Frankie & Jo’s Plant-Based Ice Cream Coming to Capitol Hill Next Month

You'll have to think way back to January to recall the announcement of forthcoming plant-based ice cream company Frankie & Jo's, a collaboration between Kari Brunson of Juicebox and Hot Cakes' Autumn Martin.

Nine months later and the company is in full swing, producing seven flavors of ice cream that started shipping nationwide this week via an online store. And the duo's brick-and-mortar ice cream shop at 1010 E. Union on Capitol Hill is set to open next month.

Frankie & Jo's — named after Martin's now-deceased grandmothers — is what she calls her "heart project." In 2000, while in culinary school, Martin realized she was allergic to dairy. Partnering with Brunson, with her dedication to health food at Juicebox on Capitol Hill, was a natural step.

All of Frankie & Jo's products are made by hand from raw ingredients with no gums or stabilizers added. And of course, they're all made entirely from plants. After months of testing, Brunson and Martin found success in a process that involves sprouting raw nuts overnight, making milk from them the next day, and churning that milk into ice cream a few hours later. Most of the bases are made with a combination of cashew and coconut milk, though some have a pure coconut base or a pure nut base, such as pecan or hazelnut. The shop will also offer sorbets and sherbets, which are juice-based.

Frankie & Jo's uses mostly organic cane sugar as the sweetener, though California dates, maple syrup, or honey make appearances too. All inclusions, including brownie and cookie bites, are gluten-free and made in-house. At the shop, you'll have the option of eating from a homemade oat-flour cone.

Current flavors offered in the online store are Frankie’s brown sugar vanilla, chocolate date, salty ash caramel, gingered golden milk, cocoa nib mint, huckleberry apple shrub sorbet, and California cabin. More flavors will be available when the shop opens on Capitol Hill in November.