Amy Covin, Owner, Amy’s Slush, Healdsburg, California
Good food made with good energy is contagious and keeps customers coming back to a spot in Healdsburg, California, that serves the Boston summer staple known as slush.
The slush at Amy’s Wicked Slush is inspired by a particular slush shop in a town north of Boston where owner Amy Covin was raised. Amy’s investment in slush followed a long career in public accounting and required a big leap of faith in her new hometown of Healdsburg.
“I crossed my fingers and jumped off the cliff, hoping that everyone here would love slush like I do,” says Amy with characteristic enthusiasm. “Luckily, they do!”
The Boston native is now dishing out her favorite hometown dessert to the people of Healdsburg. Amy’s Wicked Slush gets fresh, plant-derived flavor from a variety of purées including The Perfect Purée Blackberry Puree and Pomegranate Concentrate.
“The Perfect Purée adds depth and boldness of flavor naturally, and enhances the body and richness of slush as well,” Amy says. “Many of the flavors I make are a direct result of the easy availability of The Perfect Purée’s flavors. Without them, I don’t know that I would have ever thought to develop a Pomegranate slush, and that would have been a shame as it’s absolutely delicious!”
A big part of Amy’s success is her energy and enthusiasm, which comes from having survived hardships including a house fire. Her motto, “Life is hard. Have a slush,” extends to another nostalgic East Coast treat — soft serve ice cream. Like her slush, Amy’s soft serve comes in all the usual plus many unusual flavors and can be dipped in hard, flavored shells. Cosmopolitan named Amy’s Wicked Slush one of “24 Soft Serve Spots You Need to Try ASAP” in a 2017 nationwide round-up.
Amy’s Wicked Slush serves her two favorite East coast treats – soft serve and slush – or if you’re really ambitious both together! Popular pairings are root beer slush with vanilla soft serve and blackberry slush with apricot soft serve.
On her web site, Amy shares the story of growing up in Boston, where “winters were all about huddling in doorways and trying to stay warm.”
Maybe it’s no coincidence that people who battle frozen precipitation all winter named their favorite summer treat slush but, thanks to Amy, people in California can now also call slush their own.