Happiness Through Vegan Ice Cream
Reggie Tidwell (left) and Joel Schantz (right)
This year The Hop will celebrate it’s 45th year of being part of the Asheville community. There has only ever been one goal at The Hop - to provide happiness through ice cream. But what if, for whatever reason, someone does not eat traditional ice cream made from cows’ milk? Just over 20 years ago, one person saw an opportunity to introduce a new and unique dairy-free alternative to achieve that goal - with vegan ice cream.
The original location of The Hop Ice Cream. Photo by Joey Harrison, 1985.
Joel Schantz was an up and coming vegan candy bar maker when he partnered with the The Hop. He produced and sold Tree Huggin’ Treats and Crispy Cats out of the drive-thru location. At the same time he was creating recipes for vegan ice cream and introducing the idea to his customers at The Hop. Joel’s delicious vegan treats and infectious energy quickly established a following and, from then on, vegan ice cream had a permanent place on the flavor menu.
Ashley and Greg Garrison circa 2010
2007-08 brought some significant changes to The Hop - a new location (640 Merrimon Ave) then new owners (Ashley and Greg Garrison). This lead to new explorations and promotions of vegan ice cream. With Ashley Garrison now as lead creator/maker existing recipes were tweaked and new ones were engineered. To improve the quality Ashley also started making more vegan ingredients to add to the ice cream, such as chocolate syrup for vegan Mint Swirl Ice Cream.
The improvements and a West Asheville location of The Hop saw more customers gravitating toward vegan ice cream. Reggie Tidwell was one. He would stop in with his family a few times a week for a vegan scoop and always engage in conversation. He encouraged Ashley to keep exploring. More space for flavors was added to the vegan menu. Coconut milk and from-scratch banana creme were also added to The Hop’s list of vegan ice cream bases.
Mango Matcha Mochi Rice Milk, made with fresh mango, housemade matcha mochi, and locally grown rice
In 2015 Ice Cream production started at The Hop Creamery, a 1500 square foot facility in West Asheville. This gave The Hop near-unlimited opportunity to create. The ice cream making crew at The Creamery ran with that opportunity. In no time they worked with Ashley to create in house completely from scratch all vegan milk bases, starting with the seed, nut, grain, etc. To compliment the bases they came up with vegan fudge, brownie, cookie, and candy recipes. They had total control of the process.
At present all 4 of The Hop retail locations have at least 8 rotating vegan flavors on the menu at all times. Milk bases for those flavors most often include pepita, oat, almond, cashew, and banana, as well as a vegan NSA option and sorbet. Customers can now order from a full menu: Scoops, Waffle Cones, Toppings Sundaes, Milkshakes, Floats, and Desserts (including coconut whip). All vegan.
This year we are taking it to a new level by celebrating Vegan Ice Cream Week, 7 days dedicated to the creation and promotion of dairy free ice cream centered around Earth Day. We aim to continue improving everywhere we can, making adjustments to recipes, adding new inclusions, creating and exploring. Why? As always, to provide a little happiness in the world through ice cream.
Vegan Ice Cream Week: Monday, April 17 - Sunday, April 23, 2023
