| By Madeline Lewis
A sign outside Mount Desert Island Ice Cream in downtown Bar Harbor features a familiar emblem in an unfamiliar way. The logo of the black power movement - a raised fist - clenches a spoon.
Shop owner Linda Parker thinks the tongue-in-cheek sign adds some spice to typically bovine advertisements.
"Everyone has seen enough cows in the hillside," she says.
When it comes to tradition, Parker and the other ice cream makers in Downeast Maine tend to be a little irreverent. This summer, shops and inidvidual wholesalers in the region are churning out some truly original concoctions. And at two local farms, the ice cream doesn't even contain cow's milk.
Diners perusing Mount Desert Island Ice Cream's selections often have a few questions. What's Girl Scouts Gone Wild or The Break-up?
Each flavor has its own explanation. Girl Scouts Gone Wild - chocolate ice cream with chocolate Girl Scout cookies _ is an ode to late-night ice cream production and limited television channels.
"If you don't have cable, the only thing on is Girls Gone Wild," says Parker, laughing.
The Break-Up - chocolate ice cream with chocolate ripples, M&M's, and Oreo cookies - acknowledges a momentary necessity.
"It's everything you'd want if you had a bad break-up," the ice cream maker explains.
Parker's inventive creations are in good company in the Bar Harbor area. Down the street, Ben and Bill's Chocolate Emporium offers 63 flavors of hard ice cream, including the unprecedented Breakfast ice cream - an eggy ice cream containg egg, bacon, sausage, peppers and maple syrup.
A few blocks on, Ashley Martin invents Acadia-inspired flavors at Jordan Pond Ice Cream Shop. Her personal favorite is a mixture of raisins, peanuts, chocolate covered blueberries and rock candy that she calls Cadillac Crunch because it "looks like the sunrise on Cadillac Mountain."
Several miles away, Jordan Pond House Restaurant in Acadia National Park serves Martin's ice cream with warm, chocolate-covered popovers.
Farther afield, the Old Dutch Treat is open for its 40th season in Trenton. |
Not to be outdone, individual ice cream makers with a knack for unexpected flavors sell their products at country stores, restaurants, and farmers markets throughout the region.
Christina Shipps inherited the unofficial title of Ice Cream Lady three years ago when the former titleholder decided to retire and pass on both her knowledge and supplies. Shipps' treats can be found at several restaurants and stores near Deer Isle, including the Brooklin General Store, but she has no intention of opeing a shop of her own.
"I don't think I want to go head-to-head with Mr. Gifford," she says.
The Ice Cream Lady's policy is to use the most expensive ingredients: Madagascar vanilla instead of regular vanilla, seasonal fruits instead of frozen fruits.
Today, Shipps is working on a collection of liquor-inspired flavors call Over 21.
In nearby Sedgwick, baker Jill Smith joined the ranks of ice cream makers a year ago. Shoppers can purchase her products at stores and local restaurants such as Barn Castle Hotel and Restaurant in Blue Hill. She specializes in fruit flavors, including giner pear and toasted coconut, but injoys experimenting with uncommon flavors like honey lavender.
"I'm a lavender nut," she says.
Experimentation is the catchword for two area farms. In the past year, both the Painted Pepper Farm in Steuben and the Howling Hill Farm in Amherst have begun producing goat's milk ice ceram. This new interpretation of the dessert contains less fat than its bovine predecessor. And it's also an option of for diners who are lactose-intolerant.
"What we want in the end is a whole, good, nourishing food," says Painted Pepper Farmer owner Lisa Reilich.
Despite the region's tendency toward unique flavorings, not everyone is interested in making untraditional ice cream. Morton's Homemade Ice Cream and Cafe in Ellsworth typically sticks to the basics - chocolate, straberry, vanilla and 22 other familiar flavors.
"A lot of people are like 'oh my gosh, you have run raisin,'" says Morton's owner Melissa Ford. "I don't want to be too much I want to be just right." |
