Brooke Mosley, our Culinary Director AKA our incredible chef, joined the Smitten team in 2017 after a nearly year-long culinary courtship with our founder, Robyn Sue Fisher. Brooke has worked in some of the best restaurants in LA & SF and Smitten has been truly blessed to have her lead our team! With this amazing collab coming up, it’s about darn time we share more about her, where she came from and why this partnership is so important to her and to us!
Tell us a little about where you came from.
After going to school in NY to hopefully one day become a writer or filmmaker, I ended up in LA – mostly feeling super uninspired and super stuck. Food was the only thing that truly and consistently brought me the kind of creativity-induced joy that writing did. I applied to culinary school the day after 9/11, because it became CRYSTAL CLEAR that I needed to pursue something that felt fulfilling, challenging, and exhausting. the rest is history. (do you want more than that?) I’m basically in a constant state of inspiration, combined with the frustration that comes with not being able to express it allllllllll.
Let’s get right to it. What do you love about ice cream?
Ice cream is a pure, simple and familiar vehicle for flavor. And a great ONE BALANCED BITE opportunity. The challenge of making every bite the perfect one is the thing that keeps me in the game.
Can you share any insights about how you create flavors?
Similar to above, I love taking flavors/elements that I know are best friends and delivering them in the form of something as beloved as a bowl or cone or scoop of ice cream. I love taking a raw ingredient, pretty perfect in its natural form, and elevating it with the help of a little sugar and truly amazing california dairy.
Can you tell us about this AMAZING flavor?
I had been aware of the tea, but never used it. And in fact, never really knew what it was called. Aesthetically, I was feeling things like the planet, the ocean, and the sky. I felt strongly that this flavor should be blue, but I didn’t want to just use spirulina. A friend posted a photo of red, white and blue dessert items she had created for Fourth of July and mentioned using the tea and it just clicked! So, I bought some of the tea. When steeped in our Smitten Base, it made the most gorgeous blue, nearly periwinkle, color. Definitely, the shade of blue one would associate with the globes you’d find in a child’s classroom, the crayon or marker you’d reach for when you wanted to color the summer sky. The blue of a healthy, clean planet. The flavor was subtle and slightly vegetal – so I added some lavender and chamomile. Both flowers you see at the farmer’s market currently…and conveniently we had them on our shelves for custom flavors!
Naturally, I thought we needed something cherry-related to accompany. Tis the season. The gooey cookie dough flavored with tart morello cherries and vanilla worked brilliantly with the blend of teas. The rosy pink color of the cookie dough, against the blue of the subtle floral ice cream, kinda reminds me of the sunsets that often happen over Ocean Beach. And lucky for me – I can watch them from my kitchen window, so I consider myself an expert.
I live at the beach. Surfers and bakers have a sort of kinship out there. Most of the bakers I know surf or at the very least feel a deep connection to the ocean. *I’m a fan of boogie boarding, myself. The salt air influences the flavor development of the bread, and I just think the bread that’s made by the ocean tastes better.
I met A LOT of surfers working at Outerlands. The women who surf leave me awestruck. They walk through life differently. I found myself instantly in awe of women like Bianca Valenti and Michelle Pusateri — both incredible, strong, GOOD women, connected to food, sustainability and surfing! If it were up to me, I’d dedicate this flavor to them. I’d consider both of them to be heroes of mine 🙂
Also. here’s some cool stuff about butterfly pea flower
It’s high in anti-oxidants and is used in ayurvedic medicine. It’s naturally very blue…
Why is the environment important to you?
Mother nature! she has kept us alive for so long, we owe it to her and future generations to do our part. I love animals, I love plants! I truly care to contribute to their wellbeing.
Are you excited to partner with Cherry Bombe?
Yes. I love how Cherry Bombe really, truly, deeply wants to lift up and showcase women in the food industry. And bring women together through a collected love of food and cooking! Everybody eats. Through food, you can truly reach (and feed) everyone. Plus, it’s absolutely stunningly curated. Every page is seriously insanely pretty.
What do you hope comes from this campaign?
Like the concept that inspired the flavor, I hope we plant a seed. An awareness, that even subconsciously, seeps into the soil of the souls of our community (see what I did there?) and results in people making the right choices, as they relate to sustainability and caring for the planet.
Follow Brooke on Instagram – her feed is absolutely breathtaking.