Blue Marble Ice Cream

What was the inspiration for your company?

Jennie Dundas: We are absolute gluttons and believe that every neighborhood deserves an ice cream shop. As far as creating a space that was going to be a neighborhood hangout, we knew that to get us through the winter months we'd need to offer outstanding coffee, tea and baked goods, in addition to ice cream. So we created a space that attracted kids, not just for ice cream, but with a safe space they could enjoy while mom and dad get their coffee fix.

Ice cream and environmentalism—how did you make the connection between the two?

Jennie: I think you can make a connection between environmentalism and anything, frankly, so what we started with was a product we wanted to sell, and the desire to do it with an environmental bent happened because that was something we would have wanted to do with any product. Alexis Miesen: We really wanted a nostalgic, farm-fresh product, and it didn't make any sense to have this all natural, really wholesome ice cream, and then serve it out of plastic bowls. There was just an incongruity there that just didn't work. Once we went the wholesome, natural route, we just had to see that through. Also, it introduces people to a whole new way of making choices, so there's an educational component masked in this delicious product that we serve.

What was the most memorable challenge with your company and how was it resolved?

Jennie: Our ice cream cones. What a mess. We found these great organic cones, but unfortunately, we lose about 20% of each box to breakage. They're just really fragile and arrive broken. So you consider the cost, then you consider the fossil fuels burned just transporting them to us from California. Is it really worth all that fuel? We haven't switched yet, but it's looking like the organic cones are just not economical, not practical, and not even that much better for the environment.

How is your ice cream wholesome?

Jennie: The dairy is all grass-fed and organic, and the sugar that we use is organic. Alexis: The guy who's in charge of making our ice cream, Matt White, is a fourth-generation ice-cream maker and dairy farmer, so the recipes that he's using are literally on index cards with yellowed edges that have come out of these old, rusted recipe boxes that you probably saw [similar versions of] in your grandmother's cabinet. They're recipes that his grandfather and great-grandfather used. They didn't have all these nonsense sweeteners and artificial colors and preservatives that we have now. And we don't use crushed-up candy bars or cookies: Our toppings are maple syrup, peanut butter, balsamic vinegar, nuts—they're all natural and organic.

Did you say vinegar?

Jennie: On strawberry ice cream, or vanilla, it is awesome. You have to use really good quality, very sweet, aged balsamic vinegar from Italy.

When did you become aware of environmental issues and start to incorporate greener habits into your life?

Jennie: I was raised with awareness. My mom hardly ever bought plastic. It was weird, almost. We never had Tupperware, and this was the '70s when everyone had Tupperware. We never had Ziplock baggies, and we seldom had plastic wrap. My dad was an anti-consumer who taught us that any time a company says you 'need' something, it means they're trying to rob you. In my adult life, I have to say my perspective toward organics was really influenced by my cousin, Iva Peele, and her husband, Jerry. They left New York City about five years ago to start an organic farm up in the Hudson Valley, Herondale Organic Farm. Our ice-cream maker works on their farm and that's how I met him. Alexis: I'm kind of new to this whole green movement. I think it started when I lived abroad for several years in Namibia in Southern Africa, and my food options were somewhat limited. I had grown up never liking eggs, it was just completely disgusting to me, but I had few options, and eggs were easy to get, so I started eating them and I thought, 'Wait a second, I really like eggs!' So after two years, I came back thinking I had developed this great taste for eggs, and I went and bought myself some eggs, made scrambled eggs, and just spit them out. I thought, 'These aren't eggs, what is this?' Then it occurred to me that the chickens were obviously different chickens—they were eating different things—so I tried organic eggs. They weren't quite like the ones I had in Namibia, but they were much closer. That was the first 'Ah ha!' moment that I had.

What does 'green' mean to you?

Jennie: Green means the difference between life and death. Honestly, I think of the victims of extreme weather, families who have died or lost homes in hurricanes, landscapes that are irrevocably destroyed and species that are becoming extinct. It is literally a matter of life and death. That's what motivates me.

So, honestly, how often can I eat ice cream?

Jennie: Every day! At Blue Marble we offer the Mini-Marble. We serve our ice cream in scoops that are completely spherical, so they're perfect little spheres, and just an ounce and a half of ice cream. It's the perfect amount for a snack, and when you eat that, you're getting really high-quality, grass-fed dairy, organic sugar, so you can eat a mini-serving every day. You'll be fine and you'll get your calcium. Alexis: You look at people walking by with their enormous Starbucks Frappacinos, full of creams and syrups and sugar. If people are getting one of those big drinks every day, they can certainly afford to do a little ice cream every day. It's an all-natural indulgence

Should children be eating ice cream every day?

Jennie: I'm not huge on giving tons of sugar to children, but if you are going to be giving sugar to children, it might as well be organic sugar, and it might as well be in a cute little marble that's wrapped up in calcium.

What are some of the differences between organic and regular ice cream? I'm sure you can taste the difference, but can you see it or feel it?

Jennie: I think you can see in the colors that are so vibrant. If you look at our ice cream cabinet, it's all these very rich colors—this deep, dark chocolate, and the rich color of the coffee. Visually, I think you see the difference. Alexis: Aside from the way it looks and tastes, people are experiencing things differently in the way they digest it. I've heard people say to me more times than I count, 'I'm lactose intolerant,' or 'I have to stay away from dairy because I just can't process it right,' and they don't have any problems with our ice cream. I think that has a lot to do with the quality of the dairy, and the grass-fed nature of it. So people are experiencing it not only in taste and through sight, but in their experience of eating it.

How can I avoid freezer-burn in my ice cream, and once it's been burned, is there anything I can to do save it?

Jennie: I would suggest trying to put something over the ice cream, closer to the surface, so that there's no air in the tub at all. I don't like to use plastic, so maybe you could put tin foil or wax paper over the top of the ice cream, because the freezer burn happens when there's air in there. I don't think you can save it.

What green thing do you do that sometimes feels absurd?

Jennie: I use one piece of tin foil about 25 times. In my house upstate I wait for the wood stove to get the place hot (I use denim insulation, but still it takes a while to heat up) and walk around in my coat for two hours instead of just turning up the propane-generated heat. Alexis: At the shop, we have four different garbage receptacles: our biodegradables, our recyclables, paper, and then the rest of the trash. Every night when I close, I have to pick through the trash and make sure that everything goes exactly where it's supposed to go, because all of our biodegradables go up to a farm in upstate New York, and I want to make sure that they don't get any junk in there, but it's not fun to be shoulder-deep in melted chocolate ice cream and people's dirty spoons, but we have to do it.

Do you have any eco-sins?

Jennie: Pedicures. They waste water, and often those places are filled with so much toxicity I would never enter them if I were pregnant. Still, what a great feeling, to sit there reading a trashy mag with your feet in warm soapy water, and being treated you like you deserve to be pampered. I indulge in them maybe four times a year. Alexis: I'm a huge milk fan, and I have this thing for Hershey's chocolate syrup and chocolate milk. I've tried the organic and all natural brands, and they just don't taste the same, unfortunately.

Were your friends and relatives surprised when you told them you were going to open an ice cream shop, or did everybody see it coming?

Alexis: Jennie and I could not have come from further fields for food, retail, even business ownership. I'm from non-profit education, and she's from acting, so it was a shock to us, even. Jennie: I think it's safe to say, on both ends, that everyone was universally shocked.