Mississippi’s Sweet Magnolia Gelato Co. Partners With Brown Family Dairy
In partnership with: Mississippi Department of Agriculture and Commerce
At Sweet Magnolia Gelato Co. in Clarksdale, award-winning treats are concocted, featuring flavors like blueberry cheesecake, honey vanilla, spumoni and brown sugar bourbon, to name a few. What’s more, the decadent desserts feature local Mississippi ingredients – all the way down to the milk.
“I started cooking at an early age and always loved to entertain,” says Hugh Balthrop, owner of Sweet Magnolia Gelato Co. “Before my wife and I had kids, we’d travel a lot, and I kept seeing gelato. I started experimenting with a Cuisinart machine for my family, and then my entrepreneurial spirit took over.”
Now, the gelato company is celebrating nine years in business (in terms of wholesale) and opened an additional retail shop in Memphis, Tennessee, last year.
See more: Mississippians Buy Local
Balthrop says that when he was researching the ice cream industry and gleaning inspiration from other culinarians he admired, he saw what they were doing with local ingredients and it just made sense.
“I took a page from Jeni Britton Bauer of Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams and chef Sean Brock, who I respect big-time,” Balthrop says. “You can see that everything they use is sourced locally, and I just loved that. Supporting these local farmers just made sense.”
Got Milk?
That’s where Brown Family Dairy came in. Located in Oxford, the Brown family’s operation started in 2009. The first-generation farm began with just four dairy cows – and is now up to 42.
“I had beef cows growing up, but as I got older, I started reading about dairies that were bottling and selling their own milk,” farmer Billy Ray Brown says. “It took us about a year and a half to get the facilities built and then we started selling whole milk at farmers markets. Not long after, we began delivering to Clarksdale and are now in about 45 stores.”
They also got a call from Hugh Balthrop.
“Hugh called me and told me he read about our dairy in a magazine article,” Brown shares. “He told me his idea for the gelato company and we were all in.”
The dairy provides whole milk and cream to Sweet Magnolia Gelato Co., which is a key component of the gelato base. Brown explains that they milk Jersey cows, so the butterfat in the milk is a bit higher – making it ideal for ice cream.
“It’s really neat to see the product on the shelf and know that it all started with those cows,” Brown says. He adds that it is a perk delivering to Balthrop because of the fresh gelato he gets to taste.
“The pistachio is unbelievably good,” Brown says. “I love to go down there because they’ll always give me a cup of whatever they’re making.”
“There’s nothing like tasting fresh, local produce that you can’t get at the store. You can taste the difference.”
Hugh Balthrop, owner of Sweet Magnolia Gelato Co.
Local Support
Balthrop says that using local ingredients is a great source of pride for Sweet Magnolia in terms of both quality and economic support.
“We’ve been using Brown Family Dairy for eight years and that’s the only milk and cream we use,” he says. “We respect them because they’re hardworking and make a quality product.”
Along with Brown Family Dairy, Sweet Magnolia sources fresh blueberries from Peggy’s Blueberry Farm in Senatobia, pecans from Indianola Pecan House in Indianola, local honey from Powell and Sons in Clarksdale, and several other local farms.
See more: Mississippi’s Top 10 Agricultural Products
“We have to get back to supporting small farmers versus some of the corporate giants,” Balthrop says. “There’s nothing like tasting fresh, local produce that you can’t get at the store. You can taste the difference.”
Brown agrees with the sentiment, emphasizing that partnerships like the one with Sweet Magnolia help them survive as a small farm.
“Every time we go to a farmers market, people thank us,” Brown says. “But we turn around and thank them instead, because if it weren’t for them, we couldn’t do what we love to do. They keep us going.”