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This Baltimore-Based, Black-Owned Vegan Creamery Ships Ice Cream Straight to Your Door

Cool off this summer without leaving home with these sweet treats!

Horchata ice cream
Food & Drink

Horchata Ice Cream Courtesy of Cajou Creamery

Cool off this summer without leaving home with these sweet treats!

Cajou, pronounced Kah-ju, is the first and only plant-based creamery in the DMV, which if you didn’t know, includes DC, Maryland, and Virginia. Owned by married duo Nicole Foster and Dwight Campbell, this mission-driven business opened its storefront doors in August of 2021. This Black-owned, vegan creamery is all about real, scratch-made food in the form of better-for-you ice cream with easy-to-love, chef-driven flavors. Want more from this dairy-free ice cream joint? Here’s the scoop!

Cajou Creamery Features Globally Inspired Ice Cream

The creamery’s premium vegan ice cream starts with a creamy, handcrafted plant-based milk base. Each recipe then calls for responsibly sourced, nutrient-rich ingredients free from chemicals, artificial flavors, and fillers. The luxurious dairy-free ice creams are made in small batches channeling globally inspired flavors that represent the duo’s passion for travel and international cuisine. Cajou’s current collection of inclusive ice cream flavors includes Baklava (pistachio & coconut), Horchata (vanilla & cinnamon), Kulfi (coconut & cardamom), Cortadito (coffee), Mexican Cacao (chocolate), Cheesecake (vanilla & blueberry), and Sweet Potato (Southern pie). We’d like a pint of each, please!

“We started making handcrafted cashew milk ice cream for our kids,” Nicole Foster, co-founder of Cajou Creamery, told VegOut. “I was an attorney working in national health policy concerned about all the artificial tastes, textures, and ingredients in the dairy-free ice creams that were commercially available. Also, I found the flavors boring—how many chocolates and vanillas can you have? I took a raw food chef certification course and brought home a really rich recipe for cashew and almond milk ice cream. My partner, a chef, and I worked to perfect it to help manage our two sons’ lactose intolerance. When we got it right, we would send our children along with homemade pints to birthday parties. The pints became so popular that orders began to pile up. I seized the opportunity to create a line of handcrafted cashew milk ice cream in culturally curious flavors so communities of color could feel seen and represented for the first time on grocery shelves.”

Baklava ice cream

Baklava Ice Cream Courtesy of Cajou Creamery

This Black-Owned Vegan Ice Cream Shop Offers Nationwide Shipping

Here’s your sign to pop into Cajou Creamery and Café. But if you don’t live in Baltimore, you can still get your hands on this chef-driven, vegan ice cream. Pints can be found at Mid-Atlantic Whole Foods and other natural retailers from Maine to South Carolina. Plus, the brand also offers nationwide shipping! Imagine hand-packed, vegan ice cream delivered straight to your door. When purchasing online, the brand requires a four-pack minimum to improve the sustainability of shipping. With at least four opportunities to enjoy these creamy treats, we sure aren’t complaining!

Want even more from this Black-owned vegan ice cream brand? Ice cream lovers can join the Cajou Club. This dessert subscription features a discounted four-pint pack which includes both fan favorites and seasonal specials delivered right to you during the first week of each month. Three words: Sign us up!

Photo of Cajou Creamery Owners

Cajou Creamery Owners Dwight Campbell and Nicole Foster Courtesy of Cajou Creamery

Cajou Creamery is located at 411 N Howard St, Baltimore, MD 21201. The company’s hours are 12-6pm Wednesday through Sunday. For more from this plant-based ice cream brand, check out its website at CajouCreamery.com and follow along on Instagram and Facebook.

Anja Grommons

Anja Grommons

she/her

During her studies to become a registered dietitian, Anja—a longtime vegetarian—transitioned to a vegan diet. Living in Kalamazoo, Michigan at the time (Go Broncos!), she met Maggie and Tammie through VegOut Kalamazoo (one of VegOut’s first focus cities) and began collaborating with the duo. When she’s not writing about new vegan eats, practicing as a pediatric clinical dietitian, and virtually coaching fellow plant-based eaters, you can find her creating veg-centric recipes, trying new cruelty-free products, and spending time with her partner Addison and cat Kovu.

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