Penny Ice Creamery LOVE

We were introduced to the Penny Ice Creamery during the Santa Cruz Food Tour. We were enamoured immediately. But last night, when we decided to brave the chaos of the Independent Marketplace just to get some Penny Ice Creamery goodness, they cemented themselves in my mind as THE BEST ICE CREAM EVER.

Penny Ice Creamery is a combined effort between Chef Kendra Baker, an award-winning pastry chef, and her business partner Zachary Davis. Their open kitchen and production room invite the community to take a look behind the scenes into their daily production; they are the only ice cream shop in Santa Cruz making small batches of ice cream completely from scratch, in-house everyday. Their flavors change with the seasons and feature locally farmed and organic ingredients.

A comment on their wild flavors. I took a peek at the flavor board in the open kitchen and saw some phenomenal combinations and stand-alone flavors, including Earl Grey, aprium, burnt cinnamon, chamomile-apricot, and whiskey. Not only are their flavors ‘wild’ as in outrageously creative; some of them are, literally, wild. I love that they utilize a professional forager. So, as the seasons shift, they create ice creams with what can be readily found on a day-hike. For example, I found out that we missed their candy cap mushroom by a month and I made a mental note to get up there in May next year!

At the Independent last night, they were scooping, into a cone because Penny Ice Creamery only offers ice cream in a cone as it’s the ultimate no-waste container: chocolate sorbet, strawberry straight up, Tahitian vanilla, coffee-chocolate-almond praline, and – what sent me over the edge from adoration to flat-out lust – fig with honey!

If you're local and you haven't had a chance to try out the Penny Ice Creamery, I think a field trip to Santa Cruz is on your to-do list before the summer ends.

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