Hemp History

In 1994, the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA) was sponsored by conservative Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, where much of the supplement industry is based. The law was needed to protect the supplement industry from heavy-handed regulation. FDA would do armed raids on little health food stores in small towns just for displaying … Continue reading "30 Years of DSHEA"...

Available for free download: all three HempNut books, The HempNut Health & Cookbook (2000, by Mars and Rose), The HempNut Cookbook (2004, by Mars and Rose, edited by Pirello), and The HempNut Book (2020, by Rose). Plus The HempNut Story, on the first brand to introduce shelled hempseed (“hempnut”) to North America. PDF, 265 pages. Both editions of the cookbook combined, 200 … Continue reading "The 3 HempNut Books"...

Morphometric approaches to Cannabis evolution and differentiation from archaeological sites: interpreting the archaeobotanical evidence from bronze age Haimenkou, Yunnan Written records on the antiquity and use of Cannabis in ChinaIn early Chinese written texts, cannabis is referred to as má 麻 and most often translated as hemp, implying its use as a fibre plant. The … Continue reading "Use of Hempseed as Food is Ancient"...

“Malcolm MacKinnon, widely known as “Dan Skye,” has etched his name in cannabis history as the former editor-in-chief of High Times magazine. Over 25 trailblazing years, Malcolm traveled, interviewed, and photographed, crafting an unrivaled archive of cannabis photography. Recognized globally for his dedication, Malcolm’s passion has always been the camera—capturing cannabis culture’s essence from its … Continue reading "“Pot Shots” is a Nostalgic Trip Down Memory Lane"...

In the “Golden Age of Hemp Foods,” 1994-2002, there were four corn chip brands, starting with Heavenly Hemp. This was the one from HempNut Inc., 10% HempNut in an organic blue corn masa, gas-flushed in a mylar bag to preserve freshness. Only chip to have a Structure-function claim. It was often called one of the … Continue reading "HempNut Organic Blue Corn Chips"...

HempNut: The Soybean of the New Millennium I started working with hempseed in 1993 like most others: by buying birdseed at a local feed store. Thousands of tons of hempseed were imported into the U.S. every year for birdseed, but not for human consumption, so we used what we could get. As a meticulously sanitary … Continue reading "Introduction in “The HempNut Health and Cookbook” (2000)"...

This year is the 30th anniversary of my company, Sharon’s Finest, being #281 on the Inc. 500 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. It was an unlikely honor: 1) an unemployable neurodivergent; 2) selling a very-hard-to-scale product (perishable food); 3) namely “America’s most-hated food” (tofu) in the Reagan ’80s; 4) while also … Continue reading "Inc 500, 30 Years On"...

From the Hemp Food Association: From part-time side hustle to “Big Food, Inc.,” hemp food is the hemp product already with the largest number of current and potential wholesale and retail customers. The ease of introducing hemp foods could even create entirely new companies founded by aspiring “Hempreneurs,” diversifying and democratizing the commercialization of hemp … Continue reading "Colorado: Hemp Food Hotbed"...

From EnviroTextiles about the hemp textiles OG, Barbara Filippone: “June is Hemp History Month, and we celebrate one of the greatest natural fiber experts in the world. Barbara Filippone was a famous fashion designer working with natural fibers in India back in the 1980’s. Her infamous multimillion dollar design on launch was the “Godey skirt” … Continue reading "Hemp Textiles OG: Barbara Filippone"...

June is Hemp History Month. Fiber Wars Chapter 6 The Twenties and the Rise of Chemurgy “The cause celebre of the Chemurgy Movement was ethanol fuels made from the fermentation of grain. In his analysis of the their initial interaction, David Wright described the reception of the chemurgists by the USDA as enthusiastic. But heavy … Continue reading "Fiber Wars: The Twenties and the Rise of Chemurgy"...

June is Hemp History Month. Around 98% of the Cannabis that DEA has eradicated before 2014 was been hemp, “ditchweed,” over 5 Billion plants. That loss of germplasm has been costly: Kentucky and Colorado farmers had to import hemp seed to plant. And the CBD that desperate parents can’t get for their child? It’s in … Continue reading "DEA Destroys Billions in CBD"...

June is Hemp History Month. You’ve heard of “Hemp Hearts,” but did you know it’s not a generic term but rather a brand name stolen from the original Hemp Hearts company, owned by Roger Snow in Alberta, Canada? Many of the same people appropriating his trademark first turned their sights to my Hemp Nut, calling … Continue reading "The Original “Hemp Hearts”"...

June is Hemp History Month. “Humphrey Ploughjogger” was a pseudonym or nom de plume of founding father John Adams, the second U.S. President. The Humphrey Ploughjogger letters are in an American tradition of humor that arises from illiterate phonetic spelling and rustic dialect, and that is meant to cover an undertone of serious purpose. From … Continue reading "“Humphrey Ploughjogger”"...

Most of the hemp memes circulating are uncited so I investigate to see from whence they come, and thus their accuracy. That “hemp produces 300 gallons of oil and 8,000 pounds of seed per acre” one is the worst, it’s more like 35 gallons and 1,500 pounds if you’re lucky. I don’t ask for a … Continue reading "Source of “Hemp = 4x More Fiber Than Trees”"...

In a 1,300-year old Chinese tomb they found hempseed twice as large as usual: No doubt, as in the ‘90s I hired leading Cannabis breeders to develop a large-seeded hemp variety not unlike that, huge seeds weighing in at 17/gram. The parents were from Yunnan, China. Huge seeds meant to be shelled into HempNut brand … Continue reading "Huge Ancient Hempseed"...

“For decades, Dr. Carlini’s research was not replicated, in part because so few people had access to the compound: Both the pot held at the nation’s sole government-sanctioned marijuana lab at the University of Mississippi and the illegal pot being smoked around the country had only trace CBD content. (Mr. Turner even tested several kinds … Continue reading "A Hidden Origin Story of the CBD Craze"...

From historian Chris Bennett:“Today in Poland and Lithuania, and in former times also in Russia, on Christmas Eve when it is believed that the dead visit their families, a soup made of hemp seeds, called ‘semieniatka,’ is served for the dead souls to savor. In Latvia and the Ukraine, a dish made of hemp was … Continue reading "Three Kings Day"...

This was an ad we ran in many national consumer magazines to drive pull-through at retail, and make the product a success. In this case, Hemp Times. From 1995 through 2001 we spent $250,000 in trade and consumer ads, and PR to make it a Thing. It worked: today hemp food is hemp’s first billion … Continue reading "1999: “The Peanut Butter of the Next Millennium”"...

Here’s a scene from Dave Olson’s 1997 documentary “The Hempen Road” featuring hemp pioneer John Stahl of Evanescent Press. He was planning on growing hemp for paper in Humboldt, and even installed a 12-foot fence and security lights to satisfy DEA. Local marijuana growers told him they wouldn’t let his first crop pollinate theirs because … Continue reading "John Stahl on Hemp for Paper"...

Here’s a scene from Dave Olson’s 1997 documentary “The Hempen Road” featuring hemp food pioneer Dr Jace Callaway of FINOLA talking about how he tested the crop for THC, much to the surprise of police. Filmed at the Vancouver Hemp Symposium. 1:49 Copyright 1997 Dave Olson...

These quotes are from Harry Anslinger, the man uber-racist FDR dispatched to put brown-skinned people in jail not for drugs, but for not having one certain little stamp proving they paid a tax; an economic crime. By 1937, many of today’s drug companies made hundreds of popular and efficacious medicines dispensed by pharmacists containing Cannabis … Continue reading "Revelations from Congressional Testimony in the Hearings on the Marihuana Tax Act in 1937"...