A first-of-its-kind, free flowing, tasteless and odorless Hemp Bake Mix has led to the launch of The Hemp Bakers. The CBD baked goods line was created by 5 Generation Bakers (5GB), the producers of Jenny Lee Swirl Bread, and Hemp Synergistics, a biotech company specializing in hemp-based ingredients and consumer products. The cookies and brownies are 100% THC-free, made with all-natural ingredients and are free from hemp’s bitter taste.

According to research, they are one of the first major commercial bakeries (a perceived traditional bakery sold on QVC and available in over 4,000 US locations in 30 states, no less) getting into the CBD business prior to the long-awaited FDA regulations – making these products, their active ingredient, and the partnership unique. 

Company leaders shared their thoughts and insights with Bake.

Scott Baker, President, 5GB

How will CBD impact the industry? 

It’s a game changer and will create an entirely new segment for food manufacturers. Personal indulgences that become functional food.  That’s really exciting to me.  It will be similar to a product line extension but likely sold in an entirely different department.  Quite often, adding a new flavor or version of a product or brand results in a certain percentage of cannibalization. Adding CBD to an existing product will create an entirely new product all together.

Can you please share highlights of this two-year journey for the right ingredient?  

My wife is a triathlon coach and race director which put me in front of people who use food for fuel. Many midlife athletes embrace sport so that they can eat more freely and without guilt.  Being immersed in this culture helped me realize that my baked goods could be so much more than a guilty pleasure.  Why not bake something that replenishes and refuels athletes?  We initially wanted to develop a ‘recovery bread’ and our research indicated that including cannabinoids could maximize a food delivery system. The concept was so new in food manufacturing that all we had access to was raw hemp oils and pressed oil by-products.  The material was pungent and overpowering.  Additionally, despite our multiple requests, we were not able to obtain any testing or certification that it contained the level of CBD claimed.  More importantly, we couldn’t substantiate the material was THC free. While we were able to engineer some suitable and somewhat rankly flavorful ‘earthy’ breads, we just were not confident it would be an effective product on a consistent basis.

What makes The Hemp Bakers a standout product line?  

Frankly, the key feature that makes this product stand out is the fact that the product flavor profile does NOT stand out. I don’t want to bake anything unless it can be considered as some of the best tasting baked goods in the category.  These should taste GOOD, not different. Because these cookies and brownies are great tasting baked goods, they don’t make the consumer feel like they are eating a pot brownie. I just want our fans to enjoy a good cookie or brownie without the offtasting bitterness or turnoff of a strong hemp flavor. These products do just that.

Please share specifics of the baking process.

So simple there is nothing outside of normal baking procedures necessary. I simply add the Hemp Bake Mix as any other dry ingredient.  For both the Brownies and the Cookies, I add the powder in the very first step to ensure that the CBD is fully incorporated and consistent throughout the batter.  It’s really that easy.

Dan Kohler, CEO, Hemp Synergistics 

Can you please share the unique baking benefits of Hemp Bake Mix?

Existing hemp oils and powders made with chemical-filled nanotechnology produced bad tasting baked goods with inconsistent CBD levels. Hemp Bake Mix is a free-flowing powder that is all-natural, odorless and free of hemp’s bitter taste. It blends in perfectly with the other ingredients, just like adding salt or sugar, unlike the oily ingredient available by competitors that leaves residue and stains. With a limited impact on the flavor profile, a 100lb batch of product requires only about 3 oz. of the mix. 

How did the partnership come about?

Always looking to stand out in the industry, Scott Baker, the president of 5 Generation Bakers, was working on a way to be one of the first national bakeries to introduce CBD into their products. After years of searching for an ingredient that could provide certifiable levels of CBD in each item, but that would still produce delicious baked goods, he was about to give up - that was, until he was introduced to Hemp Synergistics. We had just produced our Hemp Bake Mix and it was exactly the ingredient that Scott was looking for. By combining 5GB’s century-old family recipes and Hemp Synergistics’ patent-pending hemp food ingredient, we’re on a mission to create the best tasting edibles in the world.