Wow! Much of that science is about utilizing ingredients that bind the water which makes up most of ice cream’s milk and cream to other ingredients, creating ice cream that’s smooth and creamy rather than icy and gritty: i.e. that exceptional mouthfeel. To that end, Britton Bauer adds small amounts of corn syrup, tapioca or corn starch, and cream cheese to her ice cream base, not just in her commercial preparations, but also in her recipes for home cooks that are “tested over and over again using only home equipment.” It’s that combination of geek science and unique flavors that makes Jeni’s extraordinary. “I think of ice cream more as a sensory experience than as a food,” she says.

Jeni’s has expanded from its first small stall in Columbus’ North Market. There are nine shops in Columbus and around Ohio and in Tennessee as well as a flourishing mail-order business that shipped over 200,000 pints last year. Does Britton Bauer entertain big business hopes for the future, a la Ben and Jerry’s?

Not at all. “I don’t care if we make money or not,” she says, glancing around her office and test kitchen that are a combination of practicality and artsy quirkiness wholly in sync with her artisanal ice cream business. But immediately she stops herself: “I don’t mean that, exactly. I want to make enough money for a good living for everybody who works here. But most of all, I want to be able to come into work every day and be excited about what we’re doing.”

Contact Julianne Glatz at [email protected].