Nothing makes a scorching hot summer day more bearable than a cold cup or cone stuffed full of ice cream. From classic favorites like vanilla, chocolate and strawberry to new-school picks like salted caramel and s’mores, there’s no shortage of spots in the Lowcountry to grab a scoop (or two, or three).
Wich Cream stuffs homemade cookies
Originally started in 2014, this ice cream sandwich brand creates rich, flavorful treats from good, natural and fresh sources, working with as many local ingredients as possible. Owner Jeff Moquin came into the picture about six years ago, almost to the day, he said.
“It was a true struggle for a little over a year,” he said, as the Covid-19 pandemic rocked the food and beverage industry only six months after he took over the business. “But then things turned around.”
Moquin said he sources milk from local farmers to make his own cream and also gets eggs, fruit and honey to add to several of the brand’s flavors. All to make a “clean” and fresh scoop of the frozen treat.
“We grow mint in our garden. We process whole fruit into nectars and compotes,” he said. “I just recently decided I didn’t want to buy heavy cream, so I started making my own. It all comes together to produce a really nice product.
“If you have never been exposed to the freshest version of this, you just won’t understand,” Moquin added. “You think you’re eating something that’s good, until you really look at the label and see what you’re putting into your body. … I thought I knew what ice cream was before I started doing this, but this has been an eye-opening experience.”
Moquin said it takes about three days from a table stacked with fresh ingredients to serving a scoop of the icy dessert. The first day of production is dedicated to building the base, melting sugar to combine with milk and a thickening agent. From there, he adds fresh fruit, nuts or mint to steep overnight.
The next day, any number of ingredients get added, depending on the flavor being made — strawberry puree, lemon syrup, custard, the list goes on and on, Moquin said.
The end result: Anywhere between 1,000 and 1,400 fresh, all-natural sandwiches made per week by hand.
“It’s a lot of work, but when you’re doing something as fun as what I’m doing, a 60-hour work week doesn’t really feel like a whole lot of work.”
- Wich Cream ice cream sandwiches are found in several stores across the Lowcountry. For more information and to find locations, visit wichcream.com.
Off Track makes fresh treats in-house
Marc and Melissa Zera began their ice cream journey in New York in 2015, where Melissa challenged Marc to make the frozen treat from scratch. When it turned out better than expected, the pair started thinking about the potential of running their own business.
They moved to Charleston and founded Off Track Ice Cream in June 2019, inspired by the city’s food scene and number of breweries. At their downtown shop, large glass windows look into the kitchen, so guests can see the desserts being made.
“We loved going to visit different craft breweries,” Marc Zera said. “I thought it was so cool to see all the people looking back there, and when we designed the ice cream shop, we wanted to include that same dynamic.
“Along the same lines, we offer ice cream flights, four different flavors that come on what looks like a beer flight,” he added.
Off Track focuses on traditional and vegan options with an emphasis on local, clean ingredients. Milk, eggs, salt and fruit come from several area farms and merchants. No artificial flavors, thickeners or stabilizers get put into the product at any stage.
“Any ice cream you buy, you look at the ingredients, and you just don’t even know what it is,” Marc Zera said. “Half the ingredients you can’t even pronounce. A lot of it is just fillers, and most of the reason the companies put all that in it is the fluctuations between making it, shipping it, storing it, someone buying it and taking it home — we don’t have to worry about that.
“It’s a lot different than what we were doing in New York,” he said. “But we love what we’re doing and wouldn’t want to be doing anything else. People come into the shop, and we never have angry customers. They’re just here to have some ice cream. It’s just a part of the experience.”
- 6 Beaufain St. Downtown. Noon to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday; noon to 11 p.m.
Friday and Saturday. offtrackicecream.com.
Wholly Cow serves statewide
Wholly Cow has been a fixture in Charleston since 1984, making it one of the oldest dedicated ice cream brands in the city. Once upon a time, it had several shops, but over the years, the business model shifted to wholesale.
“We only have one shop now [in West Ashley],” said owner Jonathan Ruman. “And we do have our original ice cream and coffee there. But now, we supply over 100 customers across South Carolina. It’s super-premium, low-overrun ice cream that a lot of people grew up with.”
Wholly Cow’s dessert is used in several Charleston restaurants for their desserts, including 82 Queen, and is served at favorite spots like Bert’s Market on Folly Beach.
Ruman said it’s the same brand and recipes that generations of Charlestonians remember, right down to the classic flavors that have been mainstays for decades, now joined by new favorites like Charleston sea turtle and banana pudding.
Ruman and his wife took over the business about eight years ago, he said, after owning several other small companies in Charleston.
“It’s been a lot of fun,” he said. “I came out of the food industry, so this is kind of an extension of that after I first retired. All food and bev is really interesting to me, but this — I mean — it’s ice cream. As somebody told me once, everybody is always happy to get ice cream. If you’re having a bad day, you go out for ice cream. It just solves everything.”
Ruman said the company keeps the cold treats as natural as possible, with no artificial flavors or colors and very low overrun — meaning the ice cream doesn’t have a lot of air pumped into it to inflate the quantity, so you get more bang for your buck.
The end result, Ruman said, is a Lowcountry brand with more than 26 rotating flavors that each “knock your socks off.”
- 3642 Savannah Highway, Suite 144. Johns Island. 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Ice cream also served in several locations across the Lowcountry. For more information, visit whollycowicecream.com.
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