If you’re looking for more than a sugar rush from a baked good, Holly Teegarden’s business might be your new favorite sweet spot.
She runs Moodedibles, an online bakery specializing in hemp-derived edibles that will soon be popping up around Pittsburgh.
Inside a small commissary kitchen in Sewickley, the treats are made with CBD, Delta-8 THC and other minor cannabinoids that reportedly offer therapeutic, non-intoxicating benefits.
By June, her food trailer will be showing up around town, dispensing information along with goodies. It is already booked for the first and third Saturdays through October at the Terminal in the Strip District.
Teegarden says she’s not in the business of getting people messed up.
“I wanted to get it as pure as possible so somebody can experience the value of cannabis,” she says. “I really want to make sure we open ourselves up to people who might’ve never tried it before.”
All Moodedibles contain below the legal limit of THC (20 milligrams per dose), the psychoactive compound in marijuana that produces a high feeling. Folks adopting a “California sober” lifestyle believe a moderate intake of edibles and non-alcoholic spirits provide a better, more natural alternative to booze or prescription pills.
“People are looking for ways to change their moods without feeling the hangover the next day or doing other bad things to their bodies,” says Teegarden, who also runs Moodporium, a CBD wellness boutique at 559 Beaver St. in Sewickley. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Saturday.
You don’t need a medical marijuana card to make purchases from Moodporium or Moodedibles, but you must be 21 or older.
When Teegarden started selling a curated selection of edibles at her shop three years ago, many customers wanted to know which ones fit what they were looking for; some wanted the mental focus to finish a term paper or clean the house, while others were battling insomnia. Whether you need to relax, re-energize or recover, there’s an edible for that: cookies, brownies, fudge, s’mores and other desserts.
Teegarden, whose background is in analytics and marketing, started taking edibles years ago to help with anxiety, a sleep disorder and back pain. The terpenes, naturally occurring chemical compounds found in plants, synergize with the ingredients in the baked goods — lavender for relaxation, maca root to enhance passion and many others — and provide those mood-altering effects.
She hopes to one day have a full-service bakery that offers catering and educational classes on the often-confusing world of cannabis.
“I’m a big fan of starting small and seeing what the appetite for the product is and going from there,” Teegarden says. “Since Covid, the food trailer business has had such a boom in Pittsburgh. It’s a good place to experiment.”
