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Super-Premium Ice Cream
Straight from the cow to your mouth
By DAVID DAY
del.ico.us
reddit!
In an era of multinational food corporations and steroid-plumped chickens, to say it's getting harder to be a family farm would be an understatement. It's nearly impossible, but Richardson's has continued to thrive for over 300 years. From the hills of grain and prairie grass they grow themselves for cattle feed, to the Ipswich River they use as one of their water sources, Richardson's is nearly a self-sustaining enterprise.
"Do you like your shoes?" president David Daniels asks me with a smile before we trod out onto the farm. Nearly 400 cows are here, and each gives about 8 gallons of milk a day. The docile herd shuffles around. "They love to get milked," he says. "If they don't get milked, they get upset."
It is a Saturday afternoon, so most of the staff has ended their day, but Maria, an expert cattle rancher from Brazil, is still tending to her cows, and the young farm dog, Buster, seems to be enjoying his new home quite a bit. Richardson's calls their ice cream "super premium" because it contains at least 16-percent butterfat, taken right from these cows—many of whom bump my camera lens when I try to get a close-up.
Richardson's Ice Cream began in 1952, when it "became apparent that just the milk business wasn't going to work," as Daniels says. "It had to be supplemented somehow. No one in my family ever wanted to give up the farm." Today, the ice cream travels as far as Jamestown, R.I., and Wells, Maine. Near Boston, you can get it at numerous places, like the beautifully renovated Capitol Theatre in Arlington, Somerville Theatre in Davis Square, Boston University and Harvard University, which has impressed Daniels with their commitment to local companies. Of course, Richardson's is also available for home consumption via their familiar delivery trucks.
Daniels admits it's a tough time for local ice cream. Recent cold weather has hurt and Massachusetts regulations have not helped either. "You know the big Breyers plant on the Mass. Pike?" he asks. "That's closing soon. Everyone's pushing away from here. Massachusetts is heavily regulated in the dairy business. I know whoever's making up this stuff thinks they're helping, but they're driving companies out.
"We try to stay very low priced, though, to keep the big companies from taking us over," he says. "We're not looking for the huge profit. I know it sounds funny ... but I don't care that much about money."
What Daniels does care about is ice cream, which I am allowed to sample with a fistful of plastic spoons. "Two of the top flavors in the country, you couldn't give away here," he says as I dive into generous scoops of Maine Black Bear and the golden Cake Batter. "Fudge Ripple and Pecan Praline. They're just not interesting enough for people here in New England." Richardson's has over 57 flavors of ice cream at the moment, with old-time favorites like Frozen Pudding next to new developments like Candy Shop, which consists of Reese's, Heath Bar, Milky Way, Snickers and M&Ms.
Daniels worked for 10 years as the production manager, where he experimented with some new flavors. "One of them didn't work," he offers. "Donuts Frozo ... I thought for sure it would be good. Coffee ice cream with chocolate donuts in it. Coffee and donuts! But the donuts froze too much," he says. "It wasn't good enough." I try about 10 more flavors before settling on a shake made from Green Monster mint and their own milk from the cows.
"The cows are the big attraction," Daniels says. "The people, when they come here, they love seeing the cows."
RICHARDSON'S ICE CREAM
156 S. MAIN ST., MIDDLETON
978.774.5450
50 WALKER'S BROOK DR., READING
INSIDE JORDAN'S FURNITURE
781.944.9021
RICHARDSONSICECREAM.COM
