When Tamara found she was utterly miserable in her corporate life as an adult, she turned back to ice cream. She went to Ice Cream College at Penn State University in 2014 and opened Clementine’s later that year.

 Micro creameries, like microbreweries, have to meet specific standards. For example, the ice cream must be made by hand in small batches using all-natural ingredients, including 16% or more real butterfat. Importantly, though, the final product has to have less than 30% air.

Tamara spent some time in the food industry, and she knows the tricks of the trade. Some companies use cheap ingredients and whip air into their ice creams to stretch out the product. Some freeze their pints upside-down, so they seem full when the customer opens the container when there’s actually a large gap at the bottom.

“It always was my hobby and my passion. You grow up in life, and some people golf, some people scrapbook, and I always made ice cream.” She said.

Tamara creates all the flavors herself. She had an unlimited expense account in her past life, traveled the world, and was trained as a master taste tester. She integrates what she learned about different cultures and flavors with her creativity to craft new offerings.

 “In the sensory science world, I really understand tastes and textures and viscosities and all that kind of stuff,” she explained. Clementine’s is unique in other ways, too. For instance, her shop was one of the first in the country to incorporate adult beverages into its ice cream. Since it isn’t cooked-off or diluted, the flavor and punch stand out in the frozen treat. “That was really driven by one of my customers who asked if I could incorporate liquor into the ice cream,” Tamara said. “He was like, ‘C’mon, could you just try it?’... So I said, ‘Okay, I’ll play around with it.’”