In Memoriam: Gaby Berryer, founder of Gaby’s Farm
Every summer we look forward to talking about mangos, jackfruit, lychees and longans, avocados and all the tropical fruits that make South Florida such a colorful and delicious place to call home. This issue, we’re saddened to report that our friend Gaby Berryer, founder of Gaby’s Farm Tropical Fruit Ice Cream and Sorbet, died in May at the age of 85 after a brief illness.
For our first issue in winter 2010, Gaby opened the doors of her Redland farm to us and shared spoonful after spoonful of her luxurious creations. With a showman’s instinct for marketing and a finely honed palate, she transformed sweet jackfruit, creamy canistel and fragrant passionfruit into silky sorbets and ice creams. Even black sapote, sweet but not especially flavorful, soared when she added lime juice and almond extract and dubbed it Blissful Black Sapote ice cream. Gaby delighted in tinkering with fruits from her orchard and discovering how best to elevate their natural flavors in ice cream and sorbets.
Her ice cream business was only the latest in a series of adventures in Gaby’s life. Born the youngest of eight in Haiti, she traveled to Spain, France and Minnesota for her undergraduate studies. After returning to Haiti to marry and have three daughters, she worked in the American embassy in Haiti for several years before moving her family to New York to continue her education. She received her PhD in psychology, then moved to South Florida, where she was asked to join the psychology department at Biscayne College, now St. Thomas University. While teaching, she kept up a busy private practice and, along the way, welcomed grandchildren.
Her love of exotic fruits led her to buy a farm in the Redland, where she grew a variety of tropical fruits, including mango, dragonfruit, canistel, black sapote, mammee apple, sapodilla, passionfruit, jaboticaba, lychee, longan, caimito, sugar apple and mulberry. She started her ice cream business using her fruits and those from neighboring farms. Gaby’s Farm ice creams and sorbets were sold in Whole Foods Markets and Fruit and Spice Park, where she would offer samples and sell her products at events and demos.
The new career Gaby built for herself in recent years was rewarding. Even before the pandemic hit, she had started to slow down. But she never stopped making ice cream with her children and grandchildren, says her daughter, Yvanne. “She loved tropical fruit and the people she met. And she enjoyed being able to put fruits to use, and teaching people about what they were tasting,” she says. “She was happy with her life here.”
Gaby Berryer will long be remembered for her exotic fruit creations, her passion and warmth and, above all, her gleeful and generous spirit of sharing extravagantly.
