The history of Gelato

Timeline

1. Early 2000sMario Guzman, later Mr. Sherbinski, starts growing in a 6-by-5-foot space in his garage in San Francisco’s Sunset District.⁴
2. Around 2004–2007Sherbinski has been cultivating about 14 years by late 2018 and says he met Jigga and the Cookie Fam crew in the Sunset District about three years after he started, through a kickboxing training partner.⁵
3. Late 2000sJigga creates Girl Scout Cookies by crossing “F1 Durb” with Flo Rida OG; in 2008 a grower known as Ghost buys a cutting for $3,500 and the Forum Cut spreads from his circle.¹
4. Around 2012Sunset Sherbert is born by accident when a male Pink Panties pollinates a room of GSC females.¹
5. Feb 2014High Times profiles the Cookie Family, who have been breeding “for about five, six years”; during the visit they name a new cross “Gelato”.⁶
6. 2014Jigga and Mr. Sherbinski breed Gelato; Leafly’s genealogy says they made a female Sunset Sherbet produce pollen and used it on a GSC. Thin Mint Cookies wins Best Hybrid at the NorCal Medical Cannabis Cup.^1,7
7. Nov 2016High Times ranks Gelato #10 among the strains of 2016, credits Sherbinski415 and Jigga415, and reports that the Cookie Fam has selected five standout phenotypes.⁸
8. Dec 2018Leafly names Gelato its first Strain of the Year: in November, visitors spent nearly 435,000 hours on its strain page.^2,9
9. Apr 2019Sherbinskis makes a blend with Beboe for Barneys New York’s High End in Beverly Hills; GreenState counts Gelato mentions in more than 200 rap songs.⁴
10. Mar 2020Headset’s strain report ranks Gelato fourth in 2019 sales and in the top five of every inhalable category.³
11. 2020Runtz, Zkittlez × Gelato, is Leafly’s Strain of the Year.^9,10
12. 2024–2025The #3 flower strain in California two years running, with $16 million in January–November sales each year.^11,12
13. 2025#6 in Leafly dispensary orders nationwide.¹³
14. Sep 2026Top-selling strain in New Mexico, per The Marijuana Herald; Runtz leads Michigan and Sherbert leads Montana.¹⁴
15. 2016–2024The 1,792 state lab tests of Gelato flower in our dataset date from these years.¹⁵

Why it spread

It arrived with the dessert era. Leafly’s editors say GSC took the throne from OG Kush and ushered in the dessert strains, and Gelato was the Cookie Fam’s next hit, named like the rest of their line after a sweet.^6,16 Headset found it in the top five of every inhalable category by 2019, Leafly said it drew more five-star reviews than any other strain in 2018, and High Times called it, in 2023, likely the strain with the most impact on the cannabis of the past ten years.^2,3,17

Then it became a parent. Runtz (Zkittlez × Gelato), Ice Cream Cake and Gelato Cake (both with Wedding Cake), Biscotti, Jealousy and Gelonade all carry Gelato genetics, and Runtz and Jealousy went on to be Leafly Strains of the Year themselves.^{9,10,18,19,20,21}

The Sunset District

Both of Sherbinski’s famous strains come from a garage in San Francisco’s Sunset District, and Sunset Sherbert is named for the neighborhood and a childhood confection.⁴ By 2019 he managed more than 1 million square feet of cultivation in Mendocino County, Sacramento and Carpinteria, sold $160 hoodies on Sherbinskis.com, and had a sneaker collaboration that resold for $1,200 a pair.⁴

The disputed parts of the story

• Credit: Leafly’s genealogy and High Times name Jigga and Sherbinski together; Leafly’s crosses guide and Sherbinskis.com credit Sherbinski alone (see genetics).^1,8,21,22
• Date: 2014 in most accounts, but Leafly wrote “a few years ago” in 2018 and “over 10 years ago” in 2024, and a February 2014 High Times feature already records a Cookie Family cross being named Gelato.^1,2,6,21
• Awards: Leafly’s 2021 column says Gelato “won multiple Emerald Cups and Cannabis Cups” but names no years or categories, so none appear in the timeline above.⁷
• Pink Panties, the grandparent: Burmese × Larry OG in High Times’ 2018 interview and Leafly’s genealogy; OG Kush × Burmese Blackberry Kush in High Times’ 2023 piece.^1,5,17