Sweet treat

I’d lived in Vermont over 10 years when I finally asked the question: “Is that really how you spell that?”

I was pointing to a weathered, hand-painted sign in the Northeast Kingdom lettered with one word: “CREEMEES.”

The sign may have been ramshackle, but the place was jam-packed with families, old couples and teenagers holding cones or spoons, jockeying for seating space at the picnic tables.

We all know what a creemee is, of course. Whether you prefer chocolate, vanilla, iconic maple, or the twist — a delightful blend of vanilla and chocolate — you know that in the dog days of summer, sometimes the only way to cool down is to head to the creemee stand for a crunchy cone piled high with twisting, turning dairy goodness.

In some parts of the world, they call it “soft-serve.” Witness Ted Colletti, owner of two snack stands and a diner in Barre. Colletti comes from Long Island and said that, when he arrived in Vermont 11 years ago, he didn’t know what a creemee was. He used to call it “soft-serve,” but quickly learned the error of his ways.

“You can’t call it that here!” Colletti laughed.

So where’s the best place to go to get your creemee on?

The Reporter undertook the task of sniffing out excellent creemees. (The job was every bit as grueling as it sounds.) Here’s a sampling of the sweets, and the places where creemees are found.

Mountain View Snack Bar

Colletti, originally from Long Island, co-owns three Mountain View Snack Bars — one in Morrisville, one in Hardwick, and one in Stowe. He and his wife, Alicia, bought the Morrisville stand 11 years ago when they arrived in Vermont.

“We hadn’t even seen it operate yet,” Colletti recalled. Colletti and his wife have a carefully cultivated sixth sense about this kind of thing, though: Both have degrees in food service management. They met pursuing those degrees and teamed up to establish a family business based on what they’d learned.

Five years ago, the Collettis added the Stowe location, along Route 100 two minutes north of Stowe village, to their family.

Somewhere in the mix, they also added two daughters, Madison, 14, and Lexington, 9, who are big supporters of their parents’ ventures.

“They eat a lot of ice cream,” Colletti said with a smile. “We have to monitor how much they eat.”

The Mountain View Snack Bars — all of them, actually — are a family operation. Madison helps in the kitchen and Lexington says she helps out when she gets the chance.

“I help the girl out,” Lexington said with a shy smile. The third-grader’s favorite creemee flavor is the twist. Her favorite part of her parents’ business: She likes the free ice cream, and so do her friends. They think it’s “cool” her parents own a snack shop.

Family is a big focus for the Collettis. Alicia Colletti manages to be both a full-time mom and a full-time business owner.

“She had our babies on her back while waiting on customers for 10 hours, Lexington more so than Madison.” Colletti said. “She used to carry them around all day. That was a memorable couple of years.”

It’s understandable that the Collettis’ children are so involved in the business. The atmosphere at Mountain View certainly caters to families. There’s a park area in the back with a few chairs where people can sit and enjoy both their creemees and the view for which the stand is named. Colletti says he loves seeing people get comfortable out there, enjoying their food.

There are picnic tables set up all around for families, along with a kid-sized table for little ones. The stand offers more than 70 classic flavors, so everyone can find something they like.

Colletti’s favorite part of owning the snack bar, he says, is putting smiles on kids’ faces.

“There’s no crying kids with an ice cream in their hand,” he said. Lexington, seated next to him, nodded. She hopes one day to own a snack bar of her own, just like her parents.

Two years ago, the Mountain View Snack Bar renovated its Stowe location. “It fits better into Stowe,” Colletti said of the new building. “We want to continue making the community happy. We thrive on a quality product at a reasonable speed.”

Customers seem to like the result.

One young man heard his order called and, as he got up, said, “Wow, already? That was fast.”

Tasting notes:

The Mountain View Snack Bar serves up the Great Vermont Creemee, at least the chocolate version. It’s classic: a tall spire (even the “small” is big) of frozen chocolate cream. It has a solid chocolate flavor and, notably, no hollow part in the middle where the ice cream wraps around (any creemee enthusiast knows the potential for a hollow). It’s the perfect temperature — not melty, but not brain-freeze-inducing. Recommended for families, especially with small children.

Juniper’s Fare

The Waterbury cafe started serving creemees four years ago, says Laurie Carcieri, who’s worked there since 2011.

Owner Paul Stewart says creemees were a tactical move. The epic Tropical Storm Irene flood wiped out the equipment for selling hard ice cream, so Juniper’s Fare then switched to creemees.

It’s working, Carcieri says.

“People have somewhere to go to have their creemees and local burgers,” Carciere said. Sometimes she sees the same regulars twice a day — for lunch, and later for dessert.

Juniper’s Fare, which reopened to the public Memorial Day weekend after closing the restaurant at the end of last summer, is a big spot for lunch breaks. Two women discovering it last Thursday were surprised that it’s a “real snack bar.”

“It’s a family atmosphere,” Carcieri said. “There are lots of children here, eating ice cream with rainbow sprinkles.

“It’s always fun to give a creemee to a little kid who has his big eyes looking up at you,” Stewart said.

Juniper’s Fare serves up specialties such as homemade strawberry-rhubarb sundaes and espresso-maple shakes, but by and large, their clientele sticks to tradition. The most popular item on the menu is the maple creemee.

Given the choices — cremee and creamie are variants — Juniper’s Fare opted for creemee.

“We think it’s the old-fashioned way,” Carcieri said. “Signs years ago used to have ‘creemee’ spelt that way.”

“We fell back to the spelling everyone else uses,” Stewart said. “Other places don’t even know what a creemee is.” In Pennsylvania, Stewart said, people refer to creemees as “custard.”

Juniper’s Fare has two focuses.

First, “it’s a gathering place,” Carcieri said, with plenty of patio seating, some in the shade and some in the sun; a nice yard for families to explore; and a sense of quiet — a great place for a chat.

Second, Juniper’s Fare aims to help the community. “Some of the proceeds here go to helping those less fortunate,” Carcieri said. “That’s a focus of Juniper’s Fare.” The proceeds go to Meals with a Mission, and support kids in Kenya and local needs, including local farm culture.

“The rate of farming is starting to decline,” Carcieri said. “We feel our creemees help.”

Juniper’s Fare is on South Main Street in Waterbury, on the left near the intersection of Route 100 South.

Tasting notes:

Juniper’s Fare’s chocolate creemee calls to mind frozen yogurt — solid and creamy, with a hint of vanilla. It’s refreshing without being too sweet.

Canteen Creemee Co.

This Waitsfield store is only two weeks old, but it’s been exceedingly popular so far, says owner Charlie Menard.

You might recognize Menard — or his cooking — from Waitsfield’s popular Inn at the Round Barn Farm, but this newest venture focuses on traditional Americana, creemees included.

“I’ve always had a love for the Americana aspect of the snack bar,” Menard said. “There’s something about the approachability of it.”

Menard was interviewed in between serving customers, including one who ordered a toasted marshmallow creemee.

“We took a big risk,” Menard said about that flavor. “We have no vanilla right now.” Instead, Canteen Creemee Co. serves flavors such ginger, dark chocolate and maple, in addition to toasted marshmallow.

The place is modern-retro, if that’s possible; it shows 1950s snack-bar roots, with retro music playing in the background, but is the kind of place you can order a toasted marshmallow-ginger twist or a “vertical sundae.”

“I’ve never worked in a creemee shop so I had no idea what it ‘should’ be,” Menard said. “I wanted to do what I felt it should be. I wanted to look at flavors and textures, like I do when I cook anything else. I wanted to build a dish with ice cream.”

The result, he said, is “a really fun atmosphere. I had no idea it was going to be this fun.”

Some of the fun is on the menu. Among other concoctions, Canteen Creemee Co. offers a sundae called “Someone Else’s Wedding Cake”: Cake pieces are in the creemee itself before it’s coated in a white chocolate-olive oil dip and decorated with cake-inspired flowers.

As to the spelling of the frozen treat, Menard has stuck to tradition. “It’s the most common,” he said. “It’s probably derived from the French. Spelling it any other way is just wrong.”

Menard says creemees and creemee stands are important to Vermont culture. “It’s keeping up that mom-and-pop thing,” he said. “That’s important in Vermont.”

Tasting notes:

Menard’s work with texture resulted in a creemee that’s somewhere between a creemee and hard ice cream from a scoop shop. The creemees have a strong flavor and a delightfully creamy mouthfeel. Recommended for anyone who wants what we’ll call “an artisanal creemee.”

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The summation

Take it from a flatlander-turned-Vermonter: A good creemee is worth a drive, but it needn’t be a long drive. You can satisfy your creemee craving on your home turf — or nearby. And remember, the messier you get, the more fun you’re having.