Can I tell you about some of the most delicious stuff I’ve ever put in my mouth? Sweet Magnolia Gelato comes out of Clarksdale, MS, a small town I’ve had the pleasure to live in, and one with arguably the best downtown revivals happening in our region, in my opinion.
Since we moved away from the Delta, I’ve been following Sweet Magnolia on Instagram and just wishing
Image by Rory Doyle Photography
I could get my hands on some of their really innovative frozen treats… brown sugar and bourbon, salted pork fat caramel, buttered pecan, and Miss Mary’s lemon pound cake gelato, for example. Or you know, I’d settle for just some sweet cream or chocolate chip once in awhile. THEN Instagram told me I could get some in Jackson at the Whole Foods. Y’all, even though we’re still an hour and a half away, this is AMAZING news.
How, how, how did this tiny ice cream/gelato/sorbet company in the Mississippi Delta become an incredible, delicious, truly rich delicacy? And since I care about small towns and community, what has this business meant for Clarksdale? For entreprenuership? What’s the guy who runs it like?
I figured rather than guessing, I should probably just call Hugh Balthrop, the gelato-master himself.
Now, this is the sign that your company is one-thousand percent local and in a small town, AND the sign that maybe everyone in the world hasn’t caught on to the amazingness of product you’re selling. When I decided I wanted to call him about 2 weeks ago, I found his phone number ON HIS WEBSITE. And when I called him, he answered the phone himself.
Hugh and his son
Now, I don’t imagine that this will be the case for much longer as I heard that Mississippi Magazine JUST featured Sweet Magnolia in their newest edition that came out yesterday (That’s my friend Boyce Upholt…an honest to goodness food writer, scooping me. Pun intended.) However, this is an important note because Hugh is a supremely approachable man who cares about his business, his community, and his craft.
When I called him, he talked to me about his family, his path to ice cream, small town life, brainstorming new flavors, and hospitality. As someone who loves ice cream and loves making it myself, I wanted to know more about his flavor creation process. Was it difficult to combine Italian gelato and southern ingredients?
Actually, it just made sense, he said. “There’s a similar passion between the Italian gelato tradition and southern chefs. I checked out all of the James Beard award winning chefs across the south and they are doing new flavors and combinations, but using traditional ingredients.” Like those chefs, there are traditions when it comes to gelato-making, and flavors and combinations you just don’t mess with.
“You have to do certain traditional flavors. Kids expect them. Gelato lovers expect them. Stracciatella, sweet cream. But then we did a new flavor for the Delta Supper Club. Buttermilk Bourbon Brown Sugar with top end bourbon. We’ve done a salty pork caramel with ginger backnote. You’ve got to always bring it back to southern flavors.” Um, thank goodness.
Then I wanted to know a little something about his vision for his company and his hopes for his community, and I learned he is joining a chorus of people in the south who want live, work, and create in a more locally-centered way. To return to our food roots by eating more and more things that our friends and neighbors grow, produce, or cook themselves. To believe that in whatever we are doing, relationships matter first. And to build truly local businesses, ones that support and promote the community where they live, and who foster and encourage other local entrepreneurs to do the same.
Let’s be honest, this isn’t news to anyone in the south. Plenty of people have to rely on food they or their neighbors grow or make to survive and others sure would LIKE to, but don’t have access to land or capital or time to grow anything themselves. Other folks have been talking about doing business with their neighbors basically forever or because they really couldn’t do business with anyone else for reasons of geography.
Image by Rory Doyle Photography
But Sweet Magnolia Ice Cream is a growing company with a bottom line who chooses to buy lemon pound cake from a family friend, blueberries from a farmer-by-day-nurse-by-night, and pecans from a well-known nearby company, not to mention milk from a nearby Dairy. When I asked him why, he said, “Well, it’s just my personality. I’m outgoing. and relationships matter to me…I maintain them. Honestly, as a business owner, it just makes sense to know the people that you’re working with and buying from and selling to.”
Image by Rory Doyle Photography
Y’all, it makes my heart sing to hear a business owner in one of the most economically struggling parts of the entire country, who COULD do things the cheaper, easier way realize that by sourcing his ingredients from in and around his community that he has the power to make an actual difference in that community. AND still make an amazing product. AND probably make some money in the process. “The community is on our backs. I believe that as a business owner, let’s promote the local economy.” He buys locally, trains and supports local employees, and sells locally, first.
As we wrapped up our chat, he mentioned that someone from the rural development building had approached him about some local entrepreneurs who are selling sweet potatoes. He was on his way to speak to him about starting a business, and possibly buying some of their product.
So, I guess that’s it, folks. To make a gelato that’s rich and gooey and makes mouths all over the south water, put relationships first. Care about not only the product you’re churning, but the people whose ingredients you’re using and the children to whom you’re selling. Believe that the community around you matters and that a rising tide lifts all ships.
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