Emmie King is putting her years of experience as a candymaker to use as a consultant to a medical marijuana producer setting up shop in Mississippi.
She will use the knowledge she gained from her years making chocolates, caramel and hard candy at Nandy’s Candy in Jackson as she advises Mockingbird Cannabis on edible product development.
“Candymaking is scientific,” King said. “It’s all about proportion, proper measurements, how sugar reacts when it’s heated and fat.”
The Legislature’s enactment of the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act, which was signed by the governor on Feb. 2, opened the door for medical marijuana to be available to certain patients who need it. Mississippi is the 37th state to make marijuana legal for medicinal use.
Mockingbird Cannabis is converting the building in Hinds County that once housed the Mississippi Department of Revenue into its grow facility.
“I remember going there as a kid when my family had to pay taxes,” King said. “It’s a big facility. They’ve put a lot of work in. The original safe is still there, and they will add additional safes. When I visited, there was major construction happening.”
No medical marijuana product is available yet as the Mississippi State Department of Health is working to establish the licensing and patient registry structures in accordance with the law. Licensing regulations will provide instructions about how cannabis products can be marketed, advertised, labeled and packaged.
By June, the Mississippi Department of Health plans to begin accepting online license applications for patients, medical practitioners, cannabis cultivation facilities, cannabis processing facilities, cannabis testing facilities, cannabis waste disposal entities and cannabis transportation entries. A 30-day approval time is expected for licensure applicants and a five-day approval time for program patients.
Mockingbird Cannabis sought King to assist with research about infusing confections with THC, the chemical responsible for most of marijuana’s psychological effects.
“I was approached to talk to them about chocolate, how to infuse it, how to stabilize it and the equipment needed,” she said. “I feel like Mockingbird reached out because they do want quality.”
Infusing a piece of chocolate, a gummy, a caramel or a hard candy with a THC distillate requires using a binder such as a fat and the correct amount of ingredients, said King, who has visited a production facility that Mockingbird Cannabis owns in Oklahoma.
Mockingbird Cannabis was also interested in King’s knowledge of how to work with chocolate considering Mississippi’s sweltering heat.
“There are lots of variables with chocolate,” she said. “It likes to melt and doesn’t like humidity. That’s something they wanted to know more about.”
She is also offering suggestions about a new state-of-the-art kitchen, a topic she knows about because she’s visited numerous candy-making facilities throughout the country.
“A couple of times a year, I go to the Retail Confectioners International and Pennsylvania Manufacturing Confectioners Association meetings. This last summer, I spent a week in Columbus, Ohio. You go and tour facilities, learn about products and what’s new in the market.”
None of the product that King assists Mockingbird Cannabis with will be sold at Nandy’s Candy, she said.
King was six years old when her mother, Nancy King, opened Nandy’s Candy, Jackson’s first premium handmade candy store in 1980.
“I was raised in the candy store and candy industry,” she said. “I’ve done other things, went away to art school and lived in New York. Even when I lived there, I worked for Li-Lac Chocolates, Manhattan’s oldest chocolate house. No matter where I went, I found a way back into it.”
King found herself back in the business several years ago when her mother asked for her assistance with marketing products online.
“When my mom’s strength and health started to fail, I stepped in and learned all of the formulas and started going to the Retail Confections International meetings,” she said.
Conner Reeves, an attorney with McLaughlin PC who heads the firm’s cannabis practice, said many large cannabis companies are partnering with local businesses in the state.
He said Mockingbird Cannabis’ use of King as a consultant is a way to build rapport in the local market. “They recognize Nandy’s Candy as a well-known outfit in the central part of the state that may lend them credibility,” he said.
Reeves estimates about $100 million in private capital is ready to be deployed in acquiring real estate for cannabis-related facilities and building them out, purchasing equipment and staffing.
The medical marijuana bill that was signed into law is close to what voters in Mississippi approved with Initiative 65, Reeves said.
“Everyone should be happy with the outcome,” he said. “All of our clients are satisfied.”
Reeves expects product could be available for patients this fall.
