Morning Mist Ice-Cream at Cowichan Bay Village
Morning Mist Ice-Cream.
If you look at it one way, Yves Muselle has made it possible for you to spend the whopping sum of $7.90 on an ice-cream cone at Cowichan Bay Village.
If you look at it another way, Yves Muselle has made it possible for you to obtain some of the finest quality, traditionally made ice-cream available on Vancouver Island, right here in Cowichan Bay Village… and to get the largest, two scoop, waffle cone size for just $7.90 taxes included.
It’s all a matter of perspective.
Yves Muselle is one of those people who once he sets his heart on something, it’s almost impossible to get him to budge an inch off course. A bit more than 13 years ago, he began making quality ice-cream from his home, in a garage he converted to the purpose. This eventually became Udder Guys Ice-Cream a name that was to be made quite famous on Vancouver island.
Inside Morning Mist
He set up a small parlor at Cowichan Bay, selling his various flavours to both tourists and locals alike. After a short time, he added candies and sweets from around the world, some of them not seen in local stores in many a year. The business did brisk trade for quite a while, becoming one of the anchors in the business community, a shop on the “Must See” list for most Sunday visitors.
Then when he felt his vision no longer coincided with that of his partners, he moved the business down the street, renaming it Morning Mist Ice Cream. His partners retained the original Udder Guys name and are focusing on getting their product into a grocery store near you.
Yves says the new store is just about perfect. There’s plenty of room for the world of candies he still stocks. The shelves are bulging and that’s the way he likes it. There’s a small patio so guests can enjoy the scenery on sunny days and best of all, according to Yves, all frozen products can now be made on site, in the large airy kitchen that adjoins the store.
$60k worth of equipment ensures top quality products.
Ice-cream at Morning Mist is made by the traditional custard method. Every flavor begins with the same basic ingredients. There’s milk, cream, eggs and sugar. All the dairy products come from Vancouver Island’s own Comox Valley. The only reason Yves cannot claim his ice-cream to be “organic” is due to the fact that his milk comes already pastured. He calls it “Old Fashioned” instead.
Each batch is stirred and cooked in a machine designed specifically for the task. Once the custard has been created it’s then rested under refrigeration for 24 hours. Then flavourings are added according to strictly secret recipes and the liquid ice-cream is frozen to a semi solid state in a second machine. It’s pumped into containers and then frozen stiff in a deep freeze for 24 hours. Only then is it able to be sold, scooped into cones, dishes or by the tub to you and I. The entire process takes about three days.
All flavours are natural. Nothing artificial is permitted at Morning Mist. The chocolate comes from Holland, as do some of the other flavourings, such as raspberry, strawberry, black berry and so forth. These are the finest quality obtainable. When in season, local fruits and berries are cooked down to created a truly local ice-cream flavour.
When the recipe calls for ginger, only raw ginger is used to avoid the sulphides that are associated with the processed variety. There are no stabilizers added to any of the ice-cream, and the slow churning method used by the freezing machine ensures that only minimal amounts of air are whipped into the final product. This means a denser ice-cream, a creamier ice-cream.
The kitchen is peanut-free and gluten-free cones are available. Some visitors who have problems with gluten remark that this is the first time they have been able to have an actual ice-cream cone.
Yves and store manager Wanda Garrett
So what’s it like this Morning Mist Ice Cream? Well, it looks pale and almost colorless as compared to store bought ice-cream. Yves adds no artificial colors and this can cause new visitors some initial confusion. The mint isn’t green for example, because natural mint essence is colourless, like plain tap-water. The peach has a faint orange tint to it, the black berry looks a little purple… These are the natural colors of course.
The cone is heavy for it’s size, because the ice-cream isn’t full of air. You can actually smell the flavour before that first lick, and once you dive in… you quickly come to understand what all the fuss is about. It’s something you just have to come taste for yourself. There’s no way I can explain the experience here.
Prices start at $3.45 (taxes in) for a smallest cone and of course top out at $7.90 for the big double scooper waffle cone. As a once a month treat, it seems a reasonable price to pay.
