If you are on any kind of social media platform, it’s likely you’ve seen various posts celebrating July as ‘National Ice Cream Month’ (there’s a month for everything, right?). While we wholeheartedly agree that this time of year is the ideal time for a cold scoop of something delicious, we also don’t shy away from a frozen treat no matter what the season or temperature may be. It’s actually hard to find individuals that don’t like at least some type of ice cream, with the majority of us finding joy in multiple flavors. Unfortunately, that adoration of taste and texture doesn’t always translate well with those who either don’t digest dairy products very well or follow a diet or vegan lifestyle that steers clear of cow’s milk in general. In fact, three of our team members fall into this category- and that’s a majority considering we don’t even add up to half a dozen on staff.
Ingredient Love
So, when we heard about the fabulous recipes that Lokelani Alabanza was creating with her brand, Saturated Ice Cream we were immediately curious to know more. She’s dealt with her own food intolerances for years and extends what she’s learned into the product that’s clearly a labor of love as well as a personal necessity. For starters, her indulgent but wholesome concoctions are plant-based with the bonus of natural ingredients, many of which include respected wellness add-ins such as green tea, matcha, turmeric, healing herbs, and raw honey. This seemed to be a sweet treat that we health-minded devotees could dive into with gusto. But then we discovered another bonus that sealed the deal for making this our go-to summer addiction—the inclusion of CBD to take the chill factor to a whole other level. That’s right, a little something to boost your mood and ease anxiety or aches and pains along with an explosion of good-for-you flavors.
Because we were so intrigued, during our first week back to work as a team after a long hiatus of quarantine we decided to swap a catch-up cocktail hour for our own version of an ice cream social. Let’s just say there are no regrets about that decision. With Lokelani’s simple DTC delivery service (which is standard within 18 miles around Nashville), there’s no trip to the store to deal with (another bonus). She also provides flavors in individual 4oz containers that make sampling and sharing easy. This size is also a great way to stay on top of portion control which is always a gamble with those big half-gallon tubs from typical stores.
Edit’s Ice Cream Social
For our initial sampling, we tried a variety of her current offerings and found that choosing just one as a personal pick wasn’t easy. Lokelani claims that the bright, refreshing mango is her favorite summer flavor but these are a few of our top loves.
Chocolate & Nibs – dark chocolate with cocoa nibs
Turmeric & Ginger – turmeric spice blend with candied ginger is like frozen golden-milk.
Peach Chili Crisp – a peach preserves and Sichuan Chili crisp blend that’s unique and addictive.
Matcha Jasmine – matcha green tea and jasmine
Peppermint Oreo – Oreos & peppermint in a vanilla base that was over-the-top delicious
Brew – mild coffee flavor for the java fans
Prickly Pear Margarita -Perfectly Cordials Prickly Pear and tequila
The flavors can be delivered with or without CBD added, and on the taste, you can’t tell the difference as the quality she injects into her blends is both top-tier and tasteless. She also has fun with other ‘intoxicating’ twists by incorporating spirits into blends that make sense for the final recipe. The margarita flavor we tried was a hands-down (and hard to put down) favorite flavor within our group with a creamy vanilla-like base that just hinted at the taste of a delicious cocktail. It’s also fun to mix multiple flavors in a single bowl to experience different bites of ‘wow’ for ultimate decadence.
Saturating the Future
The primary reason that Saturated seems to be such an elevated taste is due to talent behind the blends. After attending the New England Culinary Institute in Essex Junction, Vermont Lokelani went on to become a sought-after pastry chef. The entire time, she was devoted to experimenting with making ice cream. But she hadn’t made the leap into commercial production until she joined Hattie Jane’s Creamery as Culinary Director four years ago. With that learning curve behind her and the added expertise gained, she launched Saturated with confidence and isn’t looking back.
The concept of adding CBD (on request) is what we would label pure genius and there’s no doubt this vintage-cookbook collecting, minority supporting chef and personality will be winning over the entire country in the near future. She’s most excited about her plans for expanding distribution and bringing the unique product to ice-cream fans far from the Nashville base. For now, she personally handles direct messages on the Instagram account, which results in fast, easy drop-off delivery locally. But if recent pop-up collaborations such as those she’s participated in with hot-spots such as Anzie Blue and Café Roze – you are likely to see lots of saturation popping up on menus and in cases very soon. And we think it’s perfect timing as she claims that the fall flavor combinations are going to be incredible as she includes the season’s most popular cravings. She won’t give away the surprises to come but simply says “get ready for some cinnamon.”
