BELLINGHAM, Wash. — Disclaimer: This episode is an encore presentation of KING 5's Evening.
An ultra-premium ice cream named after the dairy town of Acme is filled with Whatcom County goodness.
The berries are harvested from local fields and the milk and cream come from a single-source Whatcom County farm.
"Food is my passion and I think of it as the temple of daily life,” said ACME Ice Cream CEO Erin Fray.
She’s overseeing the growth of the operation, which is stretching well beyond Bellingham and Fairhaven. Containers of ACME Ice Cream are now available throughout Western Washington and in parts of Oregon.
But every pint is made from scratch in a Bellingham facility with strong Willy Wonka vibes.
“I never thought of myself that way, but in a sense, I am because I'm passionate about the product,” laughed Jim Hart, who designed the production line. "I knew the minute I sampled this product we have a niche here because no one else is doing this."
The ingredients travel through freezers and pipes, mixing in layers of flavor along the way.
"Our chocolate chip, we drizzle the chocolate into the ice cream so they kind of break into little shards,” Fray said. "We make our fudge brownies with walnuts – hand-bake them, chop them, and put them in our fudge brownie (ice cream.)"
If you look closely at the labels, you'll see another thing that sets ACME apart: most ice cream brands add air to create volume, but ACME does not. That extra weight means each pint is one pound.
"We are a pounder - we're the only ice cream pint that's a pound,” Fray said. "It means that you get more flavor on your tongue. It's thick and creamy and remarkably rich."
Eight flavors are available in the pounders and the scoop shop in Fairhaven offers 25 rotating options.
ACME Ice Cream | 1021 Harris Ave, Bellingham, WA 98225
Disclaimer: This episode is an encore presentation of KING 5's Evening.
KING 5's Evening celebrates the Northwest. Contact us: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Email.