This New Dallas Soft Serve Spot Skips Refined Sugar in Favor of Local Honey

Mockingbird Station is no stranger to decadent restaurants and sweets shops, but for many, endless overindulgence is not always a good thing. American consumers are more focused on their health now than ever before, and with an ever-growing amount of nutritional information bombarding us every day, almost everyone can agree: If choosing between refined sugar and honey, choose honey.

Refined sugar gets a bad rep nowadays, and while most of the problem is simple overconsumption, terms like glycemic index and insulin spikes get thrown around just as much. Pair that with the declining bee population, and you've got a recipe swimming in too much sugar. Fortunately for Mockingbird Station, Cindy Chung decided to take the first steps in addressing issue. The owner of Pure Milk & Honey, a new soft serve spot that opened May 25, Chung has carefully crafted her menu to maximize the use of local honey, and cut out refined sugar entirely.

“I’ve always loved desserts," Chung says. "I came across this ice cream shop in LA and they had all these toppings; it was really fun. So I thought to myself, why can’t something like this come to Dallas?”

While soft serve yogurt and gelato shops are a common sight across DFW, you don't often come across one that avoids refined sugar.

All of the ice cream at Pure Milk & Honey uses only honey as a sweetener. That’s it. The ingredient lists are delightfully short, and the flavors used are local.

“We get all of our honey from Bonton Farms,” Chung says. “Only the baked goods use organic cane sugar, just because honey doesn’t really work for baked goods."

All of this makes for a very feel-good experience, but it's nothing unless it has the flavor to back it up. Fortunately for Pure Milk & Honey, combining milk, cream, honey and natural flavorings makes for a treat that is wonderfully simple, smooth and with a shade less guilt than its refined counterparts.

Currently Pure Milk & Honey has three main flavors; honey (duh), dark chocolate and banana. These flavors can be combined in hundreds of ways with dozens of toppings and sauces, from simple fruit and nuts all the way to house-made marshmallows and banana bread. For those with lactose sensitivity, rejoice, as Chung has achieved the impossible with her dairy-free dark chocolate ice cream. Made with coconut cream, it is in many ways better than its lactose-packed counterpart. It's dense, unbelievably smooth and doesn't sacrifice an inch in flavor.

Chung plans to release new flavors and dishes each month on a rotating schedule. Presently the strawberry cheesecake sundae holds the title, but with the weather warming up, lavender may find its way onto the menu soon. As well, Chung plans to hop on the Instagram train by releasing her version of a "freakshake," her natural take on the over-the-top milkshake adorned with a mind-boggling amount of treats and toppings.

Pure Milk & Honey is everything it claims to be. Its ice cream is simple but satisfying, it quells even the most aggressive of sweet tooth without setting back your diet a few months, and it supports local farms and local bees. With a menu that is set to change constantly, it is set to settle in nicely with the buzzing crowd at Mockingbird Station.

Pure Milk & Honey, 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane (Mockingbird Station). Open 11:30 a.m.-9 p.m. Sunday-Wednesday, 11:30 a.m.-10 p.m. Thursday-Saturday.