DELIGHT ORGANIC FAIR TRADE CHOCOLATE (3040 Dundas West, at High Park, 416-760-9995) Open Tuesday to Thursday 9 am to 9 pm, Friday 9 am to 10 pm, Saturday 10 am to 10 pm, Sunday 11 am to 6 pm. Closed Monday. Access: ramp at door, no washrooms. Rating: NNNNN
Foodies already know that Jennifer Rashleigh and Jeff Brown’s organic chocolatier in the Junction makes some of the finest hand-crafted truffles in the city. And all fair trade, to boot.
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But are they aware that the former Citron pastry chef and her partner are also responsible for the most intensely flavoured and texturally tongue-pleasing ice cream around? Or that they make it in a Pacojet, the same state-of-the-art high-tech machine El Bulli’s Ferran Adrià and Alinea’s Grant Achatz use to whip up all those frozen froths and foams?
“A conventional machine can’t make a litre at a time,” explains Rashleigh. “And the small batch size means no preservatives or stabilizers.”
The $5,000 Swiss-made machine also allows them to make all of their ice cream from scratch, using chocolate from La Siembra Cooperative, dairy from Harmony Organic, fair trade organic cane sugar from Paraguay and Local Food Plus-certified eggs and fruit (all cones $3.75/half-litres $10.95).
“We’re doing an Ontario strawberry ice cream at the moment since the season’s at its peak,” says Rashleigh. “And a Niagara cherry with an organic Niagara Cabernet.”
Superstar chef Ferran makes a green pea “snow” amuse in his Pacojet. Why, you can even make a sorbet with turkey and gravy. What’s the most unusual thing Delight has ever pacotized?
“Blue cheese ice cream is about as weird as we get,” laughs Rashleigh.
