Saturday, July 14, 2007

National Ice Cream Month



Hi, my name is Nosher, and today I'm confessing that I'm addicted to ice cream. Not just any ice cream: it has to be Moxie's. Moxie's has five-- count 'em, five!!!-- different kinds of vanilla, based on where the vanilla bean came from: Tahitian, Mexican, Indonesian, Venetian, and Haitian. They have a Cajun chocolate peanut butter that is out of this world, not to mention the coconut with chocolate almonds, Horchata, an intense rum raisin, and many other unusual home made creations (orange-pineapple, red wine sorbet).

There are two kinds of people in the Capital District: those who like ice cream, and those who like Moxie's.

The servings are rational (not the ginormous pig-o-rama portions we Americans have gotten so used to). The ice cream is not too sweet. Way way too many people put too much sugar in their desserts, until you can't taste the real flavor anymore. Not Moxie's. The business has been around since the 1930s and runs out of an old dairy building, complete with the screen windows where you place your order. Moxie's will even sell you 1/2 gallons -- larger for parties if you call ahead. You can read more about ice cream stands in this great article by the Business Review.

July is National Ice Cream Month, and tomorrow (Sunday the 15th) is National Ice Cream Day, so I'm going to go do my patriotic duty and head to Moxie's again. Moxie's celebrates by having the most flavors of the season on National Ice Cream day. Tomorrow, they will add 17 more flavors to their already impressive list. There will also be face painting, free pens, and lots of people.

The only thing I have to object to at Moxie's is that some of the flavors are just... odd. For example, I tried banana walnut today, and it was pink, and didn't taste much like bananas. Or walnuts. Other flavors have just been strange. But there are so many great flavors here, and you can always taste test before you make a commitment. AND you can get a special vanilla-around-the-world sample dish; some day I will do that.


Diehard Moxie fans often buy gallons of ice cream to last through the winter, because the stand closes at the end of August. As I support seasonal eating, I think it's great that Moxie's is seasonal. But I'm certainly not above stocking my freezer with stores for the winter.

2 comments:

ITS SMO said...

OK I followed the links and discovered that Moxies serves coconut ice cream - my favorite. So, where in Troy do I find Moxies?

Nosher said...

Hi Its smo,
I'm so sorry I didn't get back to you sooner-- August is my downtime month, and I've been away from my desk. Anyway, I just called; Moxie's closed yesterday, August 27!!! Rats!!!!
However, it is on Spring Ave-- basically you head up Spring Ave. (it intersects with Pawling near Emma Willard) and keep going and going... until you think you're out in the middle of nowhere, and then you see the Moxie's sign on the left.
Something to look forward to for next year.