REMINGTON—A Fauquier-based ice cream company’s slow-churned, homegrown flavors recently claimed the international spotlight.

Moo Thru took home three awards in the North American Ice Cream Association’s annual Ice Cream Clinic in November. The iconic Virginia company earned a blue ribbon for its vanilla ice cream, a red ribbon for its strawberry flavor and a white ribbon for its chocolate variety.

Contest results were announced in November at the association’s convention in Florida.

Producers from across the U.S. and Canada submitted over 2,000 pints to Cornell University’s Dairy Extension Team in August for food safety and quality testing. Ice cream samples were scored on flavor, body, texture, presentation, color and melting profile.

Moo Thru’s vanilla ice cream claimed the highest-ranking score in the vanilla category.

Taylor Gough, Moo Thru production manager, said she feels “blessed” to produce a standout product. She takes pride in her vanilla ice cream’s distinct lightness, richness and caramel aftertaste.

A true “cow-to-cone” experience, Moo Thru’s high-quality ice cream is made possible with the family’s herd of 875 dairy cows. Gough’s father and husband oversee Cool Lawn Farm’s grain and crop production while her brother operates the dairy side of the business.

“If you treat your cows well, they’ll treat you well, and that shines through in our product,” she noted.

The Smith family launched Moo Thru in 2010 in an effort to diversify the dairy business and connect more consumers to the farm. Today, their extensive ice cream menu also features ingredients from other local farms—like their butter pecan ice cream made from locally sourced molasses.

“A lot of people don’t really know where their food comes from,” she explained. “My parents wanted to offer a product that people could recognize as coming from a farmer. And we always had ice cream in our freezer.”

The first Remington shop was an instant success. Gough, her mother and mother-in-law worked from “sunup to sundown” to keep up with demand—churning out 30 gallons of ice cream weekly from the back of the store.

“We’ve just been so amazed with the growth and all the support from our customers and community,” Gough reflected.

Moo Thru has since expanded to an ice cream production facility down the road, and franchise locations in Lake Anna, Hillsboro, Charlottesville, Winchester, Herndon and Crozet. Their ice cream also can be found at the Rappahannock and Culpeper CFC Farm & Home Center locations and at Red Truck Bakery in Warrenton and Marshall.

In peak summer months, Gough’s team of six produces up to 550 gallons of ice cream a day—stirring in cookie dough, chocolate chips and other ingredients by hand.

“It’s very labor intensive work,” she noted. “We’re all exhausted at the end of the summer with ‘Hulk’ arms.”

She looks forward to implementing a continuous flow machine to cut back on labor-intensive work, improve product consistency, and keep pace with growing demand and an influx of franchise requests.

“I don’t know what the future entails, but my goal is to always maintain the quality of our ice cream and the specialness of Moo Thru,” she said.

For more information, visit moothru.com.

Media: Contact Gough at taylor@moothru.com.