Lemon and berries have always been a natural pairing, but they soar to new heights when combined in McConnell’s Eureka Lemon and Marionberry hand-packed ice cream. The lemon is tart, but not unpleasantly so, and the marionberry adds an even stronger tartness, like a good fruit pie. The two flavors explode on your tongue with an unexpected intensity. There is nothing quite like it. Add to that the usual requirements for a good ice cream — creaminess, richness, and a light hand with the sugar, and you have the greatest ice cream ever made.
McConnell’s Fine Ice Creams has been churning ice cream in Santa Barbara since 1949 using only 100% natural ingredients which are hormone and antibiotic-free, locally sourced and organic when possible. The ice cream is made from scratch in small batches using Central Coast, grass-grazed milk and cream that is pasteurized from their own creamery. The ingredients for the Eureka Lemon and Marionberry ice cream are simply Cream, Milk, Cane Sugar, Non-Fat Milk Solids, Organic Egg Yolks, Eureka Lemon Juice, Oregon Marionberries, and Pectin. That’s it.
Eureka and Marionberry was originally a seasonal summer flavor, but it proved to be so popular they now offer it year-round. I’m sorry, Green Tea, Cherry Garcia, Chocolate Fudge Ripple and all of the others I so recklessly gave my heart to in the past. Yes, even you, Salt & Straw. My heart is somewhere else now. There is a McConnell’s scoop shop at the Grand Central Market, and the ice cream is available at both Gelson’s and Whole Foods. Or you can check here for local stores carrying the brand.
I’m gonna put this to the test, because as an East Coaster, I have yet to find truly great LA ice cream.