HEMP ICE CREAM GIVES A HEALTHY, NOT HIGH, FIX

On these steamy summer days, it's not surprising to learn that the U.S.
Department of Agriculture estimates that each of us eats about 20 quarts of
ice cream a year.

But don't pity the lactose intolerant.

HempScream has hit the Dairy State, and just in time for national ice cream
month.

"A lot of people have stopped in since I put up my sign," Rich Ray, owner
of Hempen Goods and local distributor of HempScream products, said of the
orange neon advertisement in the window of his Williamson Street business.

Ray started selling the Hemp I Scream! Sandwich at Hempen Goods last month.

The Williamson Street Co-op began peddling the frozen hemp treats this
spring. Grocery manager Dean Kallas said the product has gained popularity
with the recent heat and sells just as well as other non-dairy frozen
desserts made from soy and rice.

Each store carries six flavors of the sandwich - mocha mint, unbleached
vanilla, double Dutch chocolate, jasmine flower, carob and mango love -
which retails for $3.35 to $4. Ray hopes to also sell pints of HempScream,
which retail for about $7, and expects to have the treats at some Madison
summer festivals.

While the product's price is higher than that of many frozen treats, Ray
and Kallas say that health foods often cost more. Many are produced in
small batches from hard-to-get ingredients. Such is the case with
HempScream, which is handmade from raw materials still illegal in this country.

Health-wise, hemp ice cream is a dessert that tastes sweet but isn't just
full of empty calories.

"Nutritionally, it really stands up," Kallas said.

Each ounce of HempScream provides one gram of complete protein, just a
little more than in an ounce of whole milk. Plus, the oil in hemp provides
essential fatty acids, or the good fats. And hemp is said to be easily
digestible.

No longer just "rope or dope," hemp food products have gained popularity
with the ecologically and nutrition-conscious for more than a decade. While
the plant is best known for its narcotic element, THC, you'd have to eat a
lifetime's worth of hemp ice cream or other hemp foods to get high.

Hemp-based ice cream has been available in England and other countries for
some time. England boasts the first hemp ice cream truck. And, other hemp
foods and snacks - from flour to oil to hemp seed flower pretzels and
health bars - are available at Hempen Goods and Willy Co-op as well.

As for HempScream, it's produced in Boulder, Colo., by Original Sources,
and made from hemp milk derived from water and flour milled from imported
hemp seeds. The milk is sweetened and flavored, then run through an ice
cream machine and served between two vegan hemp cookies.

Original Sources proprietor Agua Das said he developed HempScream in 1994
and recently started producing enough of the treat to equal the capacity of
a small creamery. The product is distributed widely in Colorado and is in
some Arizona markets as well as Madison. HempScream should be available in
Minneapolis and Chicago this summer.

"We've been having a wonderful time with it," Das said. "This is one of the
most successful hemp awareness campaigns we've had."