Our History
After an abandoned cooking apprenticeship, an “associate degree” in basically nothing and everything, shelving library books, camp cooking in potential gold mines in the arctic, caregiving for the elderly, and booking bands in Europe, a misfit redhead found herself returning to mucking about in the kitchen.
Home experiments in ice cream led to weekly dessert features in a tiny local restaurant (and then getting fired for the first and only time ever) which led to a few drinks and tears, and then a tiny monthly subscription home delivery service, saving up for an actual ice cream machine, which led to farmers markets, renting a shared commercial kitchen space, supplying a handful of local independent stores and STILL stressing out about what she was going to be when she grew up…
…there was a “for lease” sign in the window of a cute space in Fernwood – the neighbourhood of her late teens/early 20s. Having shallow pockets, there was a little deliberation, and then a lot of elbow grease and 16 hour workdays, endless emotional support and encouragement from family and friends and community and Cold Comfort had a brick and mortar shop!
What we do
We are dedicated to making a high-density, quality ice cream. We do our best to avoid any ingredients that have been genetically modified and we use mostly organic ingredients, incorporating local fruits, herbs, and other locally produced items when possible. We use organic cane sugar and sometimes honey or pure maple syrup to sweeten the mix. Our organic eggs, cream, and milk are from Avalon (on the mainland).
We use natural ingredients; we don’t shortcut by using artificial flavours, preservatives, emulsifiers, starches or stabilizers. Our overrun (air content) is remarkably low, which means more dense satisfaction in every mouthful.
You and Dairy don’t get along? We also make a dairy-free version of ice cream. It is essentially a sorbet, and the ingredients are usually not a lot more than coconut milk, organic cane sugar, and sea salt. Simple, rich, creamy, and delicious. You might not notice a difference. Some of our ice cream sandwich cookies are dacquoise (made with almond flour & meringue), so there are many options with non-glutenous ingredients.
**Sign Artwork by the talented Dobell Bros in Victoria BC
Who we are
