cut into 4-ounce portions, wrap individually, and place in the freezer; it lasts about four months.

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M I C H A E L “ U N R E A L” B I R C H E F F

ARROYO VINO Restaurant and Wine Shop

Committed to the best seasonal & local ingredients On-site two acre garden Weekly wine seminars, wine dinners, half-price wine nights & more

R E STAU R A N T: T U E S DAY– SAT U R DAY S E RV I C E B E G I N S W I N E S H O P: M O N

11AM–4 PM,

T U E S - S AT

5:30PM

11AM–7PM

A R R OYOV I N O.C O M

218 CHEF ALLISON JENKINS

C A M I N O L A T I E R R A , S A N TA F E

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@ A R R OYOV I N O