It Takes a Village
Kris Swanberg's Nice Cream is a cross-town culinary effort
When teacher Kris Swanberg got laid off last summer, she turned to her never-used ice cream maker and, in her words, "started making tons and tons of ice cream, obsessively."
Before long, her freezer was overflowing and she began unloading her wares on friends. One happy recipient was Cassie Green of Green Grocer, who recognized Swanberg's talent for flavor combinations and encouraged her to take the next step.
Fast-forward a year: Nice Cream just released its summer flavors, with four new ice creams made with Chicagoland products. The lineup includes strawberry-angel food ice cream with strawberries from Susie's Garden Patch and cake from Sweet Cakes, and vanilla-blueberry pie ice cream with pie from First Slice. Both manage to taste exactly like their dessert-plate counterparts, while fitting nicely into a pint container.
There's also dark chocolate with Smits Farms basil, and organic mango-chile-lime sorbet. The mangos aren't local, but Swamberg loves the chile mangos sold around Humboldt Park. "They make me think of summer in Chicago," she says. "And elotes-flavored ice cream wouldn't have been that great."
Nice Cream ($8 per pint or $5 per half-pint) is sold at Green Grocer, Swim Café, Z&H Market, and Provenance Food and Wine; nicecreamchicago.com
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