Fanning, Saturday, Juna 10, 1995 '
Ice Cream
The Old-Fashioned Way
JOYCE BUPP
York Co. Correspondent
LOGANVILLE (York
Co.) —At Carman’s Ice Cream,
that favorite summertime frozen
dessert is still produced in the trad
itional, homemade, old-fashioned
way.
Made in ten-gallon batches.
Carmen’s ice cream is mixed in
stainless-steel cans and spun in a
water-calcium bath that results in a
product of wonderful flavor and
texture. When each
batch is ready, the beater is care
fully removed from the shiny can,
the ice cream scraped from the
beaters by hand and the fin
ished product hand-dipped into
cardboard containers.
The result is a renowned ice
cream that draws steady streams of
customers from as close as across
Loganville’s wide Main Street to
those who drive from other states
for their favorite frozen dessert.
Through the popular June straw
berry and ice-cream season, Car
man’s Ice Cream sales hit peak
demand for the 34,000 gallons pro
duced annually.
Caiman’s is owned and oper
ated by Lucille and Ron Dowell,
daughter and son-in-law of Ervin
and Alene Carman who founded
the family’s ice cream business in
Loganville.
“My grandfather made ice
cream in Winterstown many years
ago; it was served at the hotel there
and probably sold to neighbors of
the area,” explains Lucille. “So my
dad knew something about ice
cream making from his child
hood.”
Carman originally ran a milk
delivery route, like some of his
brothers. Son-in-law Ron Dowell
came on in 1956 to help with the
delivery routes, after completing
military service. But the milk busi
ness eventually fell by the wayside
as the ice cream sales mush
roomed.
The Carman’s Ice Cream tradi
Lucille Dowell hand-dips strawberry ice cream from t
freezing can Into slngle-servlng-slze cardboard cups.
Allen McKinney scrapes the beaters of a fresh batch of
Carman's Ice Cream.
tion started in 1952, when Ervin
Carman began making five-gallon
batches of the creamy, cold treat in
the family’s basement Neighbors
often asked when they would be
making ice cream and a year later,
they were selling to eager custom
ers. As demand outgrew the base
ment’s confines, the ice-cream
making was moved to a small
washhouse behind the Carman’s
home. Ice was another Carman
commodity for many years, sold in
the earlier days from old wooden
tubs.
“We still occasionally have peo
ple ask if we still sell ice; but we
haven’t handled it for about IS
years,” notes Ron.
With a few outward expansions
of the walls and some equipment
upgrades, Carman’s Ice Cream is
still sold from the “washhouse,”
with In small salesroom along the
side. On a usual morning, neigh
bors drop in to visit, vendors deliv
er supplies, the phone rings, cus
tomers stop to make their purch
ases, and the steady hum of the
ten-gallon stainless steel can freez
ing ice cream adds to the hectic
pace.
Another tradition still followed
at Carman’s is sending their cus
tomers home with their ice cream
purchases neatly wrapped in yes
terday’s newspapers.
“We recycled for years and
years before it liecame popular,”
chuckles Lucille “My dad started
wrapping the ice cream containers
in paper for insulation against
melting while customers took it
home, and we’ve just continued
that."
The first batch of ice cream is
usually spinning in its stainless
freezing can by 6 a.m. every Mon
day, Wednesday, Thursday and
Friday, By noon, 14 or 15 batches
have been spin-frozen, hand
dipped into containers and stashed
away in the walk-in freezer. Dur
ing die demanding strawberry sea
son, that schedule expands to six
days a week, plus an occasional
very early Sunday morning freez
ing session before church.
Carman’s Ice Cream begins
with a commercial base mix from
Rutter’s Dairy, plus the family’s
own blend of added ingredients.
Thickening agents in Carman’s
finished product are less than one-
(Turn to Page B 16)
SEE YOUR NEARE
&
DEALER
FOR DEPENDABLE
EQUIPMENT & SERVK
*-• . A
Annvllte. PA Honey Qiyvy. P,
BHM Farm Norman D. i
Equipment, Inc. & Son, Inc.
RDI, Rte. 934 Honey Grove, P
717-867-2211
&IHSIB., PA New Holland. Pi
R&W A.B.C. Groff,
Equipment Co. no south Raiiro
35 East Willow Street 717-354-4191
717-243-2686
Elizabethtown. PA Olev. PA
Messick Farm C.J. Wonsii
Equipment, Inc. Bros.
Rt. 283 • Rheem's Exit R.D. 2
717-367-1319 215-987-6257
Halifax. PA
Sweigard Bros.
R.D. 3, Box 13
717-896-3414
Honey Brook. PA Tamaaua. PA
Dependable Charles S.
Motor Co. Snyder, Inc,
East Main Street r.D. 3
215-273-3131 717-386-5945
215-273-3737
West Grove. PA
S.G. Lewis &
Son, Inc.
R.D. 2, Box 66
215-869-2214
Frrttflrti yp
Ceresville Ford New Holland
Rt. 26 East 301-662-4197
Outside MD, 800-331-9122
M
Bridgeton. NJ Washington. NJ
Leslie G. Fogg, Smith Tracto
Inc. Equip., Inc.
Canton & Stow Creek 15 Hillcrest Ave.
Landing Rd. 908-689-7900
609-451-2/27
609-935-5145
REWHOUJW)
S
717-734-3682
Loysville, PA
717-789-3117
Pitman. PA
Schreffler
Equipment
Pitman, PA
717-648-1120
Wooditown. nj
Owen Supply
Broad Street &
East Avenue
609-769-0308