Mi Piace

(Gerry Furth-Sides) McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams, along with Martinelli’s Sparkling Cider, are offering a delightful flavor for this season:  Martinelli’s Apple Cider & Cranberry Jam.  The Limited Time Only Holiday Ice Cream follows its enormous inaugural success last year. And for good reason.

Festive Apple Cider & Cranberry Jam ice cream features Martinelli’s crisp, effervescent Sparkling Apple Cider infused into McConnell’s sweet cream ice cream. Ribbons of McConnell’s house-made tart cranberry jam flow through the vanilla.  These “swirls” are a long-time ,popular McConnell’s ice cream signature.

It’s pure. It’s natural. It’s original.  It’s exquisite as a holiday dessert or snack.  We tried it solo in a holiday goblet, in a puff pastry tart, and on top of an ice cream cone-inspired waffle cookie.  We plan to serve it on top of the startling Mi Piace single pies made with rosemary and cheese that would complement the cider flavor. Mini-pie recipes on line or your favorite would also work.

Apple Cider and Cranberry Jam ice cream pints are available ($12) while supplies last. They can be purchased through McConnell’s online store for a limited time and in McConnell’s California Scoop Shops plus select retailers nationwide.  Customers, like me, find their online orders very carefully boxed to retain the artisan flavors and texture.  

All McConnell ice creams are made from scratch using pasteurized local, grass-grazed milk and cream. All premium inclusions are made in-house in the most responsible and sustainable way.

 McConnell’s Fine Ice Cream has operated this wan since it began 70 years ago. The three-generation, family-run business also still focuses on simple ingredients to create rich, pure ice creams. 

The holiday product reflects the two companies’ reputation built over a combined two centuries. Family-held business, S. Martinelli & Company, has been producing Gold Medal premium quality sparkling cider and apple juice for over 150 years in Watsonville, Calif.   

S. Martinelli & Company products are 100% juice.   They are made from U.S. grown fresh apples with no added sweeteners or chemical preservatives added. They are instantly recognizable in their champagne-style bottles.

We know. We used Martinelli’s Apple Cider in our media tour holiday presentations for decades at Western Research Kitchens.

Both ice cream and apple cider have fascinating and controversial origins.  Iced drinks and desserts have been around since at least 4000 B.C., when nobles along the Euphrates River built icehouses to take the edge off the Mesopotamian summer heat. 

Snow, likely used to cool wine, was sold in the streets of Athens in the fifth century B.C. Roman emperor Nero (A.D. 37–67) enjoyed iced refreshments laced with honey.

According to popular legend, ice cream was invented by the ancient Chinese. Recorded history from the Tang dynasty in China describes a sweet drink made from iced, camphor-laced water buffalo milk. It was brought to Italy by Marco Polo. Catherine de Medici made it popular in France, and then crossed the ocean to America with Thomas Jefferson.

For a witty account of how ice cream originated and developed, please see //www.thedailymeal.com/1271028/ancient-history-ice-cream/

On a more modern note, McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams was founded by husband and wife, Gordon “Mac” and Ernesteen McConnell, in Santa Barbara, California in 1949.  After owning some of the country’s original health food stores in the 1930’s, Mac was inspired by a bowl of store-bought vanilla ice cream to create his own. 

He sourced the finest ingredients from former farming and purveyor neighbors in the Central Coast.  Local grass-grazed milk & cream, fruit, nuts, and produce were on his list. The McConnells made their own jams and caramels and baked their own inclusions. From the beginning there were never any fillers, stabilizers or preservatives. 

The couple spent months developing recipes plus a revolutionary, mechanized version of the European French Pot ice cream-making process. Their first shop in December, 1950 was an immediate and continuous hit to this day. 

McConnells was one of the first, somewhat eccentric artisan ice cream.  It went against the grain of America’s booming full-out “industrial food complex.” Their model included artificial flavors and colorings, plus methods to produce items quicker and cheaper. Commercial ice creams were, and are also now, largely batch frozen and loaded with air, fillers and stabilizers. .

Once you have tasted homemade or artisan ice cream you will instantly recognize the difference. So it was no surprise that McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams became immediate success, and eventually a Santa Barbara institution. Customers lined up for Mac & Ernie’s ice creams at the store’s original location on Mission and State Street in Santa Barbara and then other locations in the city. 

After McConnell’s founder, Mac, passed away in 1962, new owners Jim and Jenny McCoy expanded distribution to new markets in Southern California and beyond. In 2012 McConnell’s was taken over by another local couple, Michael Palmer and Eva Ein. They were joined by Pennsylvania dairy industry veteran, Charley Price.  The group modernized the Old Dairy’s decades-old system, where the ice cream was made. It was overhauled and replaced with state-of-the-art freezers and ice cream-making equipment.

Try it. And you already have, try McConnell’s new Ice Cream Flavor: Martinelli’s Apple Cider & Cranberry Jam.

For more information visit martinellis.com and //mcconnells.com