Artisan and Local: Incredible Ice Cream

  With the freezing rain still pouring outside my window, I needed something that makes me happy... one of my new favorite products since moving to Cleveland.  The local artisan ice cream, Jeni's!  While I am usually a gelato fan, and actually a huge fan of the Capogiro gelato in Philadelphia, I have to admit that this Jeni's is the equivalent in ice cream of Capogiro gelato.  All of Jeni's pints are hand packed and produced right in Columbus, OH.  They use as many fresh ingredients as possible, from the Ohio countryside, while sourcing exotics from around the world.  During the Ohio growing season, they claim lots of "Ohio love", supporting local farmers, by buying local.  All of the cream is from Ohio dairy, from pasture raised cows, with no antibiotics, growth hormones, herbicides or pesticides..just cows eating grass.

Jeni's focuses on fresh clean flavors, instead of overwhelming sweetness.  There is a whole line of 16 interesting signature flavors such as: Salty Caramel, Bangkok Peanut, and Wildberry Lavender, and then a shorter line of seasonal favorites that change with the season.  This end of winter season promotes Honey Buttercake, Askinoise Dark Milk Chocolate, and Lime Cardamom Yogurt (which happens to be in my freezer at this very moment). 

 

Each flavor is so powerful and exciting that you slowly savor each spoonful, while looking forward to the next.  The ice cream is thick and creamy, but not rich, nor heavy.  

 

While there are just a few Jeni's ice cream shops around the Columbus area, you can also buy the pints in high-end grocery stores here in Ohio, or, of course on their website!  How great would it be to get a delivery of ice cream on your front porch?  When I was down in Nashville, TN last month, I noticed a new coffee and ice cream shop that just opened in the trendy Hillsboro Village...and all it sells in Jeni's!  If you haven't yet tried Jeni's, check out a store or their website and give it a try...or support your own local artisan ice cream (or gelato) producer, and let me know what you think! After all, if you are going to eat the fat and sugar in an ice cream why not make it the absolute best tasting, and most satisfying, fat and sugar possible?