Five Weed-Infused Ways to Enjoy Cinco de Mayo

While there’s no big Cinco de Mayo celebration in Civic Center Park this year (it’s gone virtual during the pandemic), you can always celebrate at home. If you’re a non-drinker who still wants to catch a buzz, there are many easy, cannabis-infused options for your cocktail glasses and dinner plates.

Here are our five favorites:

Chili-mango-lime-THC-lined margarita
Overly salted margaritas always end up with me making the yuck face, but I’d be okay with THC-laden crystals instead. Ripple’s limited-edition chili-mango-lime flavored Quicksticks, small packs of distillate powder intended for quick oral consumption, are right at home on the wet rim of your marg, providing extra flavor, spice and buzz — which is welcome if you’re using overly sweet margarita mix or shitty tequila. Several glasses can be rimmed with one Quickstick packet, so no need to ingest all 10 milligrams of THC at once.

Infused beer and seltzer
Not trying to get loaded on alcohol on Cinco? Weed-infused beers and bubblies have your back. Ceria, a cannabis brewery founded by Blue Moon creator Keith Villa, makes a THC-infused Belgian-style white ale and an IPA infused with CBD and THC. If you want something lighter, give the infused hoppy sparkling waters from Lagunitas a shot, or try one of several infused seltzers on the market right now. For those with higher tolerances, keep an eye out for Oh Hi’s 100-milligram seltzer waters.

Infused mole
Making mole is no joke, and probably too much of a job to try for the first time on Cinco de Mayo — but if you already know how to cook it up, adding weed to the mix isn’t very difficult, especially if you live near a dispensary. Sure, you could add distillate to the sauce as it slow-cooks, but that would affect the taste too much. Instead, replace the chocolate required for your mole recipe with THC-infused chocolate bars. Most pot shops carry infused dark chocolate, which should be added to the sauce after the chocolate is chopped and melted under chicken broth. Get the slow cooker started early so the sauce is ready by dinner.

Infused taco seasoning
Mad weed scientists can make infused salt, seasonings and dry rubs at home, but for the rest of us, there’s Athelas Edibles, infused drink powders and seasoning packets. Athelas’s Southwestern seasoning packet, available in 10- and 100-milligram doses of THC, makes a decent chip dip, but it’s best used as taco seasoning. Trust us: Turning tacos into edibles doesn’t get easier than this.

Infused crema
Don’t live near a dispensary but still want to enjoy pot-infused tacos? You’re in luck. Making cannabis-infused crema at home isn’t hard, but it does take time. First, you’ll need to infuse heavy or whipped cream with cannabis to make sour cream. To do that, simply mix the infused cream with buttermilk (use a 4:1 ratio of sour cream to buttermilk), pour into a sealed container and shake vigorously. Let the container sit for 24 hours at room temperature, and boom: weed sour cream. Pour the sour cream into a bowl, add ingredients such as lime, salt, garlic, cilantro or blended avocado to taste, and mix to make a crema.