Gelato #33, #41: the story of a cult cannabis strain

"Gelato" names a cannabis strain, a line of plants like Lemon Haze or OG Kush; it is not street slang for a particular drug. The original plant is drug-type cannabis, selected for its content of THC, the psychoactive molecule in cannabis. In France, like any high-THC cannabis, it comes under the narcotics rules.

The name is Italian for ice cream and refers to the aroma its fans describe as sweet, creamy and sometimes fruity. It belongs to the family of dessert names, the "Cookies" and the "Sherbets", that filled Californian breeding in the 2010s.

Mario Guzman, known as Sherbinski, bred Gelato. In an interview with Cannabis Now in May 2017 he explains that he crossed his Sunset Sherbet with a Thin Mint Cookies, together with Jigga of the Cookies collective. The cross was three years old at the time, which dates it to around 2014. A 2022 profile in LA Weekly confirms that the selection was a joint effort.

The numbers are the most misunderstood detail. Sherbinski says about 200 seeds were sown, each plant with a number on its pot. The best, 25, 33 and 41, kept their numbers as cuttings passed from garden to garden. So "Gelato #41" means one particular plant and its clones, which do not form a separate strain. Plants from one sowing share their parents without sharing all their genes, which is why their structure and aroma differ.

Gelato went on to parent other lines, the best known being Runtz, described as a cross of Zkittlez and Gelato. The breeders declare these pedigrees themselves. No institution registers or checks them, whereas the hemp varieties in the EU catalogue are officially listed.

Most of a cannabis flower's smell comes from terpenes, volatile compounds produced in the trichomes, the same glands that make cannabinoids. In a 2011 article in the British Journal of Pharmacology, the researcher Ethan Russo lists limonene, linalool and β-caryophyllene among the main terpenoids in cannabis. Limonene smells of citrus, linalool of lavender and β-caryophyllene of pepper.

No public data defines a "standard" Gelato. A 2022 study in PLOS ONE analysed 89,923 cannabis samples sold in six US states and identified three main terpene profiles, one dominated by β-caryophyllene and limonene. Its main conclusion was that commercial labels do not consistently match the chemistry measured. Our article on hemp terpenes introduces these families of molecules.

Nobody registers or controls cannabis strain names. Researchers at the University of Northern Colorado used ten genetic markers to compare the DNA of 30 strains bought from dispensaries in three US states. Published in the Journal of Cannabis Research in 2019, their results show that most strains included at least one sample genetically distant from the others sold under the same name. Two products sold as "Gelato" may come from different plants.

The Runtz line gives an example in the Phytogrammes catalogue. Three hemp flowers carry the name, and their product pages, as checked on 23 September 2026, describe three different profiles.

Sold as hemp flowers under 0.30% Δ⁹-THC, they use the name of a Californian line to suggest a taste. The name gives a direction, and only a laboratory analysis of the batch would say what the flower contains. A new batch may show a different profile. The whole range is in the CBD flowers category.

Yes, as long as the product stays within the hemp rules. The French order of 30 December 2021 authorises Cannabis sativa L. varieties with no more than 0.30% Δ⁹-THC and applies the same cap to extracts and to the products containing them. On 29 December 2022 the Conseil d'État struck down the order's ban on selling raw flowers and leaves. The word "Gelato" on a label makes no difference, and a flower above the threshold remains a controlled drug whatever its name.

The label alone proves nothing. In a press release of 19 June 2025, the French agencies Anses and ANSM report a 2023 study by the addiction-monitoring centres of Lyon, Paris and Montpellier. In 8 CBD products out of 10, it found a CBD content different from the one announced. Three lines of an analysis settle the question: the batch number, the dominant cannabinoid and Δ⁹-THC at 0.30% or less. Our guide to the certificate of analysis explains each one.