STC on IndieGoGo

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Savor The Chill on IndieGoGo

Getting Legit

Savor the Chill now has an awesome, (and super metal), logo. Many thanks go out to Matt Gauck. Make sure you check him out. He's good people.

Berry Your Dead

Turned these amazing blueberries...

Into this...

The end result is sure to be delicious.

An Update For Update's Sake

Haven't had a whole lot of time to work on any ice cream. Paperwork has been keeping me busy. However, this means Savor The Chill is getting close to being fully licensed and insured. I find this incredibly exciting.

I am also working on putting together a fundraiser to buy some equipment and fund some time in a commercial kitchen. The incredible Matt Gauck is finishing up the logo. I can't wait to see the art and move forward with a new face to the company. As a fellow vegan, Matt has been incredibly helpful. It makes me happy to know that I will soon be able to contribute to the vegan community here in Portland.

The fundraiser will have some awesome incentives for donors. I am working with some amazing illustrators to produce some badass merch. There will be die-cut stickers, buttons and/or button sets, t-shirts, or some free vegan doughnuts made by yours truly.

Oh, yeah... I have decided to alter the menu for the truck a bit. I am adding home-made hot chocolate, and fresh brewed coffee. Awesome.

I recently discovered a fruit that is both confusing and delicious. While looking for something interesting to make my first sorbet with I came across Pluots.

They are AMAZING.

The result was the best thing I have made so far. A bit tart with a plum aftertaste. So good.

Melt Banana

The other day I bought a bunch of fruit and played with some flavor ideas. The first one required a lot of bananas.

I ended up with some delicious roasted banana and molasses ice cream.

Delicious. More experiments to follow.

White Chocolate Zombie

While surfing the web the other day, I decided to look at vegan white chocolate items. I was looking for something that didn't have a lot of strange ingredients, preferably in bar form, and something that would melt easily. Oh, and if it didn't taste like wax, that would be pretty awesome too. Luckily, I found exactly that by Plamil Organics on veganessentials.com.

It has been easily 4 years since the last time I had eaten white chocolate, but I liked what I tasted. I bought three 3.5 oz bars, and stuck one in the freezer to break into chunks later. The other two I chopped up and threw into my heat safe bowl for melting.

To start the base for the ice cream I decided to use hemp milk.

I poured 4 cups of hemp milk into a sauce pan, and then added 3 tbsp. of dried peppermint I picked up at Penzey's Spices, which just happens to be super close to work. To that I added 1/2 cup of raw agave.

I brought the liquid up to a simmer, then poured it into a container to cool overnight. The next day I strained the the base into a measuring cup, and then poured it into my ice cream machine and turned it on for about 35 minutes. Once the ice cream was slightly thicker than soft serve, I pulled out the bucket and layered my pint containers with the white chocolate peppermint ice cream and the white chocolate chunks. I then let the ice cream "harden" in the freezer for about 3 hours before giving it a try.

I have to say it turned out quite tasty. My only complaint was the overpowering flavor of the hemp milk. I am sure it is delicious in other applications, but as a dairy alternative in ice cream, the taste is not a win in my book. However, after sitting overnight the peppermint really blossomed and evened the flavor out. Next time I will try almond milk or coconut milk. This is why we test things.

From A Food Truck to Ice Cream

I have always loved food. It took 23 years to realize it was something I wanted to pursue professionally.

I started washing dishes at a large brewery/restaurant in downtown Portland. After a while, it was obvious I was more interested in cooking than scraping food off of plates and I got to start working in the kitchen. That's when it clicked. This is what I wanted to do with my life.

Trouble is, I am vegan, and the restaurant I work at is most certainly not. Many of the techniques I was learning didn't really help when cooking for myself.

So I started buying cook books and working my way through them. Some of it turned out well, a lot of it didn't, but I found my palate expanding and my skills growing. I got excited about everything and anything new and interesting, and when I discovered the food cart scene in Portland I fell in love. Here was a group of people so passionate about their food that they were willing to spend endless hours prepping and then serving their food day after day in cramped trailers and food trucks.

I knew I eventually wanted to be a part of their innumerable ranks, but I also knew I needed to sharpen my skills to make the grade. I have been cooking pretty constantly for the last 3 years, doing a lot of experimenting. Vegan food requires a little bit of extra effort. Most people tend to have pretty serious preconceptions of what vegan food is and what it tastes like, and to prove their ideas correct is a disservice to vegans worldwide.

Being vegan isn't all granola and tofu. In fact, some of the best desserts I have ever had were vegan. But I have yet to find an vegan ice cream that truly satisfied my memories of ice cream made with dairy. So I started doing some research, buying books and searching the web. I found a few recipes that came close, but none that had the rich creaminess I remembered.

Through a lot of experimentation I finally discovered a way to make a vegan frozen dessert truly worthy of being called ice cream. I knew what I had stumbled upon needed to be shared with the world. However, there is a lot of work involved in turning this idea into a fully formed business.

In the meantime, I plan on testing new recipes, turning some of my favorite desserts and ingredients into delicious frozen desserts.

I have a feeling this is going to be a lot of fun.