When you think about legalized weed, you probably don’t think about the food side of the industry. Cannabis infused edibles are all the rage in legal states and the Respect My Region team was fortunate enough to tour one of our favorite edible brands, Zoots.
Located right in downtown Seattle, Zoots has been one of the leading producers of infused marijuana products since recreational marijuana became legal. Zoots provides both Washington and Colorado with delicious treats such as cookies, drink mixers, energy shots and even hard candies.
Zoots is paving the path for the rest of industry, which at a federal level could be the standard for many edible companies moving forward. What separates Zoots from the rest of the pack is they use practices that the FDA requires traditional food processing companies to follow. Current regulations and laws do not require these practices for a cannabis company, however, Zoots takes the extra step to ensure that their products are consistent.
“Our Zootologists carefully extract the essential oils of the marijuana plant in a contaminant-free environment using our proprietary Cypress Extraction Method™. This closed-loop process captures the THC using organic cane alcohol in a cold fusion process. So, you can be assured that each serving is consistent.” – Zoots
Using this extraction method, Zoots is able to produce some of the cleanest and richest tasting cannabis treats in the industry. They pride themselves on the ability to deliver a potent product as well as being consistent with each of their baked goods and drinkable products.
During our tour, we ran into the head grower, Randy Haugland and were able to ask him some questions.
Q: How long have you been growing and what got you into cannabis?
A: I’ve been growing cannabis specifically for over 10 years now. I’m 33, so yeah about ten years. I’m from Iowa originally and I’ve been around agriculture my whole life, it became kinda natural.
Q: What did you do before you started working in the legal cannabis industry?
A: I’ve always sold weed honestly. I used to be food process welder for a while and then 2008 happened and there were not jobs so I just going to do this instead. I moved to California to learn how to grow and then moved up here in 2010.
Q: Do you have a favorite Sativa, hybrid or indica?
A: I would say my favorites are the ones I rarely get to smoke. Like some of the really long flowering Sativa’s are really my favorites. I like Durban Poison.
Q: Do you have any strains that you would suggest?
A: Euphoriahaze, it’s hard to find nobody grows it because it doesn’t smell or look that great, Its one of the best type of Sativa’s you can find out there. It’s like all the strains that give you that euphoric high, they all stem from this one.
Q: Now that you’re here in Seattle, what do you like about the city?
A: Everything about Seattle. I’m obsessed with the PNW, The Northwest is my favorite place, I’m never going move from here. Man, I love bikes, I race a lot of bikes here in Seattle. I also build synthesizers so that’s pretty much what I do in my free time.
