• by Erik Sass , Staff Writer @eriksass1, August 28, 2015

With marijuana legal for recreational use in Washington, Colorado, Oregon and Alaska, and medicinal uses in dozens of other states, legal cannabis cultivation and retail is set to expand rapidly in the coming years. And a big part of that will be edible marijuana in all its forms, from entrée-style dishes to desserts and liqueurs.

The publishers of The Tasting Panel and The SOMM Journal are tapping into the growing interest in, well, growing with The Clever Root, a new quarterly magazine about the world of “growables,” including cannabis. The magazine is focused on “farm-to-table” cuisine with an emphasis on ingredients and their cultivation, promising in-depth articles and profiles of tastemakers who buy, forage, prepare and grow ingredients for dishes served at some of the country’s best restaurants -- and yes, there are fancy restaurants serving up high-end pot-laced dishes.

The magazine sells for $10 per issue or $36 for an annual subscription, and targets an audience including chefs, restaurateurs, directors of food and beverage, grocery food buyers, and wine and spirits stores, as well as high-end consumers.

Meridith May, publisher and editorial director of The Clever Root, explained the publication’s mission: “The time is now to take a deep dive into the world of growables and provide expert knowledge to a motivated audience of chefs, buyers and restaurant industry trade. We’ll explore the organic lifestyle like never before, and shed light on a thriving cannabis industry.”

The Clever Root is part of a wave of new publications, social networks, and news services covering the cannabis industry, in addition to the old stalwart High Times. One social network, Massroots, allows users to share all kinds of content including recipes for edible marijuana and technical information about different strains and varieties, cultivation techniques, and so on. Another service, Leafly, provides information about marijuana strains, products and legal sellers, including myriad user-generated reviews.

On the radio front, there’s The National Marijuana News, a new talk-radio program devoted to all things marijuana-related, including marijuana’s scientific, medicinal, political, commercial, legal, spiritual and cultural dimensions.

There are also a number of cannabis industry newsletters, including Marijuana Business Media, and CannaBusiness Media, both founded in 2011, and the CannaBusiness Leader Newsletter, launched by the National Cannabis Industry Association in May of last year.