in the january issue of new jersey monthly magazine we are named best ice cream for 2007! thank you! what a way to end 2006 & begin a new year. we are proud to represent nj!

the article by starts off with, "We in the Garden State need to start demanding more. Here are a bunch who deliver."

in the food section under the heading of ice cream they say, " The atmosphere is a little crunchy -- you half expect The Mamas and the Papas to start singing -- but the artisinal creations at the Bent Spoon in Princeton are diverse & scrumptious, even if you left your bell-bottoms at home."

here is a link to the list so you can see all the best of 2007 for the garden state.

2007 is looking good.

when we introduced our euro-style hot chocolate two falls ago, it was the thickest, richest most chocolatey goodness short of saving yourself a trip to paris. our goal was to recreate a true hot chocolate (not hot cocoa) that would even for a fleeting moment transport us back to italy or france. the hot chocolate has been one of our most popular menu items & soon there after we adapted our recipe so it could be recreated at home.

recently our classic euro-style hot chocolate was named one of the favorites on thenibble.com. among 65 hot chocolates & cocoas, our spoon-at-home version ended up in the premium favorites category. our classic hot chocolate is made with a 61% dark chocolate & no additionally added sugar. and yes, the @ home version tastes as thick & chocolaty as what we serve in the store!

we also offer in a spoon @ home version our habenero hot chocolate. we make this with a 72% dark chocolate, two types of cinnamon & spike it with our own heirloom pepper powder. this mainly habenero blend originates with heirloom peppers we picked ourselves at a farm in pennsylvania. the peppers are dried & ground by spoonies & blended into powder. the result is a darker delight with a kick.

in addition to the homemade whipped cream with madagascar vanilla bean that we offer at the store, we also make our own marshies. our handmade & handcut marshies come in different varities (stop by to see what types are available). we make madagascar vanilla bean, organic peppermint, cinnamon & organic ginger. think of the possibilities!

it thanksgiving week & we're quite thankful @ the spoon. its one of our favorite times of year -- a holiday dedicated to gathering with friends & family over food & drink. we're filled with memories of holidays past & those to come. with memories, come our food memories; the end of fall & beginning of winter flavors hold a special place on our tongues.

this week our case will be filled with those flavors that are quite significant to us. here is a sampling of flavors that will appear (& disappear!) over next several days:

pumpkin pie (made with cherry grove organically grown long island cheese pumpkins), anise seed (makes us think of pizzelles warm off of the iron), cranberry cider sorbet (with terhune apple cider & organic cranberries), wild turkey chocolate bourbon pecan (like chocolate pecan pie with wild turkey bourbon), sweet potato (with nj potatoes grown by farmer ed), caramel apple (with our handmade sea salt caramel & terhune apples), orange clove (with organic valencia oranges), apple cider ginger (terhune cider that we mull with traditional spices and fold pieces of crystallized ginger into), madagascar vanilla bourbon caramel (with maker's mark & jim beam bourbon & more of our handmade caramel), cinnamon (with indonesian & chinese cinnamons), brown sugar & clove (made with natually processed, molassesy, muscavado brown sugar).

soon enough more of the christmas & new years flavors will appear. we're looking forward to our peppermint schtick (with pieces of our handmade all naturally colored & organic peppermint flavored candy canes), eggnog, pear prosecco (with organic pears & a tasty sparkling italian wine) & grapefruit campari (with freshly squeezed organic grapefruits).

hours this week: monday 11-6; tues 11-10; wednesday 11-6; closed thanksgiving; black friday 12-11.

remember that the palmer square christmas tree lighting is this friday! stop by and warm up with some of our thick & rich euro style hot chocolate & homemade madagascar vanilla bean marshies!

we just delivered the new flavor for princeton school garden ice cream program to the whole earth center!

this month we've teamed up with the whole earth center & small world to make a tasty fall treat. small world roastmasters, jon march & brant cosaboom, kindly donated some of their small world house blend coffee while the whole earth center contributed newman's own organic cookies. we transformed the coffee into an ice cream made from local, organic eggs & nj hormone-free milk & cream. we then add crushed pieces of the cookies to make fully caffeinated tasty coffee cookie ice cream.

its available throughout november stop @ the whole earth center. get a pint because all but $.50 (for the reusable packaging) of the $7.50 is a donation to the edible garden program. currently the donations are towards the garden at Littlebrook Elementary School.

postscript: in addition to all the money donated for the Community Park school garden (yay! thank you!), whole earth customers and bent spoon fans donated $490 to the Littlebrook Elementary School garden for the last flavor. taste of fall: there are still a few pints available of the Terhune baked apple ice cream made from apples generously donated by the Mount family & Terhune Orchards.

our food community will be proudly attending as one of the representatives from nj at terra madre. slow food selected our application to participate in the event in turin, italy. slow food's goal is to "counteract fast food and fast life, the disappearance of local food traditions and people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from, how it tastes and how our food choices affect the rest of the world."

we firmly believe & support these ideals on a daily basis @ the spoon. our goal is to produce treats from scratch using classic artisan methods with ingredients we source from local and/or organic farmers.

terra madre takes the ideals of slow food and "brings together representatives of food communities that produce good, clean and fair food in a responsible and sustainable way."

our food community is comprised of us, Mike Azzara of NOFA-NJ and David Zaback of Cherry Grove Farm. Mike(y) is the outreach coordinator on NOFA-NJ. David, who works at the spoon in the off season, is a farmer @ Cherry Grove's organic vegetable farm in Lawrenceville.

we look forward to the event and disseminating ideas & information when we return!

in the current "best of" issue of new jersey life magazine we are listed as one of their top picks of 2006. they say we make "the best ice cream not just in nj but on the planet."

they go on to say "even more beautiful than the spawn of brangelina is the coupling of italian gelato and all-american ice cream. 'artisan ice cream' is what the young proprietors call their secret recipe, made from organic cream, farm-fresh eggs, and local fruit, herbs, and vegetables. favorites among the ever-changing roster: chocolate bourbon pecan, ginger cardamom and, in the sorbet department, quince and strawberry mint lemonade."

wow & thank you!

to read from their list click here or pick up a copy for all of the listings.

on sunday, september 24 from 4 to 7 pm, Rat’s Restaurant will host its Sixth Annual Epicurean Palette, a gourmet wine and food tasting event to benefit grounds for sculpture!

the cost will be $99 per person, $89 for members of the Grounds For Sculpture.

"The Epicurean Palette is the Grounds For Sculpture’s primary fund raising event with a mission is to raise the awareness of food as an art form, and simultaneously generate continued support for the Ground For Sculpture’s operational costs. With stations set up throughout the park, participating chefs will create sample-sized portions of their signature dishes, which guests can enjoy while taking a long, leisurely stroll through the Grounds."

bottom line? lots of great chefs making lots of great food + our ice cream and sorbets!
all to benefit a pretty cool place.

sounds like a fun way to spend an afternoon!

(note: i know we'll be bringing nectarine sorbet (with local terhune orchards necatarines) and lavender mascarpone (with local carousel farm's organic lavender - still figuring out the others, but you'll be in for a treat!)

will over at the pawtisserie had this fantastic idea - why not work with us to create a cool and tasty treat that all of our puppy friends could eat? set on the task, we created a soy-based ice cream treat that even the spoonies love! two flavors (named for will's own pups) hanna banana and hazelnutty really did turn out quite tasty! organic soy, local honey, organic bananas, fresh roasted hazelnuts and natural peanut butter make up the k9-friendly frozen treats - WOW!

available only at the pawtesserie princeton - treat your best friend today!

this week we are surprised to be on the cover of u.s. 1. in article that highlights the history of the spoon and all of working relationships with other local businesses, farmers & producers. here is the the full article

so the summer is unofficially over (fastest summer ever??) and we have already seen so many of the summer beauties come and go. the rhubarb, spring berries and herbs kicked it all off, and the summer of everything super fresh (often organic) and local began.

oh new jersey "terroir"!

that fantastic french term.. which (loosely translated) means the "taste of the place" or "sense of the place" ... really describes what's going on when you enjoy some of the most local and seasonal treats here. the thing is - it just doesn't get any better than a jersey peach, or a jersey heirloom tomato, or pennsylvania lavender. oh and how about local cherries, cucumbers, berries and dairy? oh and the farm eggs and herbs and figs! whew!

we really are the garden state.. surrounded by some other pretty special states (props to PA & NY!).

so the rich, local soil is starting to give its last gifts to us in the form of everything fall: apples, squash, sweet potatoes, fall rhubarb, pumpkins, fall berries, quince, fall lavender, mmmmm - last autumn we just went crazy. i can't wait for the day when i can enjoy a 3-flavor medium of caramel apple ice cream (with local orchard apples and our handmade sea salt caramel streaked throughout), dark chocolate praline, & pumpkin ice cream (with local cherry grove's organic cheese pumpkins)

every season is special, but there's nothing quite like fall.

ANYWAY, the point is, after all that laboring this summer, THERE IS A DAY A REST.

the bent spoon will be closed this monday september 4th, 2006 - in observance of labor day.

note: pictured above: matt & i at the beginning of the season with farmer kelly & natalie (of cherry grove farm - we used to get all of our eggs from them until a fox got quite a few of the chickens - they are an amazing place for grass-fed meat) & farmer matt & farmer david of cherry grove organic vegetable farm - (this is where we get most of our local organic herbs, and specialty vegetables!)

gab recently appeared on abc news now money matters program. the segment focuses on some of the more unique flavors that we've created & our use of local farms in the area. gab talks about the concrete grey colored squid ink ice cream (that we tasted when gab lived in japan & also found out later that it actually was made in gelato shops in italy!) and she also watches while the anchor & "dr. food" taste some of the flavors she brought with her (including one of gab's favorites ... chocolate rosemary - with local organic rosemary from cherry grove farm).

two silly notes: 1. yes they spelled her name wrong : "gabriel" (her dad's name) instead of "gabrielle" & 2. there's a funny still shot of one of the spoonies, molly, in a mask! gab was supposed to bring chocolate habenero - (a wonderful cinnamon/dark chocolate ice cream made spicy from special heirloom varieties of peppers that we picked ourselves, dried and made into a powder) but it didn't make it into the cooler! the picture was of molly grinding up the peppers!

anyway watch & enjoy! (& yes we did take a little artistic license with da vinci's classic, vitruvian man...)

august 12 & 13th we'll be participating in 2 amazing events promoting the garden state -- hopefully you'll be able to attend one if not both!

at the stony brook-millstone watershed they are celebrating the 6th annual butterfly festival from 10am until 4pm saturday. there will be live music, hikes, tours & green vendors. we'll be there scooping from the vespa.

we'll also be spading at the jersey fresh wine & food festival at hopewell valley vineyards in pennington. this event presented by the garden state wine growers association in conjunction with central nj slow food & the nj department of agriculture. the event is from 12-5 on saturday and again on sunday.

come out and support the local events!

it’s august and we just delivered the new flavors for princeton school garden ice cream program. they are available at the whole earth center now!

this month we've teamed up with the mount family who own our most local orchard, terhune orchards to make 2 flavors inspired by the new jersey peach harvest. terhune kindly donated 3 giant buckets of red haven freestone peaches that were made into a classic peach sorbet (since we use SO MUCH fruit, it's just pure peach flavor) and then we just couldn't help it. for as much as i love sorbets, fruit ice creams are also really special. this one takes those same red haven freestones and blends it up with crème fraiche. it's our version of "peaches & cream" but with that subtle cultured tang that complements the peaches so well. yum.yum.

so anyway, stop by the whole earth center to get a pint! all but $.50 (for the reusable packaging) of the $7.50 is a donation to the edible garden program. currently the donations are towards the garden at community park school. AND, while we're on the subject, for the next few days we have in a really delicious strawberry sorrel sorbet. sorrel is a tangy, lemony herb that really punctuates fruit flavors. this sorrel is extra special because it was grown organically at the riverside school garden! thanks dorothy!

postscript: in july, whole earth customers and bent spoon fans donated $560 to the Community Park School garden. This brings the total so far to $1,015. there are still a few pints available of the dark chocolate mint ice cream flavored with mint from the Riverside School Garden at whole earth!

we are excited about our second appearence in the new york times. after their last visit, the times recommended blood orange sorbet and roasted hazelnut ice cream. this time around they highlight the seasonality & local sourcing of the ingredients for the sorbet & ice cream. tammmy la gorce writes "the bent spoon in princeton crushes expectations like so many organic peaches ready for the blender." to read the whole article click here,

food arts magazine is dedicated to the restaurant and hotel forefront. on select newstands now, this issue has an article focusing on "supersonic ice cream." the article highlights both restaurants and "creative" retail operations.

here are some excerpts from meryle evan's article:

"pure" and "fresh" are the mantras for a whole new crop of fervent frozen dessert artisans, whether they are pastry chefs experimenting with outrageous flavors, organic dairy farmers making 16 percent butterfat maple walnut ice cream, or entrepreneurs providing restaurants and retail customers with dense, low-fat, Italian-style gelati and sorbetti. they speak enthusiastically about milk from grass-fed cows, day-old farm fresh eggs, stabilizer-free homemade ice cream bases, and spledid ingredients like. . . 61 percent guittard chocolate...

the bent spoon has been named by nj monthly as one of the 232 hot restaurants in the state! (we know, we know ... we're not a restaurant - but i guess you could think of us as an artisan ice cream & sorbet restaurant? anyway, "restaurant" (from the French restaurer) means to restore - and by that definition, our ice cream and sorbets are definitely restorative!)

they suggest trying some of the "unusual" flavors of ice cream and sorbet, the cupcakes ("particularly good") and our hot chocolate ("thick, rich, indulgent european-style. . . topped with homemade marshmallows").

we're just finishing up july's princeton school garden ice cream -- It is available at the whole earth center now!

this month's flavor is chocolate mint--a dark chocolate ice cream flavored with mint grown in the riverside school garden. a big thank you to dorothy mullen and a group of riverside students for harvesting all of that mint!

we infused our tasty 61% dark chocolate ice cream with the locally grown mint to make a creamy delicious treat.

all ingredients and labor for this month's ice cream were donated by the whole earth center, the riverside school garden & us. stop by the whole earth center to get a pint all but $.50 (for the reusable packaging) is a donation to the edible garden at community park school.

ps in june, whole earth customers and bent spoon fans donated $455 to the community park school garden. in return, they took home pints of strawberry mint sorbet made with organic strawberries and organic mint from cherry grove farm.

we are now hiring spoonies! we are looking for both full & part time.
we are looking for people that can start in august be they must be able to work through the fall/winter.

download the application and take a look (they are also available at the store). it has lots of information about the job and also asks lots of questions. (its a double sided, trifold)

Download file

some basics: all new spoonies must work at least 2 shifts a week (about 15 hours). moreover, you must be able to work weeknights along with weekends (its not a weekend only job). we close at 10 during the week and 11 on weekends -- with clean up its an extra hour or so. its a fun place to work but we have high expectations for work ethic and attention to detail. we need applicants to be self-motivated & responsible bordering on compulsive.

please return the application in person to the spoon. we will contact applicants if their application matches our current needs. thank you!

as we approach independence day we wanted to share a link to a festive dessert. . .last year we had the honor of working with epicurious.com and adapting our reciepes for the home pastry chef. here's a link to our red, white and blue cake on their site. this year the the princeton packet revisted the recipe along with bobby trigg's ever so tasty firecracker shrimp that he serves up at the ferry house

on the epicurious.com link you'll find our home version of recipes for strawberry sorbet, blueberry sorbet & lemon ice cream with candied lemon peels. . .we even give you tips on how to assemble the flavors into a cake like we do at the spoon! enjoy the recipes!
have happy 4th of july! we'll actually be closed enjoying the holiday with our families.

slow food usa is holding its annual auction with proceeds benefiting slow food programs nationally and locally. as members of slow food we are proud to participate in this auction.

the slow food movement is active in 50 countries with a worldwide membership over 80,000. the movement is a reaction to the homogenization & standardization of food, flavor and tastes. slow food is dedicated to preserving traditional methods of food production, taste, culture and the environment.

at the bent spoon we look to using local products (eggs, fruits, herbs, etc) first in crafting our artisan ice cream and sorbet. moreover, we make our product fresh daily, entirely from scratch utilizing traditional methods that require more time and effort but we believe makes our product taste better.

our auction contribution: we are offering six pints of our artisan ice cream or sorbet packed up and shipped to anywhere in the continental usa! click here to check out our item in the auction.

please help preserve the unique & exciting tastes from around the world by supporting slow food in this auction and by pints of our artisan ice cream or sorbet packed up and shipped to anywhere in the continental usa! becoming a member.

starting tonight we are back at mediterra's plaza for monday movie night.

each movie night we'll have our custom vespa with ice cream sidecar in the plaza serving up bent spoon goodness. . . we'll have selection of our artisan ice creams and sorbets available.

bring a blanket or a chair and sit back to enjoy some classic movies starting @ 8pm.

the line up:
june 12th ~stand by me
june 19th ~the good, the bad and the ugly
june 26th ~babette's feast
july 10th ~annie
july 17th ~citizen kane
july 24th ~the philadelphia story

after many months of planning, we are excited to launch the princeton school gardens program!

this ice cream garden fundraiser is a community project of whole earth center and the bent spoon.

each month the bent spoon will make a seasonal flavor of our artisan ice cream or sorbet that whole earth will retail. all but $.50 (to cover packaging costs) of the price will go to starting a school garden. the money raised by the project will start a garden, one by one, at princeton public schools. the first school garden will be at community park elementary school.

this month we were so happy to kick off the program with the support of a local organic farm that is a c.s.a. -- cherry grove organic farm. throughout the growing season, we utilize the amazing produce from this farms so we couldn't of been any more pleased with their graciously donated organic mint. our first month's flavor is a sorbet made from organic strawberries & organic mint!

please show your support by stopping by whole earth and purchasing a pint!

from memorial day until labor day, the bent spoon is proudly pet sitting artist Polly Apfelbaum's "Doodle Dog" for the 2006 Princeton Dog Walk, an art exhibit & fundraiser. the artist chose to use gesso & magic marker to cover the labrador retriever for the work. the 50 dogs will be on display throughout Princeton. the dogs will be photographed for an art book and then they will be auctioned off individually to benefit the cardiac & pulmonary care program at the university medical center at princeton.
our "Doodle Dog" is sponsored by the Tuder family.

so congratulations to jan kubik of princeton, new jersey who correctly guessed 7 of 12 flavors to win our prize of a week's worth of ice cream & 3 bonus pints of ice cream or sorbet!

WOW!

what were they?
- chocolate (then & now) with a 61% chocolate, local farm eggs & hormone free milk
- madagascar vanilla bean(same amazing eggs & milk - supremely flavorful madagascar beans)
- hazelnut wow. this one takes us so long to make - we roast the nuts, & infuse the heck out of them until we get as much flavor as possible & then put in even more hazelnuts! this is the flavor that the new york times noticed that first fall!
- sicilian blood orange sorbet blood orange juice from italy, so refreshing. also mentioned in the new york times
- clover honey new jersey honey ice cream - one of my all time favorites, the honey just shines through!
- organic honeydew sorbet so much organic honeydew melon = so much actual honeydew flavor!
- chocolate orange so our snazzy chocolate ice cream & organic orange. a classic combo that is SUPER!
- organic pineapple sorbet lots of organic pineapple = a juicy delicious pineapple sorbet.
- organic raspberry sorbet same deal. you can't get much more raspberry than this - with pounds & pounds of organic raspberries!
- mint streak organic peppermint and the introduction of our "streak" - streaking our ice cream with our 61% chocolate - like the stracciatella gelato in italy. it's such a nice way to get bits of dark chocolate throughout!
- nutty caramel streak this was such tasty one! i made a slightly burnt (to intensify the flavor) caramel ice cream & then put fresh-roasted pecans, chocolate & a hand-made sea salt (fleur de sel) caramel & even more streak throughout. oh yum.
- cardamom ginger oh that wonderful spice. this began our two-year adventure with this spice that lends itself so well to so many flavors. but this was our first cardamom flavor - pure & true, with pieces of crystallized ginger throughout. a continued cult-favorite for sure. this one was mentioned later in a bunch of articles, including philadelphia city paper

happy birthday to the bent spoon!

thank you so much to all of our amazing customers, staff, farmers, neighbors & vendors!

the first two years have exceeded our expectations -- and hopefully you have enjoyed it as well.

we will observe the anniversary on thursday, may 18th.

that day we'll serve up the original 12 flavors and randomly give away prizes throughout the day!

tuesday may 16th is the bent spoon's 2nd anniversary!
we've decided to start the festivities with a little contest. here we go: name the original, first day flavors we served up. hint: our original gelato case held only 12 flavors. . .to enter click here and send us the email with your guesses. entries are due by midnight on 5/16/06. the first 3 correct (or closest) entries will win a week of ice cream/sorbet OR cupcakes!
thats right, you'll get 7 "you're loved" gift cards. good luck!

its back! rhubarb sorbet is back @ the spoon. we are offering this reddish, celery stalk like creation as much as we can before its gone. our rhubarb sorbet appears in two versions -- one is locally grown rhubarb from terhune orchards and another organically grown. both yield a smooth & tart sorbet that lends itself incredibly well to pairing with other flavors. two great combos are the classic strawberry & rhubarb route (with our strawberry sorbet made with organic berries) or the creamy way with our madagascar vanilla bean & rhubarb.

the bent spoon will be 2 on may 16th! its been a fun and adventure-packed two years. thank you to all the customers who have supported us & all the amazing employees we have been fortunate enough to work with. anniversary festivity details to follow. . .

welcome to the bent spoon's website. we have been working on the site off & on and in between batches of ice cream and cupcakes so it definitely is taking longer than expected. for now we will post the latest info about the spoon (flavors, events, etc) in this section. the site will eventually grow to suit our needs & hopefully your needs (information, etc). more to come!