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Seattle's Organic Ice Cream

You're probably aware of the chemicals that can lurk in conventional cow's milk: recombinant bovine growth hormone (also referred to as rBGH), pesticide residue, and other chemicals have all been found in dairy products.  It's easy enough to find organic milk and cheese, but when summer comes, what about ice cream? 

This summer, we're in luck.  Seattle has recently become the home of several artisan ice cream makers that use locally grown, organic, and altogether scrumptious ingredients.  Our favorites include:

• Molly Moon's Homemade Ice Cream Shop. The milk for the ice cream made in this Wallingford hang-out comes directly from an organic farm in Maltby, Washington. Other ingredients include Skagit Valley's strawberries and Vashon Island's lavendar, which Molly combines to make incredible flavors like Balsamic Strawberry, Thai Iced Tea, Mandarin Chocolate Sorbet, and Salted Caramel. Be sure to check out the vegan sorbet!

• West Seattle's newly-opened Full Tilt Ice Cream uses organic ingredients to make flavors like Blackberry Dark Chocolate Chip, Mango Chili, Blackberry Cardamon, and a daily vegan ice cream. If you plan to stop by, save some time to enjoy the retro arcade games.

• At the Broadway and Lake City farmer's markets each week, look for Half-Pint Ice Cream. Cle Franklin, formerly of Fare Start, brings four flavors of her homemade, small-batch, artisan organic ice cream - and sells out weekly.

• Finally, if you're looking for a grocery-store pint, try one of the new flavors from the Oregon Ice Cream Company. Using only organic cream, they craft flavors using fruits and nuts - all grown in Oregon!