John Addeo grew up scraping lemon Italian ice out of his uncle’s bucket. It was his grandfather’s Italian recipe — one laboriously made by hand.
Once Addeo, 34, of Shelton, mastered the art, he decided to go into business for himself. After selling to local shops last year, Addeo opened up a storefront Italian ice shop on Center Street in Shelton this month. He owns the shop, and his mother Marilyn and brother Michael help out.
Addeo recently chatted with the Valley Indy about hangover cures, hand cranks and the perfect cup of Italian ice.
Valley Indy: What made you decide to start up an Italian ice place?
Addeo: The Italian ice is a family recipe that my grandfather created. Since I moved out of Jersey we would go twice a year to see family. And we went for the lemon ice my uncle would make.
He was like the Godfather of Italian ice.
Then he gave me the recipe, I started making Italian ice and everybody who tried it just loved it so much. Every time someone came to the house they’d say ‘Where is the lemon ice?’
My father was an executive chef, so food was in the blood. I decided to start making some creations and just made a full line of Italian ice.
Valley Indy: Is your Italian ice like your grandfather’s and your uncle’s?
Addeo: It’s identical. We do a slow freeze. We hand crank everything. It takes two days to make a batch of ice. You could use a batch freezer and make it in ten minutes. But it’s more of a smooth, creamy kind of Italian ice. We prefer the granular, like a granita.
You can feel the crystallization of the ice.
And we do all natural Italian ice. Everyone else, who knows. They use syrups, additives and stuff.
Valley Indy: You don’t use syrup? How do you make the flavors?
Addeo: All natural fruit juice concentrates and purees.
Valley Indy: You said you opened two weeks ago. How has business been?
Addeo: Business has been fantastic. I’m happy no matter who comes to the door. Everyone’s great. We’ve had a lot of repeat customers in two weeks.
Last year we also sold wholesale to several locations. We rented commercial kitchen space, manufactured the ice, and retailed it out Gaetanos in Monroe and Stratford, Bobette’s in Milford and Lyman Orchards.
We had really good responses. Our Facebook page blew up. We had more than 400 fans.
Valley Indy: I tried the Passion Fruit. What are some of your other flavors?
Addeo: Fruit Medley is the miracle medley. It’s been known to cure several people.
Valley Indy: Who did it cure?
Addeo: A couple people I know. Whether you have a hangover, a 24-hour bug, not feeling good, dehydrated. Have a little fruit medley, and you’re good to go.
Valley Indy: Yeah?
Addeo: I swear to God. That one has a kiwi, grape, apple, raspberry, strawberry in it. So all the mix of the antioxidants, it just brings you up. This stuff doesn’t weigh you down. It doesn’t turn your tongue purple, red or orange because we don’t use syrups.
Valley Indy: What are you plans for the future?
Addeo: I have big goals. I have my one-year, five-year, life goals. This year, I want to do the store, do wholesale to a couple of mom and pop shops.
I’d like to open up another store. Not this year. We’ll see how this year turns out.
And then, I’d like to do Whole Foods, Trader Joes and Stew Leonards. That was one of my goals, to get into one of those places. Because we are all-natural. And they do all-natural organic stuff.
Addeo’s Italian Ice is located at 97 Center St. The shop is open during April for limited hours, and will be open starting next month from noon to midnight.
For more information, visit the shop’s Facebook page.