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challenge from the beginning, their ice cream business has grown steadily. Utilities and most other prices were increasing, but milk, the staple ingredient, was not. “We believe in doing things that will keep our product as premium as possible,” says Jean Manning, referring to their milk, ice cream, frozen yogurt, ice cream cakes, seasonal egg nog and homemade iced tea. Wonder where the cookie dough in one of Manning’s ice cream mixes comes from? “It’s homemade,” says Jean Manning, as are many of the add-ons in their 100 flavors of ice cream offered throughout the year. Although they rotate the flavors, at the height of the summer, customers can expect to “cool off” with a selection of approximately 50 flavors.
ucts are bacteria free, and their cows do not receive rBST injections. Ken Manning explains he uses a lowheat, vat pasteurization process, which takes longer to do but results in a tastier product. “I take the raw milk and pump it into my pasteurized vats. That takes approximately ten minutes. I heat it slowly to its pasteurization temperature, which takes approximately 40 minutes, and I hold it at that temperature for an additional 35 min–Photo: Guy Cali Associates utes. So, I’m already an hour and 20 minutes in, and then I’m ready to bottle.” Anyone with a hankering for Manning’s products can visit the farm store or one of their shops in Clarks Summit, Scranton, Dunmore and West Scranton. Have Paul and Jean Manning and their children lost their taste for milk and ice cream after more than 50 years in business? Jean Manning says, “We’ve always had milk on our kitchen table…” And as for the ice cream, she adds, “It’s creamy. It’s cold. It’s sweet. It works for me.”
Son, Ken Manning notes, “For our base ice cream, everything that goes into it, including all of the cream that I generate making skim milk or two percent (milk) goes right back into our ice cream mix, with no high fructose corn syrup or corn syrup. We try to keep it as pure as we can.” Currently, they milk 75 cows and have another 75 younger stock. They raise almost all of their own feed and test it monthly to be sure their cows have a very balanced diet, pasteurize everything to guarantee their prod-
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What are their favorite flavors of ice cream? Ken says he favors Charlie Brownie and French Coconut Custard; Jean loves anything with peanut butter and Paul is a fan of German Chocolate. Visit www.manningfarm.com.
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–Joan Mead-Matsui
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