Our story
The Creamery
How we got here. The mill, the cream, the team behind every batch.
We started Maple & Birch because most of the ice cream we could buy tasted like the inside of a freezer. We wanted ice cream that tasted like the cream it was made from.
We opened on Mill Street in 2018. We had one batch freezer, four flavours, and a list of three farms within an hour of the shop. The first season was three of us churning weekends and an aunt running the till.
Six seasons in, we have a second freezer, twelve flavours in the case, and a team of eight. Two have been with us since the first summer. The list of farms has barely moved. We pay more for the cream than we have to. We do not apologize for the price of a scoop.
We are open Tuesday through Sunday from April through October. In the off-season we keep the kitchen running for ice cream cakes and wholesale. The shop window has a wreath on it from November through March. The lights stay on so people can see the freezer from the street.
What we work to
Three principles. We rebuild every recipe against them.
One
Cream first
We do not start with sugar. We start with cream so good it does not need to be hidden. Everything else is a flavour layered on top.
Two
Seasons matter
Strawberry season is six weeks. Rhubarb is eight. Apple cider is October. We do not freeze fruit for ten months. The flavour comes off the case when the season ends.
Three
Local is not a sticker
Cream from a dairy in McNab. Eggs from a farm in Pakenham. Maple from a sugarbush west of here. We name them on the bag because we shake their hands.
The list
Our farms and their work.
Highmark Dairy
McNab, Ontario
Cream and milk. Single-source, never blended.
Bell Hill Farm
Pakenham, Ontario
Eggs. Pasture-raised, collected the morning we use them.
Sugarbush Hollow
Wellington County, Ontario
Maple syrup. We buy the entire spring run.
Mountain View Orchard
Mountain, Ontario
Apples and apple cider. Our October flavour comes from here.
Riverbend Berry
Carleton Place, Ontario
Strawberries, rhubarb, blackberries. Picked the morning we churn.
Pakenham Brewing
Pakenham, Ontario
Stout for our chocolate-and-stout cream. They reduce it for us.
Come visit the shop.
We are open Tuesday through Sunday from April through October. There is parking, an espresso bar two doors down, and a river to walk beside while you eat.
How to find us