From the Mid-Coast Forecaster, August 3, 2007. By Steve Misler.

Cream of the Crop

The scoop at Hatties is local, organic.

BRUNSWICK – When the Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream shop on Maine Street closed in 1997, Wanda Webber Snyder felt like downtown Brunswick lost something.

Ten years later, Snyder is attempting to bring it back, and she’s doing it in a way Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield would likely applaud.

Snyder is serving ice cream – organic ice cream. At first read, that may not sound like a big deal. We all scream for ice cream, even if some of it contains something called mono-diglycerides, a fancy name for an emulsifier. What’s a little hydrogenated oil when you’re feeling indulgent, right?

But Snyder, who opened up Hattie’s Ice Cream Parlor at 185 Park Row in June, would argue indulgence doesn’t have to be unwholesome, or unprincipled.

It’s the reason Hattie’s serves organic, handmade gelato and sorbetti made mainly from certified organic dairy products and fruits. Besides being organic, the gelato ingredients, as well as most toppings and accessories – like the homemade waffle cones – are either bought locally or made from local ingredients, thereby satisfying another of Snyder’s sensibilities: protecting the environment.

“We’re trying to be as responsible as we possibly can,” Snyder said. “The more a product can be obtained locally, the less oil and gasoline you have to use.”

And, Snyder says, the fewer ingredients the better the ice cream.

Hattie’s gelatos are made by Maple’s Organics, Portland’s first certified organic bakery and ice creamery, using eggs from Sparrow Farm in Gardiner (a member of Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association), as well as evaporated cane juice, cream and sea salt to create flavors like Chai Ginger Snap.

Compared to some store brands, which can use up to 20 or more ingredients to formulate flavors like vanilla, the ingredients in Hattie’s gelatos may leave some wondering if something – specifically flavor – is missing.

But fear not. Snyder argued the purity of her ingredients make her gelatos richer and more flavorful, not to mention healthier.

“It just seems like an excellent way to go for folks who care about what they put into their mouths and stomachs,” she said.

Being one of those folks invariably led Snyder to bring Hattie’s to the backside of Brunswick’s Village Green. Snyder owns one of 200 shares at nearby Crystal Spring Farm. The community-supported agriculture project allows people to invest in the season’s crop in exchange for a weekly share of organic produce. During one of her visits, Snyder decided to try Maple Organics gelatos.

She was hooked. The inspiration for Hattie’s, brewing ever since the Ben & Jerry’s franchise went out of business, was months away from becoming a reality.

“I really thought Brunswick lost something when Ben & Jerry’s closed,” Snyder said. “I’ve thought an ice cream shop was needed for years ... (Maple’s) meshed beautifully with my inclination toward buying local, organic foods. It just made a lot of sense to me.”

Snyder sought to lease the Melcher House, the 18th century home of the Melcher family, which designed and built several buildings at Bowdoin College. She signed a lease with the First Parish Church earlier this year. In June she opened Hattie’s, a nod to former Brunswick resident Harriet Beecher Stowe, who once lived about a block away.

Hattie’s is open daily from noon to 11 p.m., and at the moment, all year long.

“I wanted to open a place that was open late that wasn’t a bar,” she said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m no teetotaler. I enjoy a drink as much as the next person, but I thought it might be nice if people had a place to go after a movie or a show.”

Snyder realizes serving gelatos in the winter may be a stretch, but she’s hoping Hattie’s proximity to Bowdoin College will draw a loyal clientèle.

“Younger people tend to me more conscientious about the environment and organic products,” she said.

The same holds true for many Brunswick residents, who may appreciate that her homemade waffle cones are made from eggs produced by Crystal Spring Farm’s free-range chickens. Buy-local proponents will be drawn to the certified fair trade coffee, purchased from Wicked Joe in Brunswick, or the toppings, bought from Wilbur’s Chocolates in Freeport, or the chocolate sauce, an organic and award-winning product made by Robin’s Chocolate Sauce in Fort Fairfield. There are also ice cream sandwiches, made on chocolate bread from When Pigs Fly, a York-based bakery that uses organic ingredients to create artisan breads.

And what place of indulgence would be complete without Brunswick’s own Simply Divine Brownies? Snyder is serving the vastly popular delights in her ice cream sundaes.

That kind of local lineup could draw a crowd.

“Business had been increasing every week,” Snyder said.