My Favorite Ice Cream, Tara’s Organic

Fro-yo girl here. It feels odd to blog about ice cream but I just had to share my excitement about finding my favorite ice cream, Tara’s Organic Ice Cream (TOIC), at Canyon Market in SF. They had a few flavors in the freezer: black sesame, lavender, cardamom, and mango agave sorbet (12 ozs. for $8.99). Tara’s ice cream is made in small batches (2 - 4 gallons at a time) with the best organic ingredients with no emulsifiers or stabilizers. The roster includes 132 flavors of ice cream and sorbet, including unusual, sophisticated flavors like white pepper chocolate chip, epazote, cucumber basil and chocolate tarragon. 

* Cardamom ice cream: This could be my favorite ice cream flavor. It’s dense, firm and creamy and the taste is pure heaven, the best thing in the world...possibly as good as the best fro-yo. It’s the ice cream version of the amazing Indian sweet, soan papdi. The cardamom flavor is intense and it blends perfectly with milk, cream and sugar. Their cardamom just tastes better. It’s freshly ground for each batch.

Tara’s website lists the locations that carry TOIC in Northern California and they can ship via FedEx to any address in the continental US. If you can make it to their shops (in Berkeley and Oakland), hit the Berkeley location. It has more flavors (more to sample).

While you’re at Canyon Market, I also recommend picking up the butternut squash lasagna and smoked chicken spread from the deli case. The grilled cheese sandwiches on housemade bread are really good too. You can pick the cheese and bread you’d like.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.

* CANYON MARKET: 2185 Diamond St., San Francisco, CA

Eat Real Festival: Ice Cream Night Report

Fro-yo girl here. I returned to Ice Cream Friday at the Eat Real Festival looking for fro-yo. Yes, I know it's called Ice Cream Friday, but I thought I might run into fro-yo, yogurt gelato, or yogurt ice cream. I went earlier this time to avoid the crowds. Some of the same vendors returned this year and there were some new faces...but no fro-yo. I knew I would at least get some good ice cream because my favorite ice cream makers were there - Tara's Organic Ice Cream.

Ice cream/sorbet vendors:
* Ici Ice Cream: offered six flavors of ice cream (scoops) and ice cream sandwiches, tried a sour cherry ice cream that was nice but not sour at all, it was sweet and creamy with fresh cherry bits, sour cherry fro-yo is much better
* Scream Sorbet: interesting flavors like almond pink peppercorn and blackberry chocolate
* Noci gelato
* Gelateria Naia
* Laloo's: goat milk ice cream, I tried it last year, the goat milk flavor takes getting used to
* Straus: ice cream only
* Pepito's: Mexican ice cream, snow cones, paletas, saw tequila ice cream



* Tara's Organic: my favorite ice cream place but they didn't bring their best flavors, the 2 oz cup looks like a sample, plum ginger ice cream was intensely ginger, black sesame ice cream wasn't as strong as black sesame gelato but I really enjoyed the fresh sweet flavor of the black sesame, the ice cream cup was a bit melted and too soft though





* Smitten Ice Cream: I think it had the longest line but each order is made in front of you, so it takes longer to get your ice cream, also the contraption that they use probably caught people's attention, today they had one flavor, salted caramel with almond brittle topping ($2). It was a winner - the ice cream has a nice firm, creamy, smooth texture and the flavor had a hint of saltiness with this cinnamony-burnt sugar flavor that combined with the crunchy almond brittle, reminded me of Almond Roca (minus the chocolate, in ice cream form). I thought the process was just novelty but now I'm a fan and am looking forward to their Hayes Valley opening (mid-October). I like how they make their own gourmet toppings. It reminded me of fro-yo only without the yogurt flavor if that makes any sense. I wonder if they can make fro-yo with liquid nitrogen?

Of course I was thinking of fro-yo while eating ice cream.

You know you love me. X0 X0, fro-yo girl.