Cannabis Kitchen Opens in AZ

A Tempe dispensary had lines forming out the door this Friday for its grand re-opening. Clients were in and out the door all afternoon. Even though the store has been open for roughly a year, an expansion has jump started its popularity.

Raul Molina of the Mint Dispensary said, “We were at capacity . . . at the end of the day, I think it’s here . . . to stay.” The store served about 1,500 customers Friday, so Molina may be right.

The owners of the Phoenix Metro Area dispensary are sure that marijuana is a sustainable business. They’ve gone so far as to build a kitchen for infusing edibles to sell in the shop. Executive Chef Carylann Principal says, “This isn’t going to be just some stoner’s weekend with a box of brownies.” The Mint Dispensary intends to sell a full menu from breakfast to dinner with made-to-order French toast, fries, pizza and burgers–all infused with cannabis.

Principal explains their methods as “adding to the butters we’re going to be using, to the olive oil we’re going to be using, to the coconut oils we’re going to be using.” There’s even a special 420 sauce.

Carylann Principal has been working as a chef for a few decades. It wasn’t until just over five years ago that she entered the world of cannabis cooking. She began by adding it to food for a client who was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She found inventive ways to incorporate her client’s medicinal marijuana into her diet. Now, she’s whipping up similar recipes in Tempe.

The full kitchen should be open for business at the end of May with plans to move into Scottsdale dispensaries in the future as hemp expansion considers across public acceptance and patient consumption revenue and taxes.