It’s that time of year again- ice cream season! We’re lucky enough to be right down the road from one of the best ice cream joints in town, MDI Ice Cream. They have two locations in Bar Harbor and one in Portland, and all are now open for the summer. Here are some reasons why MDI is worth checking out this summer, wherever you are in the world:

They Care. There’s a lot of work that goes into each batch of ice cream here. A couple years ago, we had the opportunity of helping load up the trucks with gallons of ice cream from Bar Harbor to Portland, and got a taste of the labor intensive end of the ice cream industry. And that was just scratching the surface of what goes on behind the scenes. First, their ice cream contains at least 16% butterfat (most ice creams start around 14%), based on owner Linda Parker’s assessment that it “is the precisely right amount of butterfat.” Based on what we’ve seen and tasted, Linda knows her stuff! They also make their own flavors, rather than relying on commercial mixes, which a) makes the ice cream taste WAY better, and b) takes WAY more time to make. Even after years of business, they’ve held on to their belief in quality over quantity (be it of ice cream or extra time).

The Location. Both locations in Bar Harbor are in easily accessible places along the street, perfect for foot traffic. Besides this, both locations offer a couple different seating options for the people who want to sit down and enjoy their ice cream in the shade/under cover or those who prefer outside seating (pictured below is the infamous blue bench outside the Firefly Lane location). My personal favorite is heading to the Village Green- there’s nothing better than ice cream and people watching on a summer afternoon.

The blue bench outside Firefly Lane

The blue bench outside Firefly Lane is prime seating.

Social Media. MDI Ice Cream is pretty great at keeping their Facebook and Instagram (@mdiicream) presences up-to-date with openings and new flavors. They also have some fun with their street signs (which you can see below). Following their social media helps you keep tabs on all their locations, and usually includes a scoop of humor as well!

Fearless Flavor. Besides the classic standbys (looking at you, Sea Salt Caramel), there’s always room for innovation at MDI Ice Cream which is a great business model in general and even better when it comes to ice cream.  As mentioned earlier, there’s nothing artificial about their flavors or coloring. Some of their flavors include Beet Ginger Sorbet, The Dude, Thai Chili Coconut, Butterbeer, Bay of Figs, and many more. Plus, you can probably tell from the sign, but innovation is included as part of the business. New flavors can be found on deck (after rigorous rounds of testing, of course) every year, and Cookie Dough is new for this season.



Another thing- you won’t get ice cream drowned in sprinkles or other sugary, candy toppings. This is ice cream in it’s best, raw, natural state- I’m hamming it up a bit here, but honestly, it’s another way MDI Ice Cream stands by their product and stands out from the crowd.

flava

Flavor list in Portland

When it comes to a local business with great marketing and a quality product, the proof is in…the ice cream. Thanks for feeding our summer appetites, MDI Ice Cream!

P.S. if you ever need opinions via taste testing, we have your back 🙂

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