June ’11 Scoop

Dearest Fountaineers,
The summer season swelters once more—we here at the Fountain are embracing the torrents of sun-stream, the motion of balmy breezes, and the ingathering of eager customers with especially glad hearts. We welcome, also, your arrival from cyber highways, and we hope that you have taken the time to notice that we have redecorated our digital doorways. Yes, That’s right, we have recently revamped our Franklin Fountain website; our homepage now gleams with an intricate new interface, its borders and panels are furnished with fashionable new moldings, the various corridors of our online acreage have been reset for optimal efficiency, and we have constructed the addition of a handsome new annex for our “Celluloids” page, a digital nickelodeon where you can view, free of charge, a charming array of one reel “movies”, including the famed “Man V. Food” episode which features our establishment. That particular little number gave us recognition across the globe!
           And now, we would like to announce to you the novelty flavors which we have most recently concocted for your particular satisfaction. First, we will be re-introducing, for a limited time only, our Crème de Lafayette” ice cream, composed of a sumptuous French Vanilla base, and swirled with rippling textures of pureed raspberry and blueberry.  We have elected to bring back this flavor at this season to celebrate the color scheme of our national heritage. Two holidays approach us honoring the American Flag—one local and one national—they are the Betsy Ross Flag Festival on June the 11th and “Flag Day” on June the 14th. What better way for us to celebrate these two holidays than by dishing out some red-white-and-blue ice cream with patriotic fervor? We offer you yet another incentive to stop by our shop on these days…if we spy you wearing our national colors while at the Fountain on these days, we will honor your steadfast patriotism by giving you a ten percent discount on your purchase! Arrive with aspirations of liberty and an Old Glory wardrobe and get a reduced rate on your favorite ice cream treat!
           Benjamin Franklin once quipped “beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. Well, between June 3rd and June 12th it is Beer Week here in Philadelphia, and we are in no position to argue with the theological premise set forth by our favorite statesman. We have partnered with two local microbreweries—Victory Brewing Co. and Triumph Brewery—to create two specialty ice cream flavors that utilize the barley beverage. We will make a “Dark Chocolate Stout Ice Cream” using Triumph’s Imperial Chocolate Stout and a “Strawberry Summer Love Ice Cream” with Victory’s Summer Love Ale. Each ice cream bears a rich taste, and would finely adorn the palate and belly of the responsible grown up.
           Next up in our list of new additions is the re-introduction of our well-received Mulberry Ice Cream. Benjamin Franklin himself had cultivated Mulberry Trees, and was deeply interested in their botany, ecology, and possible use for commercial exploitation. He had dreamt of cultivating Mulberry trees on a continental scale, for the silkworm that calls the tree home produces a rare silk. Franklin thought that a homespun silk industry could flourish here and compete in the global market place. While his dream never came to fruition. Our Mulberry Ice Cream has. It is dark and flavorful and, we must ourselves admit, silky in taste. We think that Dr. Franklin wouldn’t have minded enjoying a dish of the stuff while under the shade of one of these trees.
           It also happens to be strawberry season, so our strawberry ice cream incorporates especially fresh fruit. We also introduced a Strawberry Lemonade to our menu, which sold out almost immediately. What a rousing success it was!
    Speaking of spontaneous success stories, we’d like to share one with you from 1883. The tale takes place at the sleepy resort town of Atlantic City, where a candy store owner named David Bradley had set up his shop. On one stormy evening, the Atlantic Ocean grew especially grumpy, and a whopper of a wave washed through the store, soaking the entire inventory with brine. The next morning, a young girl asked the bewildered Bradley if he had any taffy for sale. Bradley straightened himself out and replied, with a smile, that he had “salt water taffy” for sale. As you can imagine, the name stuck, and generations of Jersey shore-goers grew to love the confection. We’d like to happily announce that we will be selling salt water taffy at The Franklin Fountain this season, and it will be packaged in our beautifully designed “Shane Confectionery” boxes. Take some home, you just might feel the crunch of sand ‘twixt your toes, the pounding roar of the ocean, and the laughter of gulls!
           Father’s Day is quickly approaching on Sunday, June 19th, and we hope that you don’t forget to treat your old man or grandpappy to some of our ice cream on that restful weekend. We will be selling Root Beer Floats made with “Dad’s Root Beer”, a mid-western favorite since 1937. We think your pop would really appreciate a frosty mug of this tastiness to commemorate his sage advice and support throughout the years.
           In other news, the 29th annual “Ice Screamers” Convention will be held at the Best Western Eden Resort Inn in Lancaster, Pennsylvania between June 23-25. This is an association of die hard ice cream history buffs, many of whom collect ice cream antiques, equipment, and ephemera, and have committed to memory the most esoteric information about ice cream history that you could possibly think of. Proudly, we count ourselves among them, and will be in attendance this year, as always. We also will bring with us a very important treat- three of the earliest commercial ice cream recipes from a 1695 recipe guide from Italy. The flavors? Musk, Ambergrease and Candied Pumpkin. While these flavors seem bizarre to the twenty-first century tastebud they were once considered to be the finest specimens of quality and elegance. If you’d like to try some, please register to attend the even at the Ice Screamers website (sign up for dinner.)
           Lastly, the Race Street Pier in Old City recently received a beautiful makeover, and a gala was held to officiate its completion. In attendance were several city dignitaries, including Mayor Nutter, Councilman DiCicco, and brothers Ryan and Eric Berley. The brothers had ready some Franklin Ice Cream to tastefully serve to the attendees. Ryan, who is the president of the Old City Civics Association, addressed the crowd, tying in the historic significance of this Delaware River Port, and the man ways which it shaped our country and culture, citing the presence of the Lenape Indians here for centuries, William Penn’s peaceable pact to form a “green country town” of religious tolerance called Philadelphia, and the arrival of a young lad named Benjamin Franklin by rowboat on the Market Street pier. We hope that our connection to the river remains for centuries to come, and our obligation to treat it with dignity.
Well, that’s about all for now, folks. We hope that you enjoy the lovely weather that we’ve been having so far, and that you continue to patron our shop as loyally and kindly as you always have!
May good cheer and peace ever occupy your heart!
The Franklin Fountain.