April 22, 2008
Hilltown Ice Cream 2.0: Time to Re-Freeze

We hearty Hilltowners know that long winters are not always a bad thing. It is said that when there is still ice on Plainfield Pond at April’s New Moon, it is a harbinger of a bountiful ice cream crop to come. And lo, there was ice, and ice cream shall follow.

It’s nearly May, which means that it’s time to scrub the scoops, uncork our finest vanilla extract and warm up the hot fudge. Our first event will be at a little-league game here in Plainfield on the evening of May 7. Then it’s to the Hilltown Festival at the Cummington Fairgrounds on May 10. Check in at www.hilltownicecream.com for the full season’s schedule, and email me with any ideas you might have for other events.

So what’s new at HIC? Well, how about some flavors: how does mocha with crushed espresso malted milk balls sound? Doesn’t really roll of the tongue, so our five-year-old vice president for flavor development has named it Malted Mocha. Then there’s Chocolate Strawberry. Oh, my. White Chocolate Kahlua with Oreos, our double-copyright violation special, will be back – why mess with a good thing? The almond flavor is going to be tweaked a bit – almond crème ice cream with a fudge swirl instead of crushed cookies.

In another sweeping change, the base I will be using this year – the cream, milk and sweeteners – is organic and corn syrup-free!

While the new base is yummy – my first criteria – it is, alas, not from Massachusetts. There just aren’t enough organic dairy farms in our state. Yet. So, in an effort to help that along, for every gallon of mix we use this year, Hilltown Ice Cream is going to donate 50 cents to the NOFA/Mass dairy project to support their efforts to help dairy farmers transition to grass-based and organic production.

At the same time, after some thought about the pitiful gas mileage the Hilltown Ice Cream truck gets, I want to make sure there are enough trees around us to suck up the CO2 from the exhaust and crank out something suitable for us mammals to breathe. So for every mile the truck drives this year, Hilltown Ice Cream will donate five cents to the Franklin Land Trust, to support their excellent work in preserving land and forests in these here hills. 

Finally, I have a confession to make. During the off-season I went over to the dark side. After years and years of being so sure, so cocky, so adamant that I knew what was right and good in the ice cream world, my principles have been shaken to their very core and I am forced to admit that I may have been wrong. I’m going to publicly state, for the first time, that I’ve come to the conclusion that chocolate sprinkles are actually pretty good. I will no longer ridicule customers who ask for them atop their cones.

Time to make the ice cream. See you all soon.

                    -- Winton

“Never doubt that a single hot fudge sundae can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead