That cannabis cornucopia would be made particularly possible if cooking and seasoning staples like salts and sugars — infused with active cannabinoid compounds like THC (tetrahydrocannabinol) and already being sold in legalized U.S. states — join the traditional confectioneries on pot store shelves in this country.

“They’ve found a way to mechanically fuse cannabinoids ... with crystalline structures like sugar or salt or (the sweetener) Xylitol,” says Niel Marotta, president and CEO of the London, Ont., cannabis producer INDIVA.

“They call them flexible edibles ... and people can now cook with them as well,” says Marotta, whose company is hoping to market these and other edible products in Canada.

Delaying the legalization of edibles for a year will allow federal officials to hold consultations and put the appropriate food safety regulations in place.

Hyde says that cookies and brownies — which you’ll be legally able to make at home with the combustible oils and plant residues that will be legalized this fall — have long been the pot conveyors of choice for edibles fans.

That’s because they require lots of butter or vegetable oil, which readily bind with and store the molecules that provide marijuana’s rushes and highs.

“But what’s exciting ... with products like infused sugars or especially with infused salt is you can infuse anything,” Hyde says. “You’re not as limited to some of the recipes that required butter, oil or some of the higher fat contents.”

While infused seasonings will offer exponentially expanded cooking and baking options at home, pot store shelves here will also groan with the packaged and bottled products that have emerged in legal jurisdictions like Hyde’s home of Washington state, which decriminalized recreational sales in 2012.

“Using Washington here as a bit of an example for what to expect out of the gate is you will see a lot of baked goods, the cookies, the confections like candies and stuff,” Hyde says.

“But I think the more exciting products in the edible landscape are some of the, for lack of a better term, ‘healthier options’,” he says.

These include cannabis-infused granola, sports drinks and power bars that might accompany consumers on hikes, Hyde says.

“There’s a company here in Washington that’s actually made a power gel, that’s like a peanut-butter-based sort of product,” he says.

“It has just really great cannabinoid content and is made to be high in protein the same way as those energy focused and health focused foods are.”

On the flip side of health foods, beer, wine and distillery giant Constellation Brands — which owns Corona beer and several popular wine and liquor labels — announced this month it was investing $5 billion in the cannabis company Canopy Growth, based in Smith Falls, Ont.

As well, the Canadian Association of Professional Sommeliers announced it would launch a nationwide series of cannabis education classes centred on the infused wines they anticipate will be available here next year.

Marotta says such so-called derivative products — edibles, gums, beverages and the like — account for more than 50 per cent of sales by dollar amounts in mature, legal markets like Washington.

And he says they are almost certain to be the fastest growing segment of Canada’s legal trade — owing largely to the familiarity and appeal of eating over smoking — when it comes online here.

“Asking grandma to smoke a pipe is a really big ask,” Marotta says.

“Asking her to use ... an all-natural cannabis sugar and putting that in her tea ... or salt on her french fries, that’s a small ask.”

Matei Olaru, CEO of the Toronto-based Lift & Co., says he does not know who will be making the edible products.

But he expects that major confectionery and soft drink companies will get into the edibles game and that familiar products infused with cannabis may well be on sale in the streetside and online stores that are being set up across the country.

“Realistically what you’ll see ... (is) companies that have traditionally made food of some sort or drink want to get into the cannabis space,” he says, adding some big established players like Hershey or Nabisco may want in on the game.

“They get a licence and then they strike a strike a deal with a licensed (cannabis) producer.”

But Marotta says such corporate giants will likely stay out of the market until the entire U.S. is legalized for fear of running afoul of federal agencies and consumers’ groups there.