Sweet Dirt Ice Cream
During the summer months, Melissa Richards can be found doing two of her favorite things: purchasing fresh, local food at the Ann Arbor Farmers’ Market and selling her signature homemade ice cream and sorbet to customers at her food cart, Sweet Dirt. The ingredients that she purchases at the market on Wednesday are used to create seasonal flavors for her customers to enjoy at the market on Saturday.
A University of Michigan graduate and former biology teacher, Richards’ work with her students helped ignite her interest in the science of food and the craft of cooking with good ingredients.
“I taught my students about biology through the concept of ‘you are what you eat.’ Learning about genetic engineering grew my interest in food and where it comes from and paying attention to what I eat. I started cooking, going to farmers’ markets, reading food labels, trying to buy things that are fresh and raw,” she says.
Nine years ago, Richards took a leap in a new direction and trained at The Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. While there, she interned at kitchens around the city to learn techniques from some of the finest restaurants.
When she returned to Michigan, she joined the team at Grange Kitchen and Bar in Ann Arbor, and she gained experience in a variety of positions before being offered the position of pastry chef. “It was a good opportunity for me. I knew I could do really good things with local food,” she says.
Customers were especially enthusiastic about her ice creams and sorbets and this energized Richards to launch a business doing just that. She named it Sweet Dirt. “I wanted people to associate my business with the soil and think of where their food comes from.”
Her products include fruit sorbets and a French-style ice cream that she describes as custard that is cooked and very creamy with never more than six ingredients. Most of the ingredients are locally grown or made, including fruit, honey, maple syrup, eggs, herbs and milk, cream and buttermilk from Calder Dairy and Guernsey Dairy. “I work backwards. I go to the farmers’ market to get my ingredients and then I figure out what to make with it. It’s not hard to make things taste good when you’re buying locally with the seasons. My customers are eating freshly churned ice cream made of ingredients that are literally farmed that very same week.”
Rhubarb, parsley, popcorn, rose geranium, brown butter, lavender honey and basil are just a sampling of the unique flavors she has created featuring the week’s freshest market finds. Richards’ personal favorite is cantaloupe sorbet. “It’s so good. It always tastes like a ripe cantaloupe. It’s my favorite thing in August.”
Down the road, Richards hopes to open a restaurant. “Whatever I do will hold true to my desire to highlight local ingredients, local farmers and eating with the seasons at peak flavor. I just love everything about food.
When I’m cooking for people, I’m at my happiest. It’s fun to explore and try different things."
Learn more at www.A2SweetDirt.com
