Ice Cream In Earnest
With Summer 2016 now officially upon us, it is time for some ice-cream. Why not go local? Some ‘seriously good’ ice-cream would be appreciated. Can the Vancouver ice-cream makers at Earnest live up to their tagline?
The product is charmingly presented, that’s for sure. Flavours like Bourbon Peach, Cardamom, Tahitian Vanilla and Whisky Hazelnut are offered in instant-gobble waffle cones or reusable glass pint jars. But, are the innards as seriously good as advertised?
They are. Last night, we scooped into Salted Caramel, one of their most popular flavours, according to regulars at the Fraser Street location. This deeply caramelized sugar paired with Vancouver Island sea salt is, like all of their offerings, made in small batches. The result is creamy candy goodness.
The lactose intolerant among us tried the Vegan Chocolate. Vegan ice-cream is a tricky business. Usually the soy or coconut overwhelms. Not so for the Earnest. We left our scoops sitting at room temperature for a few minutes and by the time we dug in, the ice-cream was velvety smooth with a clear dark chocolate base.
Earnest Ice Cream was launched by friends Ben Ernst and Erica Bernardi in 2012. They saw a gap in the market for high-quality, local ice cream. “Ice-cream is, at its essence, it’s just this perfect blank slate that you can incorporate any flavour that your imagination dreams up.” As two serious cyclists, it is fitting that they started selling ice-cream sandwiches from a tricycle.
In this Andrew Norton video, we learn more about how and why it is that Ernst and Bernardi started Earnest Ice Cream.
From the start, Ernst and Bernardi have valued seasonal, community ingredients and sustainable, small batch practices. You might have first seen them at Farmers’ Markets. Now they are in retail stores and have their own locations at 24th and Fraser and 2nd and Quebec. You can still hunt down their Scoop Truck as it makes its way from Trout Lake to Kitsilano to Downtown.
These days, Earnest’s Regular flavours include London Fog, with its Earl Grey tea and vanilla, Matcha Green Tea or Turkish Coffee, made with Cardamom, rose water and Matchstick’s Bulldog Espresso .
Seasonal flavours include Blackberry Coriander, Gingerbread, Rum & Egg Nog rounded out with nutmeg and vanilla and Strawberry Basil.
Seriously good? This ice-cream is, in earnest.
Written by Elizabeth Newton
www.creatorsvancouver.com
