Professor develops ‘organic ambrosia’ by the pint

An entrepreneur with access to organic cream has collaborated with a food scientist with a knack for creating delicious edibles. The result: 100 percent organic ice cream.

Robert Bradley, emeritus professor with the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, developed a formula when Suzanne Huber of Vernon County came to Madison for assistance.

Sibby’s Premium Organic Ice Cream, in vanilla and chocolate flavors, began hitting the freezers in 2001, and Huber says she is now distributing it through 50 locations in southern Wisconsin. In Madison, it is distributed in pints through Jenifer Street Market, Magic Mill Natural Foods, Mifflin Street Co-op, Regent Market Co-op and Williamson Street Co-op.

“Sibby’s is what I would call a premium ice cream that competes with anything else on the market,” says Bradley. “I told Sue, “Don’t kill it by cutting corners on ingredients. Don’t do things to it that will trim the bottom line,’ and she’s followed that advice.”

Everything in Sibby’s is organic — the cream, milk, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla extract. It is certified organic by the Midwest Organic Services Association.

Huber is a fifth-generation descendent of Christian Sebion, who homesteaded outside Westby in 1848. Huber and her ancestors were all nicknamed “Sibb.”

Although Huber does not come from a long line of ice-cream makers, she holds to her belief that she could create something locally that rivals Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs. She uses Bradley’s formula when she dashes her hours-fresh pasteurized organic cream from the Organic Valley Cooperative to dairy production.

Huber got help on the business management side by applying for a training grant that covered most of her tuition for a business-planning course. The grant was from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce. She completed the course — and a business plan — through the Small Business Development Center at UW-La Crosse.