September 19, 2018

We love McConnell’s because it’s absurdly creamy and all of its flavors are true blue. (Our favorite? Right this minute, it’s Peppermint Stick, which tastes like all our childhood holidays). Part of what makes McConnell’s ice cream so good, of course, is that it’s made completely from scratch — they even pasteurize the raw milk and cream at the company’s 84-year-old creamery. But it’s also down to all the good ingredients at play, which owner Michael Palmer tells us have always been sourced locally.

“Seventy years ago, there was simply no other choice. There was very little international trade in fruit or eggs or milk. Now, it’s very different, of course, but when McConnell’s started, we sourced our own milk from the dairy here on the Central Coast, our eggs and nuts and fruit from the Central Coast ...Things not grown here we sourced from companies — pretty much all family companies — that are at least based here or nearby, like Guittard Chocolate from up in Burlingame or vanilla from the genius, Ray Lochhead, whose company has been based in Paso Robles for decades and decades. To this day, we still do things the same way. But then again, we’re pretty lucky, because we’re happy to be from an area that is incredibly rich in some of the finest ingredients (for making ice cream) on Earth.”