Summer 2017 Issue

When I’m no longer rapping, I want to open up an ice cream parlor and call myself Scoop Dogg.”
—Snoop Dogg

“We dare not trust our wit for making our house pleasant to our friend, so we buy ice cream.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

Over the course of the last eight-plus years (yes, eight!!!) since I launched Edible Marin & Wine Country, I have been asked more than a few times if I struggle to come up with enough content to fill each issue. My answer is invariably, and in a word, no. The biggest “problem” I face in this role is having too many interesting, exciting, important and, often, time-sensitive, stories to tell. We do live in the most innovative and exceptional quality food- and drink-producing area in the world (in my clearly biased but continuously researched opinion). If our production costs were not so high, we could literally publish a book each quarter.

So it is not all that surprising that it has taken us 33 issues to circle back around to a roundup of the best handcrafted ice cream scoop shops in Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties. Some of the places highlighted in this issue also appeared in Maria Sinskey’s ice cream trail map in our Summer 2009 premiere issue, but there have been some very exciting additions over the last eight years. We know you’ll have a delicious time “tasting through” all of them this summer. Tag #ediblemarinandwinecountry on Instagram with your local scoop shop photos for a chance to win an Ice Cream Lover’s Package from the retail shops at the Culinary Institute of America. Details on Page 17.

What I did not foresee eight years ago was that we would also be telling the stories of legal—and even Demeter-certified Biodynamic—cannabis growers in these pages. The times, they are a-changin’ …

From methane digesters to haute cuisine, from heirloom apples to high-tech cooking techniques, we strive in every issue to bring you a slice of the wide and diverse range of what’s happening in local food and drink. Because we believe that the people who care about what they eat and feed their families, and how and where it was grown or produced, and by whom, want to know the full scoop.

This includes the issues faced by immigrant agricultural and food service workers, without whom our local foodshed would come to a screeching halt. Stay tuned for those stories in our Fall 2017 issue.

In the meantime, get out there and enjoy the glorious green this summer, courtesy of the wondrous winter rains and spring sunshine. All ingredients for a bumper crop of wild huckleberries and watermelons this season, both of which you’ll find recipes for in this issue.

Cheers!