The Sweet Spot At The Woodbury Farmers Market

Mention of a usually conjures up images of colorful produce—green, leafy vegetables, red cherry tomatoes, that burnt-orange color of carrots just pulled from the ground.

But pass by the stall of Woodbury resident John Peck, part-owner of Chihuahua Chocolates, and you’ll see some eats of a different color.

"Either people don’t know what it is, or they’re experts—they’ve been to Italy, they’ve tasted the best of the best, and they always say that ours tastes just like it,” Peck said of his product.

The product that Peck and his wife (Darcy, a gourmet chef/chocolatier) produce is gelato.

And, as Peck said, if you’ve been to Italy, no doubt you’re familiar with the cold window cases, piled high with decorative gelato with flavors like “Romeo and Juliet,” decadent in every sense of the word.

At the Woodbury farmers market (also some satellite markets), the gelato looks more or less like ice cream. But don’t be fooled—gelato is mostly milk instead of cream, and can be served at warmer temperatures, which gives it more flavor.

In addition to a better flavor with fewer calories, Chihuahua Chocolates also makes their gelato entirely in-house—literally.

“We’re a licensed dairy plant, so we pasteurize the milk ourselves,” Peck said. “All the fruit we use is fresh—like, we pull rhubarb straight from the garden—and puree it. Nothing is artificial.”

The Pecks carried over this philosophy from the basis of their business, which is centered around chocolate. Gelato entered the picture when they began looking for a more summery product, and with the recent closure of Oakdale-based Simply Gelato, the Pecks were able to acquire their equipment and recipes.

With almost one summer of gelato nearly in the books, the Pecks are planning on moving out of their current, tucked-away spot (680 Commerce Drive) to a more visible location by , as well as expand their current operation. In addition to serving customers at their store and farmers markets, they also make specialty desserts for events like weddings, corporate functions, and any gathering of people.

“We’ve done some custom work for people,” Peck said. “A woman came back from Hawaii, and asked if we could make a piña colada flavor. We didn’t have a recipe, but we figured one out.”