Orbiting above the planet, astronauts marvel at the beauty of the stars while eating their freeze-dried ice cream and thinking, “If only this had weed in it…”
Meanwhile, 248 miles below, Eddie Astra is contemplating the very same thing.
Astraluxe is a hash rosin-infused take on space ice cream that doesn’t melt until it hits your mouth. The name is a combination of the Latin phrase ‘ad astra’ (to the stars) and the word ‘deluxe.’ Creator Eddie Astra wants to invoke the spirit of what’s possible when the question ‘can we?’ isn’t as tightly latched to the word ‘profit’ – all while invoking a little of that space-age future nostalgia. Despite being fairly new to the West Coast, the brand is already working with big players like Ogre Farms, Wizard Rozin, Swollen Heads and Beachside Solventless. Astraluxe hopes you let one melt in your mouth, look to the stars, and marvel at all we’ve accomplished.
Like many kids of his time, Eddie grew up visiting museums with exhibitions on astronauts, each visit ending with a bag of freeze-dried space ice cream. Over the years, he’s always wanted to take that childhood treat and combine it with his love of Cannabis … but much like NASA fixing a Mars rover, he says, “Once you think of the idea, the only thing left is everything.” There’s no blueprint for this process, so it took four years of experimentation for Eddie to refine his process until he had something that was not just the flavor and consistency of what he remembered, but was also gluten-free, keto-friendly, organic and vegan.
Despite the name ‘space ice cream,’ this incredible hashstronaut food actually uses infused coconut oil and a coconut and cashew milk base. The reason he says, besides having a dairy-free product, is that it offers the best taste, has a good amount of fat and a high freezing temperature. He tried tons of different combinations and variations before landing here. “Stability is a lot of the sorcery in creating this,” he revealed. “A lot of explosions and trays crumbling into dust. There was so much trial and error, but freeze drying is the best way to preserve an organic material.”
Another big changing factor is the fruit. Astraluxe flavors everything using house-made, cold-pressed, freeze-dried organic fruit juice concentrates – often processed in a vacuum chamber. Eddie says despite having a consistent base to work from, every fruit requires its own unique steps to get it just the way he wants them. The team at Astraluxe believes in treating fruit with the same care and love that hashmakers treat the Cannabis from the farm. Fruits that are high in sugar, pectin, or require a lot of processing, have yielded mixed results – something which he describes as not only a culinary experiment, but a scientific one as well. “Not all flavors work,” he explains. “You’re not cooking this – you’re preserving it with the conditions of space.”
Not just a wonder of THC technology, Astraluxe also employs a technologically advanced packaging that uses cellulose-based plastic to cut down on waste, as well as a desiccant element integrated into the cap to provide a seal that keeps the product inside fresh and shelf stable. There is a warning on the side to let you know that, as the moisture in the air reacts with the product, it will begin to ‘melt’ the same way it would in your mouth. That being said, this writer will attest that eating half is difficult, so commit to the whole 30mg.
This article was originally published in the October 2023 issue of California Leaf.
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