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Date: 2/23/2021
EASTHAMPTON – As part of the WinterFest activities, the Nashawannuck Pond Steering Committee teamed up with Mt.Tom’s Homemade Ice Cream with a contest challenging the public to creat their first WinterFest ice cream flavor.
After 20 days, the Cottage Street shop had received 80 submissions. Out of those 80, the flavor that won was WinterFest by the Fire created by Kimberly Osborne.
Osborne’s creation includes peppermint ice cream with chocolate chunks, chocolate-covered pretzel pieces, and a marshmallow swirl.
Mt. Tom's owner Jim Ingram told Reminder Publishing that WinterFest by the Fire sold out in less than two days, “Which is pretty impressive given that it was a cold winter weekend.”
Osborne shared, “I love Mt. Tom ice cream, I do not get their ice cream as often as I would like because that could become problematic as I love ice cream. It is probably my favorite dessert item.”
Osborne first learned of the contest while she was drinking her morning tea and reading about it online.
“I thought about what I would do for Winterfest and it would involve sitting around a fire and probably having cocoa which is my favorite winter drink,” said Osborne.
Osborne added that she is always mixing in things with her cocoa or in her ice cream because she loves mixing different flavors together and finding out what compliments each other.
“I basically started thinking about a hot cup of cocoa with a peppermint stick and some of my favorite things to mix in it would be salted caramel creamer or actual salted caramel. Sometimes I throw those in my cocoa and top it off with a little whip cream,” she said.
While she was crafting creations to make for the contest she also thought about creating a mixture of dark chocolate brownie ice cream with red hots and a butterscotch swirl.
“I kind of forgot about the contest over the last couple of weeks so when I got the email, I was shocked, surprised, and super excited. It was so much fun to see my idea come to life,” Osborne said.
For winning the contest she received two free quarts of Winterfest by the Fire and a t-shirt. Osborne shared that one quart is already gone.
Ingram shared that Mt. Tom’s has conducted many contests over the years for a number of different events.
“We actually have a couple of flavors that came out of a contest we had with Williston Academy up the road that we still make for them from time to time. We love to partner with local groups. It is always a lot of fun and great to be part of the community we love,” he said.
Compared to past contests, this year the winner received a couple of free quarts of the winning flavor and an Mt. Tom’s T-shirt. In previous years, Ingram says they have offered the winner the opportunity to join him in his ice cream kitchen while he makes the flavor. Unfortunately, due to the coronavirus, he could not offer that this year.
With 80 submissions, Ingram shared that he also made two of the runner-ups, Whoville Crunch and Hibernation Snack.
Maura Stevens made Whoville Crunch which consisted of mint ice cream with chocolate chunks, peppermint pieces, and a fudge swirl. He added that it was popular as well.
Ellie Meunier made the Hibernation Snack which is black raspberry ice cream with chocolate chips and a peanut butter swirl.
To keep up with Mt. Tom’s specials, visit, www.mttomsspecials.com.