Scoop customer rates her selection

It's a warm summer day, and a line of customers snakes out the door of the tiny Fairfax Scoop. On the sidewalk, there's a vibe of happy anticipation, for good reason. These folks are minutes away from ice cream made from the best local, organic dairy products blended with locally grown, organic produce.

Happily, too, the Scoop is one of three organic ice cream shops in the county — and all practice what they produce as certified Marin Green Businesses.

The Fairfax Scoop

In the seven years the Scoop has been in business, owners Ray and Melinda Martin have developed 140 flavors that they rotate on and off the menu, according to season, whim, and design. The Scoop's signature flavor is Vanilla Honey Lavender. There are 12 possibilities from which to choose each day.

"We have permanent flavors," says Ana Shoemaker, cheerful and calm behind the counter. "We always have a chocolate, a strawberry, and a vanilla. We also offer a soy alternative and a nondairy sorbet daily."

One weekday in June, Meyer Lemon and Chocolate Chili were among the specials, along with Toasted Sesame. The Scoop's strawberry is made with organic berries from Sartori Farms in Tomales, where seven acres have been set aside for growing certified organic berries.

Because the Scoop is a green business as well as an organic one, the taste samples are provided on metal espresso spoons, not on plastic spoons that end up in the trashcan. Spudware, a "renewable, biodegradable, compostable bioplastic" made from potatoes instead of petroleum products, is used for to-go items. There's also a small discount for those who bring in their own reusable containers.

The couple hit on the idea of an ice cream shop when Melinda was pregnant with their second child. They needed more income and wanted to simplify their lives and be available for the kids, Samantha, now 9, and Max, now 6. That the product they served would be organic was a given. "We'd been living that way for 10 to 15 years, and we wouldn't think about putting out a product that wasn't organic."

Ray Martin's timing was excellent. He contacted Straus Family Creamery in Tomales, which happened to be in research and development on an ice cream base that used milk, cream, egg yolks from Farmer's Organic Foods International, and sugar, hoping to go to market in a year or so. The Martins previewed it, liked it, and became Straus's first customer for the product.

Ray says 70 to 80 percent of the Scoop's flavors are locally derived. Raspberries are from Mt. Barnaby Farm in Lagunitas, other fruit is from Paradise Valley Produce of Bolinas, "and I have foraged blackberries myself and used things grown in our own garden, too," he says.

The Scoop doesn't offer sprinkles, splits, sundaes, or shakes, in an effort to keep things simple and keep the line moving.

Mill Valley's Gelateria Cici

In Mill Valley, Gelateria Cici celebrated its first anniversary in business on June 15, and already has branched out, offering coffee, panini, quiche, and home-made organic chocolates in addition to the constantly changing menu of organic gelato and sorbetto that the owners make every day from scratch using in-season, locally grown produce.

Owners Michael Orlandi and Liana Davis are Mill Valley natives who first met at middle school when they were 11 years old (they're 33 now). The couple was traveling in Vienna when Michael mentioned the possibility of a gelateria to Liana — and she surprised him by taking the idea seriously.

"To get our feet wet, we went to a school on the East Coast and took an intensive weeklong course — 15 hours a day. Afterward, we went to the World Gelato Trade Show in Rimini, Italy. We made contacts, took seminars, and decided to go for it."

For more than a year now, the two have been working together something like 16 hours a day, seven days a week. Orlandi says, "Organic was a no-brainer for us because that's always been our lifestyle. Our first preference is for Marin producers, but if that's not possible, we keep it to California producers. There are just a few exotic flavors, such as papaya, mango, and coconut, where it just isn't grown here, so we have to source it elsewhere." They've been members of Marin Organic for twice as long as the shop has been open.

Complementing the seasonal fruit flavors are such Italian classics as Stracciatella and Torrone, as well as Zenzero (ginger) and Cardamone (cardamom), and, on occasion, exotics such as fennel.

Three Twins in San Rafael

In business since August 2005, Three Twins Ice Cream is located in an out-of-the-way (one might even say obscure) shopping center off Freitas Parkway in the Terra Linda area of San Rafael. This site recently became "the original store" when owner Neal Gottlieb, 31, opened a second shop in Napa's Oxbow Public Market, a bustling and prestigious gourmet mecca next to Copia.

Neal has a twin brother, Carl, who is married to Liz, who also happens to be a twin — hence the Three Twins name. The Gottlieb family is a close one: Neal lived with Carl and Liz, following a stint in the Peace Corps, and the Gottlieb parents retired from their jobs in New Jersey and last year moved to San Rafael to work for Three Twins.

"And yes, I do pay them," Neal hastens to add. "I'm not exploiting my parents."

Three Twins' signature flavor is Mint Confetti, which is not colored green. It's a warm beige, with flecks of dark chocolate rather than chips. Dad's Cardamom is another winner, and Cookies and Cream is popular with kids. In June, Hibiscus and Meyer Lemon were on the menu.

Three Twins ice cream has been certified organic since 2006, and Gottlieb makes it a priority to operate in a sustainable manner, using metal spoons for taste samples and compostable bowls, spoons, napkins, and straws. Three Twins also contributes to the environmental charity 1% For the Planet.

Three Twins ice cream is sold at the Berkeley Farmers Market; at restaurants such as Insalata's, Fish, Comforts, Small Shed Flatbread, and Olema Station House; and by the pint in some stores.