Fosselman's Ice Cream Company is a historic ice cream company based in
Alhambra, California
Alhambra (, , ; from "Alhambra") is a city located in the western San Gabriel Valley region of Los Angeles County, California, United States, approximately east from the downtown Los Angeles civic center. It was incorporated on July 11, 190 ...
, located at 1824 W. Main Street,
that has been owned and operated by the same family for three generations. Although the present company was started in 1937, the company can trace it roots to a related family business founded in 1919.
History
In 1919, Christian Anthony Fosselman created Fosselman's, Inc., to manufacture ice cream in
Waverly, Iowa
Waverly is a city in Bremer County, Iowa, United States. The population was 10,394 at the time of the 2020 census. It is the county seat of Bremer County and is part of the Waterloo-Cedar Falls metropolitan area.
The sister city of Waverly is ...
. Five years later, Fosselman relocated with his family to
Southern California
Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural List of regions of California, region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Its densely populated coastal reg ...
to found a wholesale dairy business in
Pasadena
Pasadena ( ) is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial d ...
, called Fosselman Creamery that also delivered milk, butter, cream, and ice cream directly to families in the
San Gabriel Valley
The San Gabriel Valley (), sometimes referred to by its initials as SGV, is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, with the city of Los Angeles directly bordering it to the west and occupying the vast majority of the southeastern ...
through a fleet of company-owned trucks.
In 1937, Fosselman sold the creamery and started an ice cream shop in
South Pasadena called Fosselman's Ice Cream Company that made ice cream on the premises.
Additional storefronts were opened in
Highland Park (1941), and
Glendale, with a production facility in Alhambra.
All but the Alhambra location, also an ice cream parlor, closed in the 1970s.
Also in the 1970s,
Jelly Belly
Jelly Belly Candy Company, formerly known as Herman Goelitz Candy Company and Goelitz Confectionery Company, is an American company that manufactures Jelly Belly jelly beans and other candy.
The company is based in Fairfield, California, with ...
creator
David Klein rented a part of Fosselman's to promote and sell his jelly beans, then in their nascence.
Since the 1980s, Fosselman brothers John and Chris, grandsons of founder Christian, have run the company. The company also supplies product to approximately 500 outlets, from "high-end restaurants to food trucks to retirement homes."
In 2015, the company introduced soft serve ice cream, soft serve custard, and milkshakes as part of its repertoire.
In 2019, Fosselman's opened a new branch, called The Ice Cream Shop, in
Glendora.
Products
In addition to producing and carrying such classic ice cream flavors as chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry, Fosselman's also features exotic flavors such as
taro
Taro (; ''Colocasia esculenta'') is a root vegetable. It is the most widely cultivated species of several plants in the family Araceae that are used as vegetables for their corms, leaves, stems and Petiole (botany), petioles. Taro corms are a ...
,
ube, and
lychee
Lychee ( , ; ''Litchi chinensis''; ) is a monotypic taxon and the sole member in the genus ''Litchi'' in the soapberry family, Sapindaceae.
There are three distinct subspecies of lychee. The most common is the Indochinese lychee found in So ...
, a nod to the majority Asian population in Alhambra. Some seasonal flavors include fresh peach,
sweet corn elote, and watermelon sorbet.
Previous flavors include
black sesame,
dulche de leche,
horchata
Horchata (; ), or (), is a name given to various beverages, which are generally plant based, but sometimes contain milk. In Spain, it is made with soaked, ground, and sweetened tiger nuts. In some parts of the Americas it is known as an agua f ...
,
matcha green tea, oaxacan chocolate and
red bean
Red bean is a common name for several varieties of beans and plants and may refer to:
* ''Small red beans'', also known as "Mexican red beans," "Central American red beans," and "New Orleans red beans"
* Adzuki bean (''Vigna angularis''), commonly ...
.
Reviews
The ''
Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...
'' called Fosselman's "the Alhambra emperors of ice cream".
The British newspaper ''
The Guardian
''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...
'' called Fosselman's the "Best place to drink: Milkshakes".
References
External links
*
Video: Fosselman’s celebrates its 100th year making ice creamvia
The San Diego Union-Tribune
''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' is a metropolitan daily newspaper published in San Diego, California, that has run since 1868. Its name derives from a 1992 merger between the two major daily newspapers at the time, ''The San Diego Union'' and ...
{{Restaurants in Los Angeles County
Ice cream parlors in California
Ice cream brands
American companies established in 1919
Alhambra, California