Ronnybrook

Ronnybrook Farm Dairy in Ancramdale, NY. They have been around for more than sixty years. In fact, the mom-and-pop basic goods store on Clinton Street, which has been closed for what looks like a decade, bears their logo. And theirs is one of the busiest stands at Prospect Park (they leave early) and Fort Greene.

Why? The NYT called them the Dom Perignon of Milk, but that was more than fifteen years ago. (It was chocolate milk that was taste-tested in the article; an adult preferred Ronnybrook's, while kids preferred Quik.)

Ronnybrook lost NewYorkFoodVine’s first Milk Off. The non-fat yogurt is watery and clumpy. Way too much whey. The whole milk yogurt is much better, but is extra sour and has a chalky after taste.

If you want the Dom Perignon of Yogurt, try that produced by Hawthorne Valley Farm in Ghent, NY. Even the plain is subtly sweet and it is much less sour than most yogurts. Alas, Hawthorne Valley won’t be selling in Brooklyn again until late spring (Sundays, Carroll Gardens) but rumor has it they are still at Union Square on Wednesdays and Saturdays and Inwood Park on Saturdays (Isham Street between Cooper & Seaman Avenues.)

But back to Ronnybrook. Their butter is ok. It tastes too close to cheese for my taste (I prefer cultured butter) but wasn’t much different than mass-produced butter in flavor. It is most likely better health-wise (mine and the planets), but if taste is my only concern I’ll keep Danish butter as my one guilty pleasure. (Okay, one of many).

To be fair to Ronnybrook, they sell one popular product that I have yet to try. Ice Cream. It must be the ice cream…

photo by Marlena Zagajewska