To the editor:
I thoroughly enjoyed the Sept. 21 article by Emma Fringuelli about Abby May’s Candy Shop. I’d like to make a few clarifications or additions to her article since I am the Cotter who still owns that property.
Abby May’s may have started as a candy store, but it became known far and wide for the homemade ice cream. When my father, Robert W. Cotter, bought Abby May’s in 1960, he took over the ice cream machine, freezer, and all the recipes. He made the ice cream in the store where customers could watch the process.
My mother, Lois M. Cotter, received all the candy recipes and equipment. While 1 Atlantic Ave. did not house the actual “candy kitchen,” my mother had the use of said candy kitchen in the basement of Mrs. Roundy’s home on Atlantic Avenue.
In that candy kitchen, I helped my mother make vinegar salt water taffy, called candy kisses, and during the holiday season, candy canes… from scratch. I still own a few of the candy kitchen utensils: a huge copper kettle, several oversized metal spoons and scoops, and even a very old scale.
What my mother added to the store we all worked in was freshly roasted nuts. Mom used a machine located in the store near the candy counter to roast peanuts, cashews, almonds, and pecans.
My father became an ice cream expert, creating all the usual flavors as well as seasonal specialties like peppermint, spumoni, frozen pudding, and peach to name a few. He only used the best ingredients, including a mixture of 14-18% butterfat for all flavors of ice cream.
For those who do not know anything about ice cream quality, the higher the butterfat content, the better the end product. In order for any ice cream to be legitimately called ice cream, the butterfat content cannot be below 10%, although some so-called commercial ice creams have come in below the required 10%.
Dad also made sherbet: orange, lemon, and strawberry.
For several years, Marblehead’s seventh grade science teacher Mr. Evans challenged all of his students to earn an “A” on any quiz or test. Were that to occur, Mr. Evans promised to treat that class to hot fudge sundaes at Abby May’s. Of course, it never happened, but we kids always hoped.
I worked at the store until I left for college in the fall of 1966. My brother and I still own the building and rent it to eating establishments.
Sincerely,
Deborah A. Cotter
Boothbay Harbor, Maine