Daniel Prince
Name to change next year to Fru-ge-ley: More Than Ice Creams
Vegetables and ice cream don’t usually go together, but Farmers Market Flavors ice cream, created by Elise Ashby, executive director of the RobinHood Group and manager of the Union County Farm and Craft Market, is changing people’s minds about that. In 2018, Ashby created Southern Blueberry ice cream, combining locally grown blueberries and okra, an idea she tweaked from an episode of Iron Chef America that aired in 2011. One of the chefs on the program presented the judges with strawberry okra ice cream. The idea intrigued Ashby, but since she didn’t know anyone locally who grew strawberries, she instead picked three gallons of blueberries from Cleveland Jackson’s blueberry bushes and mixed them with okra grown by Harry Jeter. By the end of the afternoon, she had perfected the recipe.
In 2019, she made sweet potato ice cream for the students at Foster Park Elementary School as part of Farm-to-School month. The students in the 2020 Union County High School summer camp were treated to summer squash vanilla ice cream, and at this year’s Certified SC Showcase, attendees sampled an ice cream made from collard greens and pineapple. The greens were grown in Union, while the pineapple came from a regional farmers market vendor in Columbia.
Ashby says the ice cream flavors are made with equal parts fruit and vegetable and whole milk or a milk alternative, such as oat milk, which she says provides a creamier, more flavorful and rich ice cream. Each ice cream is 140 calories per serving and has a full serving of a fruit and a vegetable.
Farmers Market Flavors ice cream was launched in 2019 as part of a grant the RobinHood Group received to teach local youth about agriculture, value-added products, and agri-business opportunities. Between 2020 and 2022, thanks to multiple grants the group received, Ashby has been able to hire 20 youth, six of whom were at-risk or disadvantaged young people with juvenile records. They also hired four college students.
Next year, Ashby says she plans to change the name to Fru-ge-ley: More Than Ice Creams, hire more local youth to develop their website and gardens, and secure funding to offer Fru-ge-ley each month at schools in Union County and across the state. She said she is also working on a wholesale license for healthy grocery store sales. For more information on the ice cream, including where you can buy some, call Elise Ashby at 427-1530.