Artisan ice cream is taking off on Oahu, with well-established ice cream makers continuing to grow and thrive alongside new shops that are sprouting up around the isle.
Approaches to the frozen scoops are as diverse as the folks who make them. One shop owner has brought an international perspective to his desserts, while another stays true to his locavore values.
Here is but a miniscoop of Oahu’s ice cream scene:
COLDFYYRE
1221 Kapiolani Blvd.; 387-0705; $4 per scoop. Open 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.
Gerry Nakashima launched his all-natural line nine years ago at a Kailua farmers market, making him one of the island’s first artisan ice cream makers, committed to fresh, local ingredients in his from-scratch products.
In late October Nakashima opened his first bricks-and-mortar shop, expanding beyond the scoops, floats and cookie sandwiches for which the brand is known. Now his line includes sundaes, affogatos and upscale ice cream cakes, plus local espresso and basic meals of chili and curry loco mocos.
“That’s the reason I opened a brick-and-mortar — so I can do all this stuff,” he said.
Through the expansion, what has stayed constant is ColdFyyre’s emphasis on farm-to-table products.
“Eight years ago, when I found out I could get local cream, I started using it,” he said. Coldfyyre’s cream is from Big Island and Cloverleaf dairies. “It’s way better than the stuff I got at Costco — the cream is super rich.”
He noted that while the FDA requires that products contain at least 12 percent butterfat to be called ice cream, his line has more than double that — “it’s in the high 20s.”
Nakashima also attributes the quality of his product to egg yolks and fresh ingredients, including banana, lilikoi and vanilla from Kahuku Farms; strawberries from Kula Country Farms, when available; pumpkin from Aloun Farms; lemon from Waimanalo Country Farms (for a winning lemon sorbet); and pure Kona coffee from Keopu Coffee. But perhaps the most interesting item is freeze-dried sea asparagus from Olakai Hawaii, used in the Hawaiian Green Sea ice cream, which Nakashima refers to as “Hawaii matcha.” Indeed, the flavor is reminiscent of a mellow matcha with a touch of saltiness.
Nakashima developed his farm-to-table values when he started test-marketing his product at the Hawaii Farm Bureau’s Kailua market.
“I made friends with farmers, and it occurred to me to incorporate their ingredients in my ice cream,” he said. “The quality of our ice cream went up immeasurably.”
Now when he sells his ice creams, he promotes the farms as well.
Nakashima is a trained pastry chef, so the items served alongside the ice cream, such as cookies, brownies and croissants, are made from scratch. Nakashima also makes his own caramel and syrups for his frappes and lattes.
“Because of my pastry background, I wanted to make ice cream the way a pastry chef would make it: from scratch, no mixes.”
BUTTERFLY ICE CREAM
Salt at Our Kakaako, 324 Coral St.; 429-4483; butterflycreamery.com; $5 per scoop. Open 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
After a 20-year career in ice cream for Nestle in Switzerland, Poland, Hungary, the Philippines and Singapore, C.C. Foo decided to venture out on his own. It took him seven years to find the right spot and a year to open, but now visitors to Salt in Kakaako can sample his seasonal, small-batch frozen treats at Butterfly Ice Cream.
The shop offers 18 flavors of ice cream and sorbet daily. While most are rotated among Foo’s 80 recipes, there are mainstays.
“I try to always have the popular ones: vanilla bean, strawberry, Kona coffee, brownie butter, black sesame. People will call when they aren’t there, and they’re angry,” he said with a chuckle.
Specialties include adults-only alcohol-infused ice creams. Recently in rotation were a Stagg Jr. Bourbon Manhattan, dark chocolate with Lagavulin scotch, lemon daiquiri, Irish cream and rum raisin, with raisins soaked in Bacardi rum.
Foo said alcoholic ice creams are tricky to make.
“Alcohol has a low freezing point, meaning it does not freeze easily. So you have to add in just the right amount. If you add too much, the ice cream becomes soft and mushy; too little and you can’t taste the alcohol. It’s a fine balance.”
Butterfly is definitely a spot for purists. Said Foo, “This shop does not serve ice cream with toppings. Sauces and sprinkles dilute the true tastes of ice cream. Here we emphasize the true flavors.”
8 HALF DESSERTS
3434 Waialae Ave.; 630-0184; 8halfdesserts.com; $4.25 per scoop. Open 3 to 8 p.m. Mondays to Thursdays, 3 to 10 p.m. Fridays, 12:30 to 10 p.m. Saturdays, 12:30 to 6 p.m. Sundays.
The possibilities are endless at 8 Half Desserts if you’re an adventurous eater. Owner Robert Borling, a trained chef, is a creative soul who will try to meet any flavor challenge.
“We have a live menu,” he said. “The other day, I made a coconut curry flavor.”
Borling has hundreds of recipes, though his ice cream case has room for just 23 flavors at a time. He usually produces 6-gallon batches, sometimes switching out flavors midday. And since he understands the fickle nature of taste buds, Borling encourages sampling, readily scooping out tastings of everything on hand.
That includes the mango-shoyu cream, a flavor that put 8 Half Desserts on the map. Cream is a category Borling created, with less dairy than ice cream, in this case mango-flavored with a drizzle of shoyu. Word of mouth brought not just locals to the shop to taste, but folks from across the globe.
Borling isn’t shy about his savory, spicy and sour treats, often using seasoned salt, furikake and the like for such flavors as ume, jalapeno roasted garlic pepper cheese and white peach Tabasco sauce.
And in line with his inclusive approach, he also created various frozen treats for those who struggle with dairy: sorbets (dairy free); gummy yummys, a thicker sorbet with the texture of ice cream; as well as his creams.
Get these treats in cups, cones, as pies and sandwiched between homemade pastries and cookies.
BLACK SHEEP CREAM CO.
94-1235 Ka Uka Blvd. (near Costco Waipio); @blacksheepcreamco on Instagram; $4.50 per scoop. Open 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily.
Tasi Reid opened Black Sheep Cream Co. last year in Waipio, the first artisan ice cream shop in Central Oahu.
The shop uses real cream and top-quality ingredients such as fine chocolate, imported caramel and local items, when available, such as lilikoi. Flavors incorporate decadent items such as chunks of cake baked in-house (Buttah Cakes) and homemade maple bacon brittle (I Like Pig Butts and I Cannot Lie).
“Ice cream is meant to be indulgent,” said Reid. “We use real cream, and we don’t hold back on fat, etc. Being a black sheep, we’re not trying to be healthful.”
She is especially proud of the shop’s ice cream “flights” — any four flavors of ice cream alongside fudge or caramel sauce. The flights are particularly popular with parents who let each of their children select a flavor.
The influence of Reid’s family is inherent in Black Sheep. She comes from a family of foodies who don’t have ordinary potlucks. Instead, they set up sushi bars where everyone can assemble their own creations. And they’ve made their own ice cream — those recipes were the foundation for many Black Sheep flavors. Reid has dozens of other recipes and continues to develop more with the input of staff.
Then there is the site of the shop, in a humble strip mall bordering the Costco Waipio parking lot.
“My mom owned a smoothie store when I was in elementary school, and that site was her very first location. So when the space opened up, I thought, ‘Oh my God, I need to be there.’”
