The First Gourmet Ice Cream in New England | New England’s Food Gifts
In 1978, Yankee wrote about a groundbreaking ice-cream shop in Somerville, Massachusetts, now considered by many to be the first gourmet ice cream in New England. In 1978, Yankee wrote about a groundbreaking ice-cream shop in Somerville, Massachusetts, now considered by many to be the first gourmet ice cream in New England. The owner was […]
Red Raspberry Ice Cream made not with preserves, but rather with whole red raspberries, seeds and all!
Photo Credit : Courtesy of Herrell’s Ice CreamIn 1978, Yankee wrote about a groundbreaking ice-cream shop in Somerville, Massachusetts, now considered by many to be the first gourmet ice cream in New England.
Photo Credit : Courtesy of Herrell’s Ice Cream
In 1978, Yankee wrote about a groundbreaking ice-cream shop in Somerville, Massachusetts, now considered by many to be the first gourmet ice cream in New England. The owner was Steve Herrell, who had founded Steve’s Ice Cream in 1973, five years before Ben (Cohen) and Jerry (Greenfield) set up shop. Herrell’s genius was to mix his ice cream in a way that incorporated very little air; a gallon of his ice cream was heavier and richer than its commercial counterparts. After selling Steve’s to Joe Crugnale, who went on to also found the Bertucci’s restaurant chain, Herrell opened Herrell’s Ice Cream in Northampton, Massachusetts, where—now semi-retired—he’s still using his original recipes and keeping more than 200 flavors in rotation.—Amy Traverso
Through the large, frosted storefront window customers’ eyes follow the hypnotic rotation of the White Mountain ice cream freezer on a window ledge. All the ice cream here is made with the one five-gallon ice cream freezer on that window ledge, in front of the world, one batch at a time. Relentless as the tides, 1,200 times an hour, 24 hours a day, the ice cream machine rotates, delivering like a beneficent mother. Once a group arrived after midnight, pleading to be let in. They had driven nonstop from Middlebury, Vermont, because “we had to have Steve’s ice cream.” Employees swear they get calls from airports with people gasping, “I’ve just flown in from Atlanta. Don’t close!” A California man recently wrote: “Your ice cream made my coming to Boston successful. New Englanders can talk about Walden Pond, Arthur Fiedler, and the Red Sox … to me Boston is a mouthful of Steve’s ice cream.”
— Excerpt from “The Best Ice Cream in the World,” by Mel Allen, July 1978
Mel Allen
Mel Allen is the fifth editor of Yankee Magazine since its beginning in 1935. His first byline in Yankee appeared in 1977 and he joined the staff in 1979 as a senior editor. Eventually he became executive editor and in the summer of 2006 became editor. During his career he has edited and written for every section of the magazine, including home, food, and travel, while his pursuit of long form story telling has always been vital to his mission as well. He has raced a sled dog team, crawled into the dens of black bears, fished with the legendary Ted Williams, profiled astronaut Alan Shephard, and stood beneath a battleship before it was launched. He also once helped author Stephen King round up his pigs for market, but that story is for another day. Mel taught fourth grade in Maine for three years and believes that his education as a writer began when he had to hold the attention of 29 children through months of Maine winters. He learned you had to grab their attention and hold it. After 12 years teaching magazine writing at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, he now teaches in the MFA creative nonfiction program at Bay Path University in Longmeadow, Massachusetts. Like all editors, his greatest joy is finding new talent and bringing their work to light.
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