The Strawberry Ice Cream Thread

Bubbler · Dec 15, 2014

YankeeFan · Aug 17, 2011

Nice Cream has raised just short of $4,000 towards their goal of $5,000 on kickstarter:

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/832317133/nice-cream-chicago

Mystery Meat II · Aug 18, 2011

They sell Graeter's ice cream at Kroger. Today I noticed they had strawberry chocolate chip for a limited time. I whiffed and got the safer mint chocolate chip. I hope I don't live to regret that choice.

Magic In The Night · Aug 18, 2011

Mystery Meat II said:

They sell Graeter's ice cream at Kroger. Today I noticed they had strawberry chocolate chip for a limited time. I whiffed and got the safer mint chocolate chip. I hope I don't live to regret that choice.
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No, the all-time best Graeter's, and possibly best ice cream to be had, at least in this country (Italy's gelato is another hemisphere), is raspberry chocolate chip. Except they are not chips, they are chunks!

wicked · Aug 19, 2011

Mystery Meat II said:

They sell Graeter's ice cream at Kroger. Today I noticed they had strawberry chocolate chip for a limited time. I whiffed and got the safer mint chocolate chip. I hope I don't live to regret that choice.
Click to expand...

You punted on that? I'm disappointed.

YankeeFan · Aug 19, 2011

Chicago Tribune:

In the two weeks since we reported on the Illinois Department of Public Health nearly shutting down local artisan Nice Cream maker Kris Swanberg, many have come to her defense.

Swanberg still can not sell her goods in local Whole Foods or make new ice cream, but she is trying to stay afloat (and legal) by selling her remaining inventory at Green Grocer Chicago and The Dill Pickle Coop as well as farmers markets including Logan Square on Sundays and Andersonville on Wednesdays.

She has been touched by the outpouring of support for her and her ice cream and says she is "working with all kinds of experts and organizations right now, trying to figure out what the best approach is to take with the state," she wrote in an email.

"We want to continue our business in the State of Ill. without changing our process. We are already making safe ice cream and we want to keep producing it using our small methods. In the meantime we are no longer able to produce Nice Cream."

As she works through the issues of location, processing and licensing to comply with state rules that would also apply to million dollar corporations making ice cream, Swanberg has encountered some good news.

"We got our ice cream (even our strawberry!) analyzed by a lab," she wrote in the email. "Our bacterial levels are WAY under the states accepted levels. Which means, our ice cream is inarguably safe!"

While the state regs would require her to buy a commercial pasteurizer, she aims to show that controlled heating and monitoring of her ingredients achieves the same results.

Through tests and documentation she is preparing for the state, Swanberg hopes to convince officials that she and other artisan makers can produce safe ice cream for Chicago without sacrificing quality ingredients and handmade methods.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/features/food/stew/chi-local-food-nice-cream-works-to-get-back-in-business-20110819,0,4991244.story
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YankeeFan · Jun 4, 2012

Don't try to sell your homemade pies at a farmer's market in Chicago:

A new state law makes it easier for home cooks to sell their breads, pies, jellies and other goods at farmers markets, as long as they register with the local government and label their food uncertified.

But the Cook County Department of Public Health isn’t taking registrations, citing an ambiguity in the Illinois Local Food Entrepreneur and Cottage Food Operation Act, which requires “a unit of local government” to take registrations, not necessarily the local health department.

“It's not our responsibility to take on additional work unnecessarily,” said Sean McDermott, spokesman for the health department and a county alderman.

The department has asked the state’s attorney to determine if vendors should instead register with one of the 100-plus municipalities and towns within the county. The health department has received and turned down about 10 vendor registration applications, McDermott said.

Throughout the state, public health departments and local governments have taken the registrations without a fuss, said Wes King, policy director for the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, a local food advocacy group. Cook County’s reluctance is bureaucratic shuffling and seems somewhat vindictive, he said.

“It seems that they've made it personal,” King said. “I think they don't like the law in general.”

McDermott, who initially lobbied against the bill but later withdrew opposition, said the original concern was that products would be made in an unhealthy manner, causing illness and disease.

Some say that concern is misplaced.

“Why these small cottage industries need so much oversight boggles the mind,” said Roxanne Junge, a retired teacher who manages the Glenview Farmers Market. “I think there's a misunderstanding that something that comes out of your kitchen is going to be less safe.”

http://illinois.statehousenewsonline.com/8144/cook-county-health-dept-waging-a-silent-battle-against-cottage-food-critics-say/
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YankeeFan · Jun 4, 2012

And, Logan Square Kitchen, a "shared kitchen" that served as an incubator for many small businesses (including the strawberry ice cream lady), has closed, a victim to government regulation and ineptitude.

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-16/features/chi-logan-square-kitchen-closing-20120516_1_flora-confections-licensing-city-hall

Stitch · Jun 4, 2012

It seems plenty of eateries can get licenses. Don't know why the shared kitchen couldn't.

YankeeFan · Jun 5, 2012

A couple more entrepreneurs strangled by regulations:

A taco truck recently hit the streets of Paris, yet Chicago is still fighting over whether to allow people to cook on food trucks here. And it's having a negative impact. Last year, a number of trucks ceased operations, including two leaders of the movement—Meatyballs Mobile and Gaztro-Wagon. Now, Homage Street Food is joining the pack of the fallen.

Homage, which sought to bring the world's street food closer to Chicago, posted a note on its site a couple of weeks ago that it was just tired of fighting against the city to run their business. Husband and wife team Mike Maloney and Elaine Toner worked tirelessly daily, but always feared not making money or having to toss out the unsold product they had to cook at their off-site facility.

"In the end we realized that we could not be proud of selling disassembled, hours old food from a hot box to people," they wrote. Homage thanked fans and promised they weren't going away for good. "Right now we have new prospects in the works and hope to return soon."

http://chicago.eater.com/archives/2012/06/05/homage-street-food-truck-calls-it-quits.php#more
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http://homagestreetfood.com/

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The Strawberry Ice Cream Thread

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