Innovation & Technology

Back to the Roots Reintroduces Misunderstood Hemp to Home Growers

Continuing its mission to “undo food” and recently named to Fast Company’s prestigious World’s Most Innovative Companies List for 2019, Back to the Roots today launched The Organic Hemp Starter Grow Kit, the first-ever hemp grow-at-home kit.

By Sustainable Brands | Published 5 years ago | About a 3 minute read

Image: Back to the Roots

The hemp home-grow kit is intended to educate and teach families about the history and healing benefits of hemp. The limited, special-edition grow kit joins the Back to the Roots product line to honor and celebrate annual, globally recognized forthcoming Earth Day. As a leader in organic food and indoor gardening, Back to the Roots is making it accessible and fun to grow and learn about the historical crop through this educational grow kit.

“Hemp is one of the most nutritious and healing food sources available – rich in protein, healthy oils and fiber — and we hope this kit inspires more people to incorporate this incredible plant into their daily lives,” says co-founder and co-CEO Alejandro Velez. “And it’s such a versatile cooking ingredient and can be used in so many delicious recipes — from teas, to smoothies, to baked goods, and so much more.”

With the recent passing of the 2018 U.S. Farm Bill, Back to the Roots will reintroduce hemp to consumers as a functional plant food known for a variety of benefits for overall health and wellness. The Organic Hemp Starter Grow Kit comes complete with non-GMO hemp seeds, nutrient-rich soil, plant pots; and a Hemp Discovery Book, which includes a brief history of hemp (dating back to 8000 BC), along with a guide about its many functional uses and nutritional benefits.

“With so much happening around CBD, we thought it was needed to have someone come in more from an educational standpoint, because there are so many misconceptions about hemp and its history — we’re thrilled to be able to help a new generation rediscover the incredible hemp plant,” co-founder and co-CEO Nikhil Arora said via email. “We've been learning about the amazing qualities of hemp (sustainable construction material, strong fibers, biofuel, plastics, and of course, nutrition) for some time, and with the passing of the Farm Bill, we thought this was the right time to help raise awareness about it through the Back to the Roots product/learning lens.

“Used for thousands of years as food, fuel and fiber, hemp was a cornerstone of civilization. Now, after nearly half a century of suffering from a case of mistaken identity, hemp can be grown again and we’re so excited to launch this hemp home-grow kit to help America learn about its incredible history and benefits.”

When asked how home growers with a small starter kit could best utilize hemp, Arora said: “Yes, you would need to grow more hemp to really use the seeds for extracting meaningful oils for pure culinary purposes, but you can use the leaves for teas and process the seeds/flowers into small oils, salad toppings, etc.”

Since founding the company in 2009, Back to the Roots has been gaining momentum toward its mission to reconnect people to food with a growing range of products designed to reintroduce consumers — particularly children — to simple, wholesome, home-grown food. The company’s product line now includes grow-your-own mushroom kits, an aquaponic herb garden, self-watering tomato and pepper planters and herb gardens in a can. The Organic Hemp Starter Grow Kit is a limited-time, special-edition product with only 1,000 units being sold initially. But thanks to partnerships with The Home Depot, Target and Whole Foods, Back to the Roots’ existing line of indoor gardening kits can be found in over 1,100 US stores nationwide.

And thanks to an exclusive licensing agreement with Nature’s Path — the world’s largest organic breakfast company — Back to the Roots’ organic, four-ingredients-or-less cereals can be found in every school cafeteria across the US.