Madisono's at Memorial Hall

One of Cincinnati's many historical gems is Memorial Hall, Over-The-Rhine Cincinnati. We've enjoyed going to the Music Now Festival for the past several years, which takes place there. It's a beautiful building with all the details of fine craftsmanship that are tough to find these days.

Madisono's is very, very pleased to partner with Memorial Hall as a preferred vendor. We are stoked to bring our creative expressions of gelato to the music events (MadMen themed gelato? Oh yes.) and also to bring fun and flavor to the weddings and parties that will be booking in 2014.

A special fundraiser for the Evan's Family

A few weeks ago, I (Matt Madison) was coming home from the pool after a quick evening swim and happened to become part of a tragic event in Cincinnati. The owner of the Cosmic Pizza restaurant had been shot and was lying in the neighbor's yard. My wife had been the first to drive by and was frantically speaking to the 911 operator to get help. I went to Rich Evan's side and knelt down next to him and grabbed his hand. I encouraged him to hang on until help came and prayed for him but within a few minutes, he had died. I've never had the privilege of accompanying someone as they took their last breaths of life, but I can tell you that it is something I will never forget.

As the evening played out, I saw the entirety of the tragedy. Rich, who I'd just spoken with that week, had left behind a wife who speaks little English and three bright young children. He'd taken care of their every need up until the moment of his passing, and now they were left with no family to help them through the next awful steps of their life. Since then, we've been tightly involved with Ao (his wife) and her children and have seen an incredible outpouring of support. Friends have stopped by every day to check on them, make phone calls, sort through bills, and more. So many have donated money to the website so that the family can make it through the next months without financial worries and it is incredible to see such loving generosity. I feel especially close to this tragedy, not only because I was there the night Rich died, but because I am an entrepreneur who wants to support his growing family with my products and hard work. I feel like I can't do enough to help them out. I know many of you feel the same way.

This Sunday, we will be selling cups of Madisono's gelato in front of Madison's Market at Findlay Market. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Evans family. We thank you for the support you have already shown, and hope you will enjoy a cup of gelato knowing that it will continue to help a family in great need.

Chicago's Ben Roche is making artesian gelato too!

Our friends in Chicago just sent us an interesting link on Daily Candy about Ben Roche's (Baume & Brix restaurant) new venture into small batch gelato production Chicago. 8 oz cups will be sold in J.P. Graziano Grocery Co's stores starting this weekend.

He uses liquid nitrogen to cool the gelato quickly, make the smallest ice crystals possible. Although the liquid nitrogen is pretty fun to play with, we prefer the consistency of our batch freezer!

The link includes some delicious topping ideas and we are quite intrigued by the tomato gelato flavor idea. Hmmmmm......

Indie Music Night on Fountain Square

Music is a huge part of the production atmosphere at Madisono's. We especially love listening to the internet station SomaFM set to Digitalis and Indie Pop Rocks genres.

You can see why we are VERY excited to be a part of the MidPoint Indie Summer going happening on Fountain Square in downtown Cincinnati Friday nights from 8 until 11. Madisono's will be enjoying the great music with you and keeping you cool and refreshed with Tartufo, Mad*Pops, Gelato (lower in fat than ice cream!) and Sorbet (vegan and dairy free).

This Friday will be featuring The Pomegranates, The Yugos will be releasing their CD, and the Cincinnati band The Never Setting Suns. We can't wait!!

Welcome Katie the Intern!

We are very happy to have Katie the Intern helping us out with production this summer. Katie is from Antioch College in Yellow Springs and has done very well in her 'Trial by Fire' job. We've been super busy preparing 4 ounce cups of gelato for Dorothy Lane stores in addition to our regular gelato and sorbet production. She has not yet seen MadSquatchy but is on the look-out. Glen Helen is reportedly a very squatchy area...

Caramel with Sea Salt: The real story about why it's not Burnt Sugar and Star Anise

The creative process is always at work, here at Madisono's. We love trying out new and different flavor combinations and testing them out on our *usually grateful* family and friends. Sometimes we start with one flavor combination and end up with a completely different one. Such is the case with one of our most beloved flavors, Caramel and Sea Salt.

Would you believe that this flavor actually started as burnt sugar with star anise? After some initial experimentation, Matt decided to make some caramel from the burnt sugar by adding cream to the hot mix. After the steam cleared, he poured the caramel ribbons into the vanilla base and added the sea salt to enhance the buttery flavors. After his first flavor tester (his mother-in-law) called and begged for more after trying the one pint, he figured he was on to something. Conversely, his kids wouldn’t touch the star anise version, so that was shelved for further exporation.

Introducing The Madisono Tartufo!

We are very excited to be introducing our newest line of gelato deliciousness: The Madisono Tartufo!

"That's great Matt, we love Madisono's gelato but what the heck is a tartufo?"

We thought you'd never ask! Tartufo means 'truffle' in Italian. The truffle a small blackish mushroom that is dug from the ground and highly prized in the culinary world. The sweet truffle confection was named so because of it's visual likeness to the truffle mushroom.

The Madisono's Tartufo is our own creative expression inspired by truffles. We start with a nugget of rich chocolate ganache, surround it with Madisono's gelato and drizzle more chocolate on the outside. We've been working on our recipes and combinations for almost a year now and after many, many trials and errors *patting full bellies* we have come up with a frozen treat we hope you love as much as we do!

One of the best parts about the Madisono Tartufo is that it is portable, which means you will have a chance to try one wherever you see the Madisono's Cart, and at Madison's Market at Findlay Market in Over The Rhine, Cincinnati.

Our current flavors are Dark Chocolate Orange, Malted Chocolate, Mint Chip and Caramel with Sea Salt but you can be sure that we will be creating more flavors as we go. We just can't help ourselves!