Ice Cream for the Earth

On Saturday I had to go into San Francisco to get my cholesterol checked at my doctor’s office. When I was all done being punctured (twice!) at the lab, I treated myself to what else? Ice cream!

I figured after weeks of avoiding ice cream to get a favorable grade on my cholesterol test, this would be like breaking a fast. So I headed to the nearby Three Twins Organic Ice Cream shop in the Lower Haight neighborhood.

I’ve never had Three Twins’ ice cream before. (I first noticed them at the Oxbow Public Market in Napa.) This small business has an interesting beginning, having been started in 2005 by a former Peace Corp volunteer. The name is kind of confusing, so I’ll leave it up to you to go to its Web site to get the story behind the name. But one thing that’s prominent about this organic ice cream shop is it tries to be a real partner with the environment.

Along with using only organic ingredients to make the ice cream, all the packaging is compostable and they purchase renewable energy certificates to offset their electricity use. From the beginning, they’ve been affiliated with 1% for The Planet, where 1 percent of proceeds go to support non-profits that help the environment.

Walking into the tiny San Francisco store, you can tell it’s an environmentally conscious business because almost everything is green. (More specifically, lime green.) There’s a real whimsical feel that’s part hippie and part folksy.

I ended up getting a single cup ($3.25), where you can get one to two flavors. I decided on Milk and Cookies (which is their version of Cookies N’ Cream) and Dad’s Cardamom. There’s pretty much no seating in the store, so I ate mine as I walked the neighborhood since it was a beautiful warm day in San Francisco.

The cardamom was on top so I ate that first. It had a real nice distinctive cardamom flavor that actually stayed with me even with I was all done. The Milk and Cookies was filled with big chunks of Oreo cookies, so I felt like I was really getting my money’s worth although the sweetness of the Oreo filling added to the sweetness of the ice cream.

Overall, I really enjoyed the creaminess of the product. Unfortunately, this will probably be my last post about ice cream for awhile. I just got my cholesterol test back and it’s high. (Not terribly high, but just over the border.) All those La Farine tarts, artisan ice cream and restaurant eating are catching up with me. I’m not giving up on them, but I just have to eat in moderation. Dang family history!

Three Twins Organic Ice Cream, 254 Fillmore St. (at Haight), San Francisco. PH: 415.ITS.TWIN. www.threetwinsicecream.com