Beloved Ohio ice cream brand Graeter's opens first Illinois shop
NORTHBROOK, Ill. (WLS) -- Who doesn't love ice cream? One of Ohio's oldest, and most beloved brands has been available in grocery stores here for a while, but now they've opened their first store in Illinois on the North Shore.
The simple ice cream shop in a sleepy part of Northbrook looks like any other, but this isn't just any soda fountain. Since 1870, Graeter's has been churning out super-premium ice cream (that means a fat content of about 18 to 20 percent) from its Cincinnati base of operations. Fourth generation owners have been expanding in the Midwest, including this new store - the first one in Illinois.
"Graeter's makes it the old fashioned way, the way everybody did back in the 1800s. We just make 2 gallons at a time. We use what's called French Pots. They're vertical batch freezers that spin around and basically force all the air out. So most ice cream has about 50 percent air, Graeter's has less than five percent air, so it's a lot richer, denser, creamier," said Troy Packham, one of the Regional Managers for Graeter's.
There are specialty sundaes of course, like the 1870 Tower: hot fudge over a warm bundt cake, followed by their incomparable raspberry chip, more hot fudge, pecans and whipped cream. And speaking of chips, there's an entire section of the menu dedicated to them.
"We make the ice cream first and then once that's ready, we pour liquid chocolate in, it hardens up into one big piece, and we take a blade down and break it up so you're getting all different sized chunks," said Packham.
Unlike the chips you're used to, these are boulders by comparison, that require serious excavation with a sturdy spoon, and even though the weather is starting to turn cooler, that won't slow down their seasonal flavor production.
"We're coming into fall season, so pumpkin is out now, we also have Elena's blueberry pie which is a great flavor...and then cinnamon will be coming right around the corner and then before we know it, it's gonna be Christmastime and we'll have peppermint stick and eggnog which are both excellent flavors," he said.
The store also has a couple of flavors that have about half the amount of sugar that ice cream flavors normally have - they're considered low glycemic , which is great for diabetics - but they also have plenty of the full-fat stuff with all the sugar, and frankly, I'm sticking with the coffee.
The company is already looking at adding additional locations in the region, but nothing official has been announced yet.
Graeter's
1347 Shermer Rd., Northbrook
847-513-6540
