The history of Black Cherry Gelato

Timeline

1. Around 2012A male Pink Panties pollinates a room of Girl Scout Cookies females, producing Mr. Sherbinski’s Sunset Sherbert, a grandparent of Black Cherry Gelato.^1,5,6
2. 2014Jigga and Mr. Sherbinski make Gelato from Sunset Sherbert and Girl Scout Cookies, using colloidal silver to make a female plant produce pollen.¹
3. Jun 16, 2014An invite-only tasting ends the Gelato pheno-hunt; the keepers include “Acai” Gelato 49, Black Cherry Gelato’s Gelato parent.^1,2
4. 2018Gelato becomes the first Leafly Strain of the Year.⁷
5. Sep 2020–Sep 2024The 56 dated tests of Black Cherry Gelato flower in our state lab dataset fall in this span, 47 of them in 2023.⁴
6. May 2024GreenState reports that Guzman approves six Gelato phenotypes, among them #49 Açaí Berry Gelato, which he calls sativa-leaning.⁸
7. Sep 2024Leafly News finds SF Canna selling Cherry Gushers, given as Acai × Black Cherry Funk, in the Bay Area.⁹
8. Feb 2026Leafly’s 2025 rankings, drawn from millions of dispensary orders, put Gelato sixth nationally; Black Cherry Gelato is not on the national or state lists.¹⁰
9. Sep 2026The Marijuana Herald’s top seller in each state for August 2026 includes Gelato in New Mexico and Sherbert in Montana, but not Black Cherry Gelato.¹¹
10. Oct 4, 2026Weedmaps flower menus around 17 of the 27 market cities we track list Black Cherry Gelato, led by Los Angeles (44 stores).¹²

How it reached menus

None of the sources we found dates the cross, and Leafly and Weedmaps call the breeder unknown.^2,3 It reached shelves as brand flower: Cookies sells a Black Cherry Gelato it describes as “dark berries, funk, and fuel”, GrowDiaries lists a BackpackBoyz version, and Premium Seed Market says the flower is hard to find at retail and seeds or clones harder still.^13,14,15

In our lab data it appears in four states, Nevada (71), Maryland (15), California (11) and Michigan (5), with 69.6% of tests from Nevada and 76.8% of the tests that name a producer from a single producer.⁴

The disputed parts of the story

• Breeder: unknown to Leafly, Weedmaps and SeedFinder; GrowDiaries files a version under BackpackBoyz, and Cookies sells one without claiming the cross.^2,3,13,14,16
• Gelato parent: Acai, Gelato #49, in most accounts; GrowDiaries’ listing says the strain was created from Gelato #41.^1,2,14
• Other parent: Black Cherry Funk for Leafly, Weedmaps, AllBud and Cookies; SeedFinder’s tree shows a Blueberry × Black Cherry Soda cross in its place.^2,3,13,17,18
• Names: Leafly gives the same parents for Cherry Gelato and Black Cherry Gushers and abbreviates both Black Cherry Gelato and Black Cherry Gushers as BCG (see genetics).^2,19,20