The Charmery Ice Cream Factory, Baltimore

The Charmery Ice Cream Factory is a great hidden secret in Baltimore. I found out about it from a blog post on National Ice Cream Day. We are fans both of touring factories and ice cream, so it was natural for us to go and check it out. Of course, I read the blog after Free Ice Cream Day happened (Sunday, July 21, in 2019). The holiday was declared by President Ronald Reagan back in 1984. Lots of ice cream places celebrate with free ice cream or other sweet deals. We missed out on the deals but were able to check out a new, fun place.

The factory is located at the Union Collective, a large building near the Baltimore Zoo. Union Craft Brewing was looking to expand into a larger facility. They found this building but it was twice the size they needed. In the spirit of communal entrepreneurship, the brewery invited other Baltimore businesses looking to expand into larger locations to join them. The Charmery was run out of a shop that is basically the bottom floor of a row house, with ice cream production in the back room and sales in the front room. Wanting to expand their operations, they took part of the building as their ice cream factory, freeing up room in the shop and enabling them to open a second shop just north of Baltimore.

The factory's location

The factory has plenty of fun stuff inside, including a now-defunct ice cream delivery truck that kids can play on.

My daughter takes a turn driving

They also have an ice-cream cone rider that only fit our prescholar. The quarter slot was broken on it, so it ran whenever someone pushed the button. Free rides were very popular.

Getting ready to launch

Steering

The factory tour was not very long. They have a work floor where they keep ingredients and a walk-in storage freezer.

Factory tour entrance

Ingredients storage

Entrance to the freezer

We did a quick walk through the freezer because the temperature is about zero degrees Fahrenheit. After seeing the freezer, they showed us the ice cream-making machines. Since it was a Saturday, things were quiet. We saw where the ingredients go in and get mixed. A spout fills large containers that are taken to a quick-freeze freezer (either -29 or -35 degrees) before going to the walk-through freezer. Faster freezing means fewer ice particles can form in the ice cream, saving their creations from freezer burn.

Industrial ice cream machine

They make about 300 gallons of ice cream in a day. The company prides itself on local flavors (like an Old Bay Caramel) and the occasional odd flavors (like Cheese and Crackers). We got a preview of a new mango flavor that was very delicious. It wasn't available for purchase when we visited (late July 2019) but is probably available in August 2019 for a while.

Mango-based ice cream!

The tour guide gave us fridge magnets to commemorate our trip to the freezer.

Great souvenir

For my post-tour treat, I sampled the salty caramel and the baklava. I was too chicken to try the cheese and crackers ice cream. For my waffle cone, I had the baklava, which was delightful.

They don't sell their flavors in grocery stores, though some restaurants buy them for their dessert menu. We'll just have to go back some time to try some more.