Vegan Ice Cream Shop Cajou Creamery Opens In Downtown Baltimore
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- A new ice cream store in Downtown Baltimore is giving Marylanders a taste of some very unique and internationally-inspired flavors made from plant-based ingredients.
"We're not your average ice cream shop," said Nicole Foster, co-founder of Cajou Creamery. "All of our flavors are inspired by the globe, we want to bring you the world on a spoon."
Foster and her husband Dwight Campbell opened their new store over the weekend. Each flavor is made from cashew milk and natural ingredients.
"The other stuff that's on the market... let's just say it has too many ingredients," said Campbell. "Too many ingredients that a five-year-old can't read. Put our label in front of a five-year-old and they'll tell you everything that's in it."
The two have been crafting and selling hundreds of different flavors for about six years and selling it at markets and to restaurants.
Some of their notable flavors include baklava, Kufli (an Indian dessert made with coconut and cardamom), sweet potato pie, blueberry cheesecake, guava cheesecake, cortadito (a Cuban espresso flavor), Mexican cacao (chocolate with cinnamon and nutmeg) and mango lassi.
"Our ice creams are basically places that we've been to, places that we've taken our kids. Native desserts that we've encountered that we love and we've taken back with us," said Campbell.
Campbell said they were started making the ice cream after they learned that their son was lactose intolerant. They also discovered that there were a lot of people around the world that could not eat dairy.
"A great percentage of the planet cannot digest dairy," he said. "We're here to give them that back."
The duo said they want to do more than sell unique ice cream flavors. They said they also say they want to help out the community and give former inmates a chance to have some ownership in their business.
"We've got a passion for hiring and training returning citizens so we want to give returning citizens not only a job opportunity but an opportunity at ownership of Cajou Creamery," said Foster.
This weekend Cajou Creamery is open Thursday and Friday from 1 p.m. until 7 p.m. and on Saturday and Sunday from 2 p.m. until 6 p.m.
For the shop's most up-to-date hours, visit https://cajoucreamery.com/.
