James Beard semifinalists: Super Secret Ice Cream

BETHLEHEM, N.H. (WCAX) – They’re the Oscars of the food industry, and people and places in our region are now one step closer to winning one.

We’ve so far visited two of the semifinalists in the 2024 James Beard Awards were announced last month. Micah Tavelli of Paradiso HiFi and Cara Tobin at Honey Road were nominated for Best Chef in the Northeast. Cat Viglienzoni recently visited with Kristina Zontini at Super Secret Ice Cream in Bethlehem, New Hampshire, who was nominated for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker, to get the scoop on what makes her frozen treats stand out.

Freezing temperatures outside aren’t stopping customers bundled in coats from streaming into Super Secret Ice Cream.

Kristina Zontini started the business in 2019 from her home, incorporating her passion for infusing a classic dessert with local flair. She soon scooped her way into their current shop on Main Street in Bethlehem.

“It’s a nice blank slate for telling the story of the ingredients. So, you can steep anything into ice cream, you can mix anything into ice cream. So, it’s a really nice palette,” Zontini said.

It starts with an ice cream base churned to a soft-serve-like consistency. “This is freshly-churned Mount Cabot maple ice cream,” Zontini explained. “We make all of our bases in-house so we take the local milk and and cream from Hatchland Farm, organic sugar, a little bit of eggs, and we actually replace some of our organic sugar — probably about 75% of it — with Mount Cabot’s maple sugar, and that’s what gives it that strong flavor.”

Whether it’s maple, berries, or even butternut squash, Zontini says what’s in season shows up in their flavor lineup. “It’s definitely unexpected because you don’t think butternut, but it’s really nice,” she said.

She knows customers may be hesitant to splurge on something like Butternut Gooey Cake, Tahini Chip, or Meyer Lemon Pistachio. That’s why samples are a key part of the experience for customers. And it was her customers who broke the news to Zontini that she was up for one of the most prestigious food awards in the country. “They were like, ‘congratulations!’ And I was like, ‘On what?’”

Super Secret Ice Cream on Main Street in Bethlehem.

Her James Beard semifinalist nomination for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker has boosted business during their slower winter season. “It’s really cool to see a small town on the map, especially for ice cream, where a lot of times ice cream doesn’t get that much attention,” Zontini.

But while Zontini doesn’t see herself as a pastry chef, she and her team are baking all day. Whether it’s cookies for ice cream sandwiches, honeycomb for one of their signature ice cream flavors, or waffle cones — on a busy summer day they’ll go through about 150 — most everything is sourced locally, even the flour. There are no artificial colors or flavorings found here. Zontini says real food just tastes better. “We don’t want it to be fancy but we definitely want people to have good quality ingredients in what they’re eating,” she said.

On Wednesday at 4 p.m. we’ll visit the fourth James Beard semifinalist in our region — The Barr Hill Cocktail Bar in Montpelier — which made the list for Outstanding Bar.