Forbidden Fruit is a badder from Chameleon Extracts, made from the Cherry Pie and Tangie cultivar the company created in Santa Clara. The same Bay Area outfit bred the plant and runs the extraction, so the jar and the genetics share one home.
The cross came from Joseph of Chameleon Extracts. He pollinated a Tangie mother with Cherry Pie pollen from Jigga, the breeder behind Girl Scout Cookies and Gelato. Out of 37 phenotypes, he kept a single purple plant.
Tangie mother, Cherry Pie pollen
The mother was a Tangie cut from Crockett Family Farms, a family plant with roots in the mid-1990s. Leafly describes Tangie as a sativa from California Orange and Skunk-1. It calls the line a remake of the Tangerine Dream that growers chased in that decade.
Cherry Pie supplied the other half. Cannigma credits Jigga with making it from Granddaddy Purple and Durban Poison. Jigga's Gelato work runs through cuts such as Gelato #33, which Leafly credits to the Cookies Fam and Sherbinskis.
That combination still turns up elsewhere. Tropicana Cookies also builds on Tangie, crossing it with GSC, while Cherry Fritter puts Cherry Pie together with Apple Fritter.
One purple keeper from 37 phenotypes
Joseph told Cannabis Now that the first cross threw 37 phenotypes. He kept the one that showed purple from the start. It had the look of Cherry Pie and, in his words, tasted like Tangie all the way through.
He then backcrossed to Cherry Pie two more times to push potency and bring out cherry character. The result became the keeper clone that carries the Forbidden Fruit name.
Leafly describes the finished flower as dense, with deep purple hues, dark green foliage and wiry orange hairs. It lists myrcene, caryophyllene and limonene as the main terpenes and records Purple Obeah as an alternate name.
A cut that got away
Chameleon first handed the cut to select cultivators. Joseph told Cannabis Now that it fell into the wrong hands. He had brought a plant to a private session and gave it to the wrong person.
By 2017, weak versions were turning up at cannabis competitions. Joseph blamed growers who overfed the plant, arguing the genetics are strong enough that no one needs to push them.
The cut has also moved into the seed and clone trade. Pig Tail Gardens sells Forbidden Fruit as a Spannabis 2019 cup winner. It credits Joseph of Chameleon Extracts in Santa Clara and lists an 8–9 week flowering time.
Growing the plant behind the badder
Joseph pitches it as a hardy plant. Pig Tail Gardens quotes him saying you can put it in the ground, hit it with a garden hose and be very happy with the results.
Cannigma rates it medium difficulty and low maintenance, with resistance to pests and mold. It lists yields around 3 ounces per square foot indoors and about 15 ounces per plant outdoors, with plants typically reaching 20–30 inches.
Leafly classes Forbidden Fruit as an indica and tags its effects as relaxed, sleepy and tingly, with deep physical calm. Chameleon carries that house cultivar into its badder, keeping breeding and extraction under one name.