Uptown's Bebe Zito debuts "Pineapple Express" THC ice cream
MINNEAPOLIS -- There's a new ice cream in Minneapolis. With this one, you enjoy it most after you're done eating it.
At $50 a pint, Bebe Zito's "Pineapple Express" features a pineapple base, with salted caramel-soaked pineapple upside-down cake mix-ins. It also contains 50 milligrams of THC.
While everyone reacts to it differently, it's packed with enough THC gummies to create a high with just a few bites. Each container contains exactly 40 1.25 mg stone fruit THC gummies – in partnership with Cultivated CBD.
The ice cream comes after Minnesota passed a law allowing anyone above the age of 21 to purchase edibles with up to 5 mg of hemp-derived THC per serving. Shortly after, Bebe Zito's partnership with Cultivated CBD was finalized with the new product.
"It definitely is a long process," said Bebe Zito's co-owner Gabriella Grant-Spangler. "You definitely want to make sure that you're going through all of the proper steps. We absolutely want to make sure what we're bringing to market is safe."
Grant-Spangler says their safety measures included lab testing as well as crafting a proper label and kid-proof packaging. In their shop, each pint of "Pineapple Express," the THC-packed take on pineapple upside-down cake, is stored in a locked container separate from other options. To purchase, each customer must scan their ID, ensuring they're 21.
"It's generally been a learning process for everyone," Grant-Spangler said. "I think it's been all about figuring out how we navigate this in the safest way for people and how do we work together?"
Despite going above and beyond to ensure safety, Grant-Spangler said their shop had a visitor from the city of Minneapolis just days into their product launch.
"Thursday morning, we got a visit from the health department," she said. "They had a lot of questions about our product and the legality of it, which has definitely been considered and researched with legal counsel to make sure we are following all of the steps and this can legally go to market."
Though the city temporarily placed a restriction on Bebe Zito's sale of the product, they've since reversed course.
"The Minneapolis Health Department reached out to Bebe Zito over ice cream it was selling that contained THC edibles," wrote a city spokesperson Saturday. "It's the City's understanding of State laws and regulations that restaurants and other retailers cannot add THC edibles to existing food products for sale to customers. However, after discussing the matter with the business owner, we learned that the product in question had THC added by the manufacturer. The City no longer has concerns about this product being in violation of the law, so Bebe Zito can continue to sell this product."
"Change doesn't happen unless you push boundaries. Creativity doesn't happen unless you push boundaries," Grant-Spangler said. "It's not just creating a delicious product for people, but there's a layer of education, and at the core of that, it's something that's a really important message for us."
That message includes normalizing the use of THC products. Partial proceeds from each sale of "Pineapple Express" will benefit Ujamaa Place, a Twin Cities non-profit designed to transform the lives of men and assist with post-incarceration transitions.
