Bay Area Bites: The use of liquid nitrogen means you get the ice cream to a customer after 90 seconds of brrr cold. How do you get the product to still be so creamy?

Fisher: Our patented Brrr machines (literally invented by my team and I in a basement shop and prototyped on the streets of San Francisco out of our Radio Flyer Wagon) are specially designed to make the creamiest scoop possible. The Brrr machine uses liquid nitrogen, which is -321 degrees Fahrenheit. Freezing the ice cream at such a low temperature and with the special patented helical mixing blades creates exceptionally small ice crystals. These small ice crystals are why our product is smoother and creamier than any other ice cream out there. Our Brrr machine also has patented software that senses viscosity to ensure the ice cream has the perfect texture.

Robyn Sue Fisher in her wagon. Photo: Courtesy of SF Weekly

Bay Area Bites: Is the ice cream set up different for your new locations? What tools do you use?

Fisher: Our new locations have six of our next generation Brrr machines. These next generation machines churn more ice cream at one time and do so quicker. The six Brrr machines allow us to serve six flavors, rather than four.

Bay Area Bites: Where do you get your recipes? What are the best sellers?

Fisher: Our awesome pastry chef, Robyn Lenzi, creates all of our recipes from the finest ingredients in the Bay Area. Our best sellers are our salted caramel; our fresh mint chip, which is made with fresh organic mint, rather than extract, and homemade chocolate chips; and our seasonal flavors, which are made with fresh, organic, just picked local fruit (e.g., blood orange with pistachio shortbread in March rhubarb crisp in April, and strawberry white balsamic in May).

Bay Area Bites: Why did you start making ice cream? What sorts of sweets did you grow up with?

Fisher: Ice cream has always been the food I loved most, and I wanted to take that product I loved and make it even better. I was bothered that ice cream, in today's "modern" day and age, had become laden with preservatives, emulsifiers and stabilizers to last throughout the labyrinth distribution chain from production to end consumer. I wanted to take all of that away and make every batch of ice cream to-order with only fresh, pure ingredients. With our unique production technique, we could throw all of the compromises and sacrifices out the window and focus only on taste.

Ice cream has ALWAYS been my favorite sweet. My mom used to say that I had two stomachs, and one was solely reserved for ice cream. I still believe that!

Information:

Smitten Ice Cream
www.smittenicecream.com
432 Octavia St. #1A (at Linden St.)
415-863-1518
Twitter: @SmittenIceCream
Facebook: Smitten Ice Cream

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(Tasty) Ice Cream and Liquid Nitrogen: Get Smitten with Robyn Sue Fisher