Does the smell of citrus remind you of drinking your grandmother’s fresh lemonade in the summer? What about pine needles? Just like a photograph, a scent can tell a thousand words, or trigger memories and feelings. We can thank terpenes for all of this.

What are Terpenes?

Terpenes are diverse chemical molecules found in a variety of plants that produce distinct scents and cellular responses that act as aromatic messages. These “fragrance messages” are how plants communicate with each other and potential predators. The existence of terpenes can be credited to that of ancient botanical medicine. While the science is still catching up, there’s quite a bit of anecdotal evidence from success stories to ancient tales that have been passed down from generations.

Just to be clear, humans have been consuming terpenes found in plants and fruits for hundreds of years. Only more recently has science discovered terpenes’ powerful capabilities.

Terpenes in Cannabis

A 2018 study out of the University of Eastern Finland that examined present terpenes in cannabis and hops found that “terpenes’ beneficial properties are supported by numerous in vitro, animal and clinical trials and show soothing, supportive attributes.” Because of their low toxicity, terpenes are already being used as food and beauty additives.

Common terpenes include Limonene (possessing a lemony scent), that’s known to help support overall emotional wellness, Pinene (possessing a piney scent), that’s known to help ease feelings of discomfort and tension, and others that your nose likely comes across daily in common perfumes and colognes.

Harnessing Beneficial Terpenes

Blue Forest Farms’ farmers and lab scientists have spent years developing an intricate knowledge of plant terpenes, and how to harness the most beneficial “terps”. We’ve even started developing our own high-CBD boutique hemp strains, like Queen Dream. Our Queen Dream cultivar is a cross between the legendary Wife train that we grew in our 1st hemp crop, and the R5 also known as the T1, which is a unique cultivar that has a Charlottes web R4 parent. with a terpene profile of sweet bread with fuel and citrus undertones from a-Bisablol, a-Humulene, Caryophylene, and several other minor terpenes. We have seen levels as high as 12% to 15% in CBD, with a THC percent under 0.30%.

Common terpenes found in Cherry Wine include Myrcene, Caryophyllene, and Geranyl Acetate. Our strains are proprietary and only available through BFF. Get your Cherry Wine seeds here.

Resources:

Department of Environmental and Biological Sciences, University of Eastern Finland (UEF), Finland; Department of Physics and Mathematics, UEF, Finland. Electronic address: tarmon@uef.fi. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/30096653
Sangita Kumari, Sachin Pundhir, Piyush Priya, Ganga Jeena, Ankita Punetha, Konika Chawla, Zohra Firdos Jafaree, Subhasish Mondal, Gitanjali Yadav, EssOilDB: a database of essential oils reflecting terpene composition and variability in the plant kingdom, Database, Volume 2014, 2014, bau120, https://doi.org/10.1093/database/bau120