One cool customer

It may seem like something of a stretch, but Susan Soorenko — the Silver Spring ice cream impresario who has created the chilled confections known as Moorenko’s Ice Cream — is a bit like Willy Wonka. True, she doesn’t operate a fantasy chocolate factory and she is not yielding up her trade secrets to an honest little boy. But Soorenko does manufacture an extravagantly luscious product that causes young and old alike to swoon. And her two sons have been her staunchest supporters on her years-long quest to perfect the ultimate frozen treat.

“This is not a crazy product,” she says of her ice cream, which comes in such flavors as blueberry, cinnamon, cookie overload, honey lavender (yes, she uses real lavender blossoms for their elusive flavor), rice pudding and red-hot chocolate with a dose of chilis for a sweet kick. “There’s a specific response to it. People really do get it when they put it in their mouth.”

Describing her tastings at Whole Foods, for example, Soorenko tells how a small sample is so enjoyable that customers roll back their eyes with pleasure. “This ice cream is soul-satisfying,” she says, “because the flavor stays all the way through. Most ice creams loose their punch after one or two bites.”

A petite woman bustling with enthusiasm, Soorenko came to ice cream making after vacationing with her sons and sampling an outstanding locally made ice cream. Unable to find its equivalent in the Northern Virginia area, and unable to ship the product to the metro area, Soorenko eventually gave up her business as a fitness trainer and set about learning the tricks of the ice cream trade, admitting that her pursuit was not really a dream or a vision, but a sudden shift in her life’s ambition.

“I went to the Ice Cream University in New York [it’s since moved to New Jersey],” she says, “and studied with Malcolm Stogo and his business partner, William Lambert, a dairy engineer. I learned the basic techniques and marketing.” She also followed that with two trips to Italy to study ice cream making with a gelato master, and finally felt competent enough to start her own brand.

“I had no idea where to put my foot next,” she says. “I had no idea how to run an ice cream business. … It’s been on-the-job training.” But she ended up putting her footprint on McLean’s main street, opening up a Moorenko’s (an obvious play on her name, Soorenko, plus a bovine allusion), an ice creamery that became a very popular local destination.

During the seven years Moorenko’s Ice Cream Cafe scooped up the dazzling flavors there, Soorenko opened a Silver Spring branch, became involved in community projects, received much media attention and marketed her product to local outlets — currently Moorenko’s ice cream is sold at select Whole Foods markets, MOM’s Markets, The Organic Butcher (in McLean), the Takoma Park and Silver Spring co-ops, Willow restaurant, the Ray’s the Steaks affiliates, and the Lebanese Taverna restaurants.

What, many may wonder, makes this such a special treat? Soorenko is quick to explain.

“I get my dairy mix from a small, grass-fed herd at a family-owned dairy farm in Middletown, Maryland,” she says. “The milk is rBGH- and antibiotic-free, and the mix contains 17 percent milk fat and 1.4 percent egg yolks. He makes this mix just for me.”

In addition, she says, many flavor elements and additions are made from scratch — even including the caramel syrup that bolsters her salted caramel with pralines ice creams — and very little air is whipped into the mix as it freezes.

The result? Perhaps the area’s most sensational ice cream this side of Italy. Yummm …

Q&A with Susan Soorenko

What’s your comfort food?

Anything white, but really, apple pie. I love pies, including cherry, rhubarb. It’s the crust, so that would include quiche with a good crust.

What’s in your fridge?

Fresh spinach, homemade tomato sauce, chicken fat and carrots from a roast chicken, milk, orange juice. We shop for dinner every day.

Which are your favorite restaurants?

Willow and Pesce.

Where is your favorite place in the world?

Chartres [in France]. I am going to cry. It is the most exquisite and magical place. It’s the market, cathedral. That’s my happy place. The second would be Cortona in Tuscany.

What is your favorite cuisine?

I don’t know that I have a favorite. If something is made well by someone else, then it’s my favorite.

From the chef’s kitchen

Deconstructed Pumpkin Pie

Serves 1

1 buttermilk biscuit

Scoop creme fraiche or clotted cream

Scoop pumpkin ice cream

Grade B maple syrup to taste

Split the buttermilk biscuit in half horizontally. Spread one side with creme fraiche or clotted cream. Top with the scoop of pumpkin ice cream and flatten it out slightly. Drizzle the ice cream with the maple syrup, and top with the remaining half-biscuit. Serve with many napkins.