Denton – Since 1896, the Courthouse on the square in Denton has seen all sorts of things sprout up around it. Education is the cornerstone of this town, as it’s home to the University of North Texas, Texas Woman’s University, and North Central Texas College. But these kids need a study break and what’s better than ice cream? Fortunately, folks in this town don’t need to fret because right on the square you’ll find Beth Marie’s Old Fashioned Ice Cream.
Margaret Rich has been a part of Beth Marie’s for 20 years, and her responsibilities involve more than just the ice cream. “I am the area supervisor,” said Margaret. “Slash babysitter. All of these kiddos every day. I have thousands of children in this town by now. I can tell you that.”
Of course anyone who’s worked in ice cream before knows all about the forearm of fire. “I tell every one of the kids the first two weeks that you work here, you’re going to feel some pain in your arm,” said Margaret. “I don’t care if you play softball, baseball, basketball, volleyball, all them balls. You don’t use this one until you scoop ice cream.”
Well if it’s gonna burn, it better be worth scooping and at Beth Marie’s, it is. Since 1998, Beth Maries has been a fixture for ice cream thanks to their assortment of insane ingredients that make up 276 different flavors. “Yes, because we keep creating these crazy flavors,” said Margaret. “There’s not many ice creams that I don’t have.”
Some of these flavors go well beyond your wildest imagination. “We did an heirloom tomato ice cream one time and that one did really well, I would say,” said Margaret. “The corn one was a flop, unfortunately.”
Beth Marie can experiment as much as they want because they make it all themselves. “I truly believe it’s the fresh cream,” said Margaret. “I know we don’t have the big machines either, that a lot of your large companies have. It’s more fresh, it’s more quality. When we’re producing it, it is produced four boxes at a time, which equals up to a five gallon batch.”
This small batch made ice cream is made with 14 percent butter fat and when they add ingredients to the ice cream, they’re all made here too. “This morning though, we did make our apple pie, so you have to bake this,” said Margaret. “We bake everything fresh. Except Oreos. I don’t bake apple pies. I bake my own little creation of an apple pie ice cream. So, we put all this stuff together, we bake it, and then it comes out. We got to let it cool down before we can put it into the cream, and the apples into the cream, so we have apple pie ice cream.”
Ice cream is always a visual experience between all the different kinds, but this selection is crazy
. You’ve got the full spectrum of the rainbow here. “We’re going to try the Baa-Baa Blackberry, which is a blackberry swirl with goat cheese and thyme,” said Margaret. “Yes, that is the thyme on top. And I would barely touch that just so you don’t get too much, because you just want that little bit to make it taste.”
That’s a good, not overly sweet, but nice and creamy. And that thyme right at the end, just a nice little hint. That’s really good. I was worried about that one, but that’s good. I feel like I need to finish the book.
The next flavor up got even crazier. “We do have a Hatch Green Chili ice cream,” said Margaret. “We did it with a prickly pear background, and I can say that it’s pretty tasty. It’s got a little bit of a bite to it, but it is pretty tasty. Hatch Green Chili and Prickly Pear. Something a little different here at Beth Marie’s.”
The hot and cold combo of pepper and ice cream works well here with that pear flavor. “You get a little bit of spice in there,” said Margaret. “I have a lot of people talk about how at the end the chilies have a little bit of crunch to them and they like that flavor. I try to stay away from the iciness in the ice cream, but they like that part, so I’m like, all right, we’ll keep it.”
There was one last fantastic flavor to try out of the lineup. “The Texas Honey Whiskey ice cream,” said Margaret. “It is a local made honey whiskey ice cream. The honey is local as well. It’s very popular right now. I have customers say ‘I’m going to get drunk off of that bite.’ And I’m like, oh no, it’s not going to happen. I won’t let you do that.”
Now if you want to get crazy with Beth Marie’s they have a sundae that is too much for most sweet tooths but like they say, everything is bigger in Texas. “We do a crazy Sunday, the K.W. Extreme. So it’s eight big scoops of ice cream,” explained Margaret. “Eight large scoops of ice cream, two brownies, a banana, two cookies, eight toppings, and it comes in this bowl that your whole head can fit into. And I do have people challenge each other to eat this ice cream. And I’ve seen them do it too. When they get the syrup at the bottom and all, I’m like, ‘oh boy.’ There are people out there that can eat a lot of ice cream.”
So if you’re the adventurous type looking a crazy ice cream creation or just looking to cool off with a classic treat in the summer heat, this is the stop to make. “Oh, you find a lot of different kinds of ice creams at Beth Marie’s, which you thought you would never find anywhere else,” said Margaret.