We Minnesotans have some stellar ice cream shops to help us celebrate dairy month this June, but tried and true shops aside, this week I wanted to write about some of the newcomers to the ice cream scene. From small batch ice cream to giveaways and talk of ice cream CSAs, Minnesota ice cream is getting hotter.
Sweet Science
Ashlee Olds started making ice cream for friends five years ago. After working at Black Sheep Coffee Café and Rogue Chocolatier, she was inspired to make a line of small batch ice cream called Sweet Science, with a logo in the shape of a vanilla molecule. Olds studies Business Management and Entrepreneurship at Metro State and plans on graduating in December, but homework doesn’t stop her from working in her community commercial kitchen space in St. Paul where she uses Castle Rock organic milk (I profiled Castle Rock last month), Larry Schultz eggs, and other certified organic ingredients “with names you can pronounce.” Her notably smooth Vanilla flavor is a traditional mainstay, but Olds also is whipping up nontraditional flavors like Blood Orange (pictured here), Salted Caramel, and a Creamy Berry Crumble with blackberries, streusel, and the vanilla ice cream. She’s currently trying to figure out which local beer to use for a chocolate stout ice cream—make a flavor suggestion on the Sweet Science facebook page, and you might receive two free pints. And while you’re figuring out how to score free pints, you can buy Sweet Science pints and half pints from the Gastrotruck and Sassy Spoon food trucks, at Music in Mears, or you can place an online order.
Amoos Artisan Ice Cream
Amoos Artisan Ice Cream just debuted their new ice cream line at the Northeast Farmers Market at the end of May. Amoos, the brainchild of Sonja and Mark Brown, with assistance from their daughter, Berit, is a small batch line of ice cream made in a commercial kitchen space in Minnetonka. Inspired by ice cream-heavy trips to Australia and San Francisco, the Browns are experimenting with flavors like Peanut Butter Maple Bacon, Olive Oil, and Chocolate Milk using local ingredients like chocolate milk from Autumnwood Dairy. The Browns are hoping to make signature ice cream flavors for restaurants, and are even contemplating starting an ice cream CSA, featuring seasonal flavors. For now, you can purchase their pints and half pints at the Northeast Farmers Market on Saturdays.
FrozBroz
Business partners Ben Solberg and Erik Powers of craft ice cream start-up FrozBroz Craft Ice Cream make mind-boggling flavors like Brown Butter Cornbread, Apricot Maple French Toast, and BahÄrÄt (a Middle Eastern spice mix). Every week, the FrozBroz duo concocts scratch-made, small batches of distinct flavors in their home kitchens using local, and more often than not, surprising ingredients (Heavy Table awarded them a Silver Whisk award for their “anything-goes creativity”). Smooth and creamy, FrozBroz’s brown butter base has a remarkably assertive butter flavor, and they use it for their Brown Butter Corn Bread and Apricot Maple French Toast flavors, among others. With a fundraising campaign this year, the duo was hoping to raise enough cash for a commercial kitchen space. They didn’t make their goal, but followers and fans know to visit the FrozBroz blog or facebook page each week for updates and to enter a weekly drawing for a chance to win a free pint of a new flavor.
Steel your sense of adventure, grab some napkins, and give some of these newcomers a whirl—they just might make you scream for more ice cream. And if an ice cream headache has you screaming, people in the know swear that warming up the roof of your mouth will cure it. That, or tequila.
