8/14/2015
13 WREX

ROCKFORD (WREX) - The Rockford City Market is a summer time favorite. But until now it's been missing a favorite summer treat, ice cream! The Grillo family has been spinning their wheels over tractors. "We have the old fashioned John Deere tractors at home. We have four of them and we've always liked the hit and miss motors and we just decided we have all this equipment we should put it together, the ice cream stand, you know," says Christie Grillo, owner of J & C Old Fashioned Ice Cream. Christie and her husband Jim took their old fashioned ice cream maker to steam shows to demonstrate how it worked by giving out free samples of ice cream.. "Everybody's like why don't you just sell it? It's so good," Grillo says. The couple decided to try it out at some farmer's markets the last couple of years. Then, this summer they decided it was time to come to Rockford City Market. "This was my mother-in-law's, she passed away this year, it was her recipe," Grillo says. And it's pretty simple. "So we have half and half in here, whole milk and this is heavy whip," says 13 News reporter Rebecca Klopf. Plus, some sugar, vanilla and chocolate syrup and that's it. The rest is part manpower. They had Rebecca stirring and stirring and stirring. THEN, when the base was mixed, the Grillo's switch over to John Deere power. That's where the Grillo's son Nick comes in. He runs the motor and makes sure the ice cream stays churning until it's a creamy frozen treat. "Hmmmm. This is so good. This is unbelievable This is amazing!" says Rebecca as she tries the batch. This ice cream is about 18-percent buttercream. According to Christie Grillo, it means it's super creamy.


For More Information:
http://www.wrex.com/story/29790905/2015/08/14/rockford-city-market-old-fashioned-ice-cream-vendor-comes-to-the-market