“Midsummer Night’s Ice Cream” by Nel Roberts Newport This Week August 29, 2007
Sue Williams, the maker of Susanna’s Ice Cream
available only at Sweet Berry Farm, was born in a small village in
Devon, England. Educated at Oxford University, she attended graduate
school at McGill University in Montreal, where she went on to teach
Shakespeare, then theatre history at the National Theatre School of
Canada. Sue now lives in Middletown, to which she moved in 1998 with her
husband, a native Newporter.
How did you begin making ice cream? About
10 years ago I was at a Williams-Sonoma store and saw a quart-size ice
cream maker, which I thought was quite cute. So I bought it and began
experimenting and fooling about. I even tried making ice cream with a
pomelo, which I had never heard of before. The result was delicious, but
rather exotic and peculiar.
How did you discover Sweet Berry Farm? About
five years ago, I saw a sign that said Sweet Berry Farm had
strawberries ripe for picking, just at the time that my husband and I
were about to celebrate our 10th wedding anniversary. Since family and
friends were coming from all over to join us, I decided we would
celebrate in both the English way—with strawberries—and the American
way—with ice cream. My ice cream was such a success everyone at the
party encouraged me to make more. How did you become the maker of Susanna’s Ice Cream at Sweet Berry Farm? I
noticed that the owners, Jan and Michelle Eckhart, were experimenting
with growing different kinds of fruit—like gooseberries and black
currants. I’d never seen gooseberries growing on this continent before.
Picking them reminded me of one of my favorite childhood desserts,
gooseberry fool. But I wanted to try something different so I made
Gooseberry-Elderflower ice cream….It was the first recipe I invented,
and I found the process interesting and fun. The fact that my recipe
worked was also encouraging so I gave some of the ice cream to Jan and
Michelle as a thank-you. This was about the time they were expanding
their small outdoor farm stand into a new farm store. Michelle’s design allowed for more selling space, and they thought that using their fruit in ice cream was a great idea.
In fact they were so enthusiastic that they asked Steve Cory, who presides over their certified kitchen,
if he would have room for me to make the ice cream there. Not only did
he make room, but he welcomed me and taught me a great deal. I couldn’t
have done it without Steve, Jan, and Michelle, who also installed a
small commercial ice cream maker for me.
So you opened last year? Yes,
but we had to wait ages for the dairy license. In fact, it wasn’t until
July 4th that we got it…and in less than an hour all but one pint of
the Strawberry Ice Cream had been sold. From that point until today, I
haven’t stopped running. What kind of ingredients do you use? It
starts with the best cream in the world—from Arruda’s Dairy in
Tiverton. They were named Rhode Island’s Outstanding Dairy Farm in 2006 [and again in 2008]
by the Rhode Island Green Pastures Committee. Their cows are a
Holstein/Guernsey cross which produces fabulous cream…. Arruda’s does
not use bovine growth hormone, and the cream isn’t ultra-pasteurized,
which makes a great difference to the taste. The cream is unbelievably
fresh—it comes straight from the cows twice a week. If it were any
fresher, it would still be in the cow.
I also use Sweet Berry
Farm’s fresh fruit whenever I can, as well as cane sugar. I do not use
corn syrup, artificial colors, preservatives, stabilizers, or
emulsifiers. That’s why some of my ice cream, for instance the Coffee,
looks beige, but I can assure you it does not taste beige.
What flavors do you make? Strawberry
is the most popular flavor….French Vanilla Bean is a close second. For
that flavor, I use a mixture of Madagascar Bourbon and Tahitian vanilla
beans. The Tahitian cost $200 a pound wholesale, but they are worth it. I
scrape the tiny seeds into the cream and egg-yolk base to give the ice
cream its delicate flavor.
As soon as Jan’s peaches are ripe,
I’ll start making Peach Ice Cream. Other popular year-round flavors are
Chocolate, Coffee, and Ginger.
My Pomegranate Sorbet is turning
out to be a best seller. And my Meyer Lemon Sorbet sells out as soon as
it’s in the freezer, but I only make this when Meyer lemons are in
season. I also make seasonal ice creams—like Peppermint Stick, Eggnog,
and Spiced Chocolate Orange for Christmas; Kir Royale Sorbet for New
Year’s; and Pumpkin Ice Cream for Halloween and Thanksgiving. What sizes do you sell? I
have been selling pints, but I’ve just introduced Susanna’s single
servings so people can try the flavors or enjoy them after a lunch at
Sweet Berry Farm.
