I scream, you scream...

Farquhar's ice cream, great stuff

an article from the manitoulin expositor

Farquhar Dairies closing historic Mindemoya plant

Moving operations to Espanola

by Alicia McCutcheon

MINDEMOYA-Don Farquhar, president of Farquhar Dairies Ltd., has told The Expositor that the historic Mindemoya creamery-site of production for Farquhar's ice cream and butter-will be ceasing production of these famous dairy products and closing its doors forever.

The company is currently looking at moving butter and ice cream production to Farquhar Dairies' Espanola plant, either in part or in whole. On Monday, Mr. Farquhar explained he was meeting with an engineer to discuss changes to the Espanola plant required to house the butter and ice cream production.

"We are hopeful to move butter in the near future (to Espanola) and in the coming months, we will look at moving ice cream as well," said the president.

Ice cream is, according to Mr. Farquhar, a very competitive business and he told the Expositor that it has become economically impractical for the company to compete from its Mindemoya plant.

"We've swallowed losses for numerous years," he said.

"It's unfortunate that we had to do this, but we have to look out for all of our employees and if we have to suspend production at one facility to benefit the company, then it's something we have to do," he said.

Three of the creamery's four employees have received notices of their termination of employment, while the fourth-a full-time driver-will keep delivering for the company.

"A number of economic factors have contributed to this decision," Mr Farquhar said. "The yearly expense of maintaining the Mindemoya production site, which is a seasonal business, and the high transportation and operational costs associated with it, have forced us to make this decision."

Mr. Farquhar noted that cream, the raw product used for the making of both butter and ice cream, has to be shipped from the dairy in Espanola to Mindemoya. Butter and ice cream then have to be shipped off-Island from Mindemoya causing high transportation costs, not to mention, he said, the costs of the building. Production ceases yearly in November and with taxes, maintenance, insurance, water and sewer bills, it isn't feasible any longer to keep the seasonal building in operation, he said.

Tom Farquhar, who ran the Mindemoya operation between 1986 and 1992, understands the challenges of making the creamery viable. The building was "always difficult to keep up to code," and its expenses often mounted high, he noted.

However, he has many fond memories of the old building. "It was always fun during the summer," he said Monday from his Elliot Lake office.

Throughout the summer, there were always tourists who came with their cars full of coolers, ice and newspapers, looking for "ends" to transport home with them, he recalls. "Ends" were a favourite treat of many-the tubs of multi-flavoured ice cream that were mixed when one batch was finishing and another starting. The two-and-a-half gallon tubs were sold for about $10 from the creamery.

"Once one guy showed up with between 10 and 15 old ice cream shipping tubs to load up so he could have Farquhar's at his home over the winter," he recalled.

He also remembers when, one summer, a man came to the creamery and bought chocolate ice cream and some butter. He returned the next day to tell them he was a pastry chef at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto and exclaimed that the ice cream was like nothing he had ever tried before and the butter was second to none when it came to pastries.

"I smiled to myself when we passed 36 flavours," the former creamery manager said, noting that Baskin-Robbins' claim to fame was always 36 flavours.

Tom Farquhar says that tastes were very much related to the times-for example, when Smurfs were all the rage, Farquhar's introduced a Smurfberry flavour.

The famous hawberry ice cream was actually started by Wagg's Creamery, the original Mindemoya creamery later bought by Farquhar Dairies.

The very first Manitoulin Tourism Association perch derby in 1975 was in need of something special, and consequently, hawberry ice cream was made for the inaugural event. It was a one-time-per-year treat for perch derby weekend but, upon purchasing the creamery, Farquhar's soon made into a full-time favourite.

In 1900, a young Alma Josiah (A.J.) Wagg decided to attend agriculture college in Guelph to learn butter and cheese making. His father decided against supporting Mr. Wagg in his studies as he couldn't see the need for schooling farmers, so to pay his way, the student took on the job of tending to the university's dairy herd-getting up at 4 am every morning to milk the cows by hand before heading off to classes, his daughter Madeleine Becks recalled from her Big Lake home.

That same year, Mr. Wagg returned to Mindemoya and began Wagg's Creamery, which he would run with his only son Douglas, producing butter, yogurt, milk, cheese and ice cream.

During the Second World War, Douglas was killed in action, devastating Mr. Wagg and causing him to lose interest in the business. His sons-in-law, Duff Brown and Doug Becks came to his aid and took over operations.

In 1979, Duff Brown and his wife Marion died tragically in an aircraft accident and in December of 1981, the creamery was sold to Farquhar's.

Mr. Wagg passed away in 1960 and, according to Evan Cormier of Little Current, great-great-grandson of A.J. Wagg, he was later inducted into the Ontario Agricultural Hall of Fame for his role in the betterment of Manitoulin livestock thanks to his purebred hogs and dairy cows. Mr. Cormier presented a project at the Little Current Public School heritage fair last year on his great-great-grandfather's legacy.

It is the hope of Farquhar Dairies that this legacy of its world famous ice cream and butter will continue, perhaps not in Mindemoya, but nonetheless continue.

First and best for me, Giolitti's in Rome. Something like 57 flavors of gelato or sorbetto...
but Jeni's also sounds GREAT to me.




from igougo.com

My favorite was cocco with bacio and some other darker chocolate, in a cup.



And then in my childhood in Evanston, IL, a place called Foster's on Green Bay Road --- the lime sherbet cone.

Just to drive myself crazy, here's a list of Giolitti's gelato flavors. I'll forego listing the pastries, which are also good..

BOERO
PESCA MELBA
GRANITA DI CAFFÉ
GRANITA DI MENTA
GRANITA DI LIMONE
MACEDONIA CON GELATO
FRAGOLE CON GELATO
CREMA
CIOCCOLATO
NOCCIOLA
CAFFÉ
STRACCIATELLA
MARZAPANE
TORRONE
NOCE
BACI PERUGINA
ZABAIONE
GIANDUIA
PISTACCHIO
CROCCANTINO AL RHUM
GRAND MARNIER
CARAMEL
MARRON GLACES
RICOTTA
RISO
AFTER EIGHT
CHAMPAGNE
TIRAMISÚ
AL RHUM
CIOCCOLATO BIANCO
MENTA
FIOR DI PANNA
YOUGURT
MALAGA
LIMONE
ANANAS
COCCO
MANDARINO
ARANCIA
FRAGOLA
MIRTILLI
VISCIOLE
MORE
PESCHE
ALBICOCCA
PERA
MELONE
COCOMERO
LAMPONI
POMPELMO
PRUGNA
UVA
DATTERI
MELA
FICHI
BANANA
AMARENE
KIWI
FICHI D'INDIA

I love Farquhar's ice cream and the first hawberry cone of summer is something I'm really going to miss if they don't find a way to continue manufacturing.

Like you, osso, I like gelato and sorbet too -- I find it more thirst quenching on a really hot day. Many years ago I worked at an upscale restaurant on Lake Erie that served teeny weeny wafer cones with a dab of sorbet in them "to cleanse the palate" before the main course -- my standard for sophisticated dining ever since (and yet never duplicated!)

I just checked the Giolitti site in English - here's more of a clue re the flavors -

HAZELNUT
PESCA MELBA
GRATED COFFEE ICE
GRATED MINT ICE
GRATED LEMON ICE
FRUIT SALAD WITH CREAM
STRAWBERRIES WITH CREAM
VANILLA CREAM
CHOCOLATE
NOUGAT
COFFEE
CHOCOLATE CHIP
MARZAPAN
BACKCHERRY
WALNUT
BACI PERUGINA
SWEET MILK CHOCCOLATE
RUM AND NUTS
PISTACHIO NUT
RUM SPONGE CAKE
GRAND MARNIER
CARAMEL
MARRON GLACES
RICOTTA CHEESE
RICE
AFTER EIGHT
CHAMPAGNE
COME AGAIN PUDDING
MARSALA CUSTARD
WHITE CHOCCOLATE
MINT
WHITE CREAM
YOUGURT
MALAGA RAISIN
LEMON
PINEAPPLE
COCONOUT
MANDARINO
ORANGE
STRAWBERRY
GRAPERFRUIT
PRICKLY PEARS
EGRIOT
PEACHE
APRICOT
PEAR
MELON
WATERMELON
RASPBERRY
PINK GRAPERFRUIT
PRUGNA
GRAPE
TANGERINE
APPLE
FIG
BANANA
AMARENE
KIWI
FICHI D'INDIA

Pear! Mmmm.

Brat slaps it off the table

Begins to cry




There's a little cafe...place...near me, recently discovered, that serves a heavenly gelato. Until recently I'd never sampled it. It's very good!

Lactaid... helloooo.

Wow, so much great ice cream everywhere. If I ever do a road trip around the country (a goal), I will print this thread to take along.

(Except for the Vegemite ice cream. Sorry, dadpad! Though I would still try it. Once. Just not a fan of vegemite!)

Nothing beats gelato from any where in Italy. Even the gelato in the North end of Boston is poor next to what I had in Italy.

Oh my lord vegemite with ice cream?! That stuff is vile on crackers or anything else - how could you ruin some so yummy as ice cream with something as vile as vegemite?

Farquhar's ice cream was one of the only things I liked about living in the "near north".

Really excellent stuff.

Linkat, do you remember where? When I was looking up Giolitti links - my idea of great fun, and that place has a long history - I saw mention of an apparent fantastic gelateria in Florence, with gelati (etc) that sounded more like the playful ones at Jeni's in Soz' link.

I was in Milan, Rome and Venice and had gelato every day. For the life of me I couldn't remember the names of the places. Whenever I felt like one, there was a store with gelato and I'd walk on it. Didn't have a bad one.

After the trip, my friend and I missed gelato so much we decided to take a trip into Boston to go to the North end. We were so disappointed. I have since had gelato in the north end - it is very good, just not as good as Italy.

Same with me and gelato in Los Angeles.

The Art of Ice Cream
I scream, you scream – we look at the wild history of ice cream – and taste some, too.
For most of human history, frozen meant frightening. The challenge up north was to stay warm. Then came ice cream.

It was first the food of kings and queens. Who else could afford the extravagance of ice in summer? Eighteenth century etchings show it being scooped by angels. Shaped into swans. Delivered to the gods.

Now, it’s on every corner, in every supermarket freezer. Some great. Some not so great. And some downright artisanal. Exotic. Goat cheese and cherry, anyone?

-Tom Ashbrook

Guests:

Jeri Quinzio, author of “Of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making,” which is just out in paperback. You can read an excerpt.

Robin Davis, food editor at the Columbus Dispatch since 2002 and host of The Dispatch Kitchen on WBNS-TV. Her new book is “Graeter’s Ice Cream: An Irresistible History.” Read her column, “The Dispatch Kitchen.”

More:

This hour, we taste-test three varieties of butter pecan ice cream:

1. Edy’s Butter Pecan, $5.49 for 1.5 quarts.

2. Haagen-Dazs Butter Pecan, $4.29 for a pint.

3. Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, Bourbon Buttered Pecan, $11 for a pint.

http://www.onpointradio.org/2010/08/the-art-of-ice-cream
Let me recommend this hour's delicious podcast!

I was reading thru this thread, and hit the gelato place in Rome which served Pesca Melba, which I, not speaking Italian but knowing some Latin and Spanish, mentally translated as Fish Melba, which sounded absolutely dreadful, until it finally struck me, oh, that must be PEACH Melba, which sounds much better. Columbo used to make a peach melba natural yogurt, which was pretty good.

I'm not sure if Edy's (quick question--do you pronounce it "Eddy's" or "Eeedie's", I've heard it both ways) is availabe outside the East. If it is they make a great Mango sherbet--it's hard to ruin anything with mango in it. They made a strange one for awhile, Swiss Orange Chocolate (orange sherbet with chocolate flakes in it) which didn't really work as a flavor. But they also make what has been my top choice for a year now: Berry Rainbow sherbet. Yes, indeedy, Edy.

And there is another unique ice cream thingy, which is as far as I know, only available in Vietnamese restaurants--most of them around Boston seem to make milkshakes with ice cream and fresh fruit (maybe they're more like smoothies, but they call them milkshakes) and the best one I've found is the AVACADO milkshake, which is a lovely shade of green and is, believe me, a very far cry from guacamole. Avacado really is, apparently, a fruit.

Pear riesling also sounds great.

Possibly, you would also enjoy a spinach smoothie.

Sometime after the start of this thread I got an ice cream maker from amazon - best use of some dollars by me ever. I now make gelato too, not the kind my loved Giolitti makes (eggs in it), but the kind Soz's loved Jeni's makes - made with cornstarch or arrowroot instead of eggs.

It's fun to play around with ingredients -
http://www.icecreamnation.org/2011/08/sicilian-gelato/

I love Vanilla, chocolate and strawberry ice creams.