Savory terps are making a comeback with weed smokers. Though candy may be the dominant branch of cannabis flavor on the shelves right now, there’s something happening lately when you bring a savory smoke to the sesh. People around the table take a sniff, get that nostalgic, Ratatouille look on their face, and say, “I’m really getting back into the peppery, funky strains.” Leading the charge, naturally, is our Leafly Highlight for April, GMO Cookies.

For many smokers, GMO Cookies represent that full profile of something savory, stanky, and ready to put you in the dirt. Called “one of the wildest terp mixes I’ve smelled,” people pick up everything from sauteed garlic to dirty diapers! It’s one of the top 25 most viewed strain pages out of the over 8,000 listings here on Leafly and is included in the 100 most prevalent strains in stores from coast to coast.

GMO Cookies, also called Chem Cookies or just GMO, is Chem D crossed with GSC. Over a thousand smokers have dropped a review here on Leafly, giving it an impressive score of 4.7 out of 5 stars. Looking through the stack, it’s almost overwhelming how many expressed finding relief from pain related issues. There were those who swore by this strain as their pre-bedtime snack and others who preferred the effects for days when there’s nothing to do.

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Who’s baking those GMO Cookies?

A popular strain to grow and to breed with, you can find GMO Cookies in a whole universe of options in the US, including strain-specific gummies, top shelf flower, and even old-school hash.

Illionois has Aeriz with their aeroponically-grown flower for $76.

Washington-based Art Cannabis sells eighths of flower that features packaging designed entirely by local artists for under $35 an eighth.

In California, Nasha offers traditional pressed hash for $40, (perfect for sprinkling on a bowl of flower).

Colorado’s Dialed In Gummies offer strain-specific GMO gummies for $55 that have both Lemon Mist and Appletini flavors in one package.

GMO Cookies seeds

A mixture of Chem D and GSC (AKA the artist formerly known as Girl Scout Cookies), history books attribute the original creation of this plant to seeds released by Mamiko Seeds from Spain, pheno-hunted and selected by Skunkmasterflex, the father of Skunk House Seeds. It would later go on to be sold under the name Chem Cookies, however reports say Skunkmasterflex gave it the title GMO in reference to the then recent discovery of a popular cookie brand using GMO ingredients. Others say the name references the way the plant grows.

GMO has helped create some outstanding crosses including Garlic Juice (GMO x Papaya) from Oni Seeds’Harry Palms, as well as Skunk House Genetics own Burger line. This includes the well known Han-Solo Burger (GMO x Larry OG), and Donny Burger (GMO x Han-Solo Burger) strains.

GMO strain awards

The legacy of this strain starts with its victory as Best Indica at the Midwest Cannabis Cup, where it went on to be named one of High Times’ top 10 strains of 2017. In 2019 GMO secured both 4th in Mixed Light and 7th place Sungrown in the 2019 Emerald Cup as well as 20th place for Sungrown and 7th place live resin cartridge in 2020 as well. 

GMO terpenes

Even though most people assume it will taste like garlic mushroom and onion, the terms earthy and peppery are used a lot to describe the savory of this strain. Not surprising considering the dominant terpene here is Caryophyllene along with a heaping helping of Myrcene. 

Other highlights this April

Can’t find any GMO Cookies near you? Here’s three more super-strong picks for 4/20.

Pure Michigan

Hugely popular with Oregon growers, Pure Michigan is a wonderful strain that’s got a reputation for uplifting effects to get the party started in social situations. Created by Thug Pug and 3rd Coast Genetics, it’s a mix of Oreoz and Mendo Breath that surprisingly has a flavor profile that’s fruity and astringent. 

Cap Junky

A Capulator and Seed Junky combo released back in 2021, this Alien Cookies x Kush Mints #11 has gone on to win first place at Michigan’s 2022 Connoisseurs Cup, take a coveted runner-up position for Leafly’s 2023 Strain of The Year, and helped create the 3rd Place winner for Full Melt at the 2024 Ego Clash EU. Cap Junky smells like sour fruit rind with hints of pepper, and gas. This maximum-THC cultivar is known for an intense, long-lasting euphoric effect.

Apples & Bananas

Created by Compound Genetics and Cookies, this one is a bit of a mouthful when it comes to the lineage. First Platinum Cookies was crossed with Grandaddy Purple, then that was crossed with Blue Power and the resulting plant was mixed with Gelatti. Apples and Bananas has dominant flavors that include Apple and Pear, along with effects like happiness and euphoria. Beautiful to look at, and a joy to smoke, the batch grown by Sativa Engineering was one of the best joints we smoked during Spannabis 2024. 

We hope this gets you ready for the onslaught of “holiday” deals and bargains that will soon be banging at the door of your inbox and social feeds. No April Fools day trick, this is the dawning of the battle, so oil your grinder, stock up on papers and make sure to change the water in the bong, because it’s time to take to the streets proclaiming loudly and with your whole chest, happy 420.

The author of the popular marriage advice book “Mating in Captivity” believes a little jealousy can jolt a relationship out of a rut. Well, don’t knock it if you haven’t tried it—our Leafly HighLight for love month is our Leafly Strain of the Year 2022, Jealousy.

Jealousy is the perfection of Gelato, a dominant varietal in weed. She’s easy on the eyes—dark purple with dapples of bright green on these big, bulbous, weighty, and dense nugs.

Reviewers get giggly, chatty, and energetic on this 20%+THC hybrid. She’s the 16th most viewed strain page on Leafly, and in the top 100 for dispensary menu penetration nationwide. Folks order Jealousy up by the thousands each month on Leafly, with 30% of reviewers using it for anxiety.

“This strain is like a Sunday drive on a picture-perfect beach highway in an anime or in California or something,” says one reviewer.

Jealousy rocks a review score of 4.6 out of 5 after 246 reviews, with 18,292 faves. Jealousy’s balanced hybrid effects go great with getting creative, cooking, eating, and partying.

Who’s got Jealousy? Best Jealousy weed batches in the US

Overall, we see Leafly Strain of the Year 2022 growing strong coast to coast in joints, hash joints, hash dabs, and so much more.

Here in Cali, tasty Wox live resin runs just $19 a gram, and $27 a Pax pod.

Oregon loves its infused Jealousy joints and live resin carts. Get the $30 Oregrown Jealousy Mints. 

In Washington, send for Falcanna’s Lemon Jealousy joint 2-packs for $12, or the Upstate Elevator Operators $30 rosin grams.

Denver, CO has Cherry Jealousy, while Albuquerque, NM has Banana Jealousy and London Jealousy on shelves. Chicago has 228 options for the strain, many from the grower FloraCal.

In Miami, Jealousy live sugar extract from Cresco runs $59, and the budding legal NYC scene has Jealous Mints from FlowerHouse. 

Jealousy seeds

Bred by Seed Junky Genetics of LA, Jealousy is Sherb bx1 x Gelato #41. It’s also the 2022 Leafly Strain of the Year— so it’s super-hot to breed with. 

I’d start with the Sin City Seeds Infatuation (Jealousy Bx x Blue Power IX2), or the Skunk House Genetics Jealous Mike (Jealousy x Mike & Larry V2). 

Ethos has a Banana Jealousy Auto RF3 that you can set and forget. And the new breeder Underworld debuted on Neptune Seedbank with Jealousy F3 S1.

Jealousy awards

We’re proud to see Jealousy take a trophy in Arizona in 2023, and its offspring Permanent Marker became Leafly Strain of the Year 2023. 

Budtenders loved Jealousy in our Budtender’s Choice Survey, and it also went into the top strains of the harvest like Adios MF.

Jealousy terpenes

The top aromatic oils in Jealousy appear to be caryophyllene, limonene, and myrcene—which do not fully account for its creamy-berry-gassy GelatoX100 nose. But it does have the gas of caryophyllene, the fruit of limonene, and the dankness of myrcene in there.

More highlights for February

Let’s keep the tasty weed picks going this short month.

Papaya

This suggestive-looking fruit is also among the leading strains for making hash in the US. We can’t pin down the breeder and origin of the current Papaya dominating hash competitions, but the tropical smell and hybrid effects are very clear.

Forbidden Fruit

Eve bites one bad apple in the Garden of Eden and we all have to work for a living? Boo! Smooth over cosmic disagreements with this medical-era California cross of breeder Jigga’s Cherry Pie and Crockett’s Tangie. Good Forbidden Fruit stains your fingers with grapefruit, tropical mango-smelling resin. Its sleepy, hungry effects provide what anxiety sufferers love.

And that’s it for February’s HighLight. Keep notifications on for our ‘Best seeds and clones to grow in 2024.’ Plus, our ‘Top 12 weed strains that bang for 2024 and beyond.’

Peace and love!

Holy shinobi, Batman! Leafly HighLight has entered Year Three of celebrating all-star strains of American dispensaries. The Leafly HighLight Hall of Flame now boasts 24 entries!

So, where we do take it from here? Well, we run it back, and find another Top 200 strain on dispensary shelves you have to know about. Just in time to begin anew, we start with the undisputed champion of sales that’s also perfect for easing back into the work year: Blue Dream.

First timers—explore Blue Dream’s balanced hybrid effects that won’t make you loopy. Experienced smokers—don’t even hate. Respect the scoreboard. It’s the No. 1 most-ordered strain on Leafly in December for a reason. A population larger than the island of Guam has favorited Blue Dream on Leafly.

This classic ‘90s cross of DJ Short’s Blueberry x Haze mellows anxiety without sapping your energy or focus. Coming out of Santa Cruz, CA, Blue Dream offers the Cali Sober solution to Dry January’s stressors.

Leafly reviewers report getting creative, uplifted, and energetic on the Haze cross. Exemplars of the strain smell like an actual blueberry when you grind them—which is the damnedest thing.

One reviewer writes: “All of a sudden, I felt as if I was briskly cruising on a warm cloud, which was followed by an amazing burst of energy. Folks let me tell you, if you’d ever like to find out how an eagle feels when it spreads its majestic wings and takes to the air at 80 mph., this strain is a kickass tool to take you there.”

Who’s got Blue Dreams? Best Blue Dreams in the US

Blue Dream’s an undisputed beast in the garden and blankets the country in soft, grassy blueberry smells. But quality varies—which explains why Blue Dream sports an average score of 4.3 out of 5 after more than 14,500 ratings. 

You see Blue Dream a lot in vape cartridges and commodity crops that don’t always showcase the classic. Growing top-shelf Blue Dream is a labor of love at California brands like Ember Valley and Korova. 

In December, we bought superb Blue Dream in California grown by Seven Leaves at Moe Greens in San Francisco. Defying critics, the brand Dream exhibited at The Ego Clash 2023 with phenomenal jars of Blue Dream sitting right alongside hype cultivars Uva and Cherry Gas.

Pax sells it in a live rosin pod, while Raw Garden sells it in live resin. 

Portlanders in Oregon have 353 Blue Dream options with grams hitting $3. In Seattle, there are 656 options, and Have a Heart alone sells 34 Blue Dream SKUs. 
Denverites in Colorado have 313 options, including joints starting at $5 and edible aphrodisiac Love Beans. Chicagoans have 249 Blue Dream choices—nearly all carts. Detroiters have 126 options—mostly carts. Even newly legal New Yorkers have 103 Blue Dream options, including the gold standard Pax Live Rosin pod.

Blue Dream seeds

The Blue Dream seed game is a global free-for-all, and gardeners have their pick from outlets all across the reputability spectrum. 

We’d look into DJ Short’s Blueberry work on SeedsHereNow, or Humboldt Seed Company’s feminized or auto Blue Dream. We grew Equilibrium Genetics’ Blue Dream Bx and it threw down!

See also: Blue Dream seeds from North Atlantic, Blimburn, and Fast Buds. For crosses, look at this Lemon Trance, and this Andorian.

Blue Dream awards

Like a weed Lebron James, King Blue Dream keeps putting up wins in the roaring 2020s. A Blue Dream took bronze in Maryland in 2023. A Blue Dream live rosin pod with diamonds from PAX took home a gold in 2022. A Blue Dream HHC pen from 3CHI took a first in 2022. Blue Dream live resin gummies from Kiva/Camino/Lost Farm took gold in 2020, and silver in 2021. The wins stretch back for decades: 2014, 2017 and on.

Blue Dream terpenes

Where does the smell of Blue Dream come from? The average results from lab samples labeled ‘Blue Dream’ indicate a lot of myrcene plus pinene and caryophyllene. We see the same top three terps in Blueberry and its cousins and vape juice formulations.

Other highlights this January

Bored of Blue Dream already? Here are three more go-to flavors for sticking to fitness goals in 2024.

Lemon Thai

Kick it even more old school and energetic with some Lemon Thai—a citrusy sativa with a similarly mild taste as Blue Dream. A cross of Thai and Hawaiian.

Mimosa

Keep it Cali Sober with the balanced Sunday morning strain Mimosa—the perfect mix of orangey and effervescent. A cross of Clementine and Purple Punch.

Animal Face

Attention all gas lovers—smoke this before you crush a strength training workout. So goodbye to boredom when you put on your minty, diesely, potent Animal Face. A cross of Face-off OG and Animal Mints.

And that’s the January 2024 Leafly HighLight. We’re stoked for a huge year of celebrating the all-stars of the cannabis cosmos, so download the app, and put the weed in the basket.

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