Franco Martinez

DALTON, Ga. — As a boy in Caguas, Puerto Rico, Franco Martinez climbed a tamarind tree and tasted a beanlike fruit so tart it almost knocked him to the ground. But, he held on, he said, and savored the fruit’s tangy juices.

Now, at 58, Mr. Martinez shares the tamarind flavor with Dalton residents, offering tamarind ice among his 30 flavors at the Sweet Tooth Factory.

The Caribbean ice shop is on the east side of the city, a mostly Hispanic neighborhood.

Mr. Martinez said his shop is the only one in the area to offer Caribbean ice, a cool treat with a fruit base and just a drop of dairy.

“In Puerto Rico, we’re so poor we can’t afford milk,” Mr. Martinez jokes.

Though a native of Puerto Rico, Mr. Martinez grew up in Aurora, Ill.

He came to Dalton from Illinois in 2000, and opened a Sweet Tooth shop near Interstate 75. Then he moved to the East Side in 2005.

Melanie Suggs, director of the Dalton-Whitfield Economic Development Authority, said she has seen a number of Hispanic businesses thrive on the East Side. The Sweet Tooth, in particular, offers “things you can’t get other places,” she said.

Using a secret base recipe he brought from Puerto Rico, Mr. Martinez has expanded his palate of flavors to include such unlikely selections as kernel corn and avocado. He freely drops samples of his 30 flavors onto the plastic spoons of eager customers.

Sweet Tooth Factory has developed a following among Whitfield County government employees, who even booked him for their picnic.

Human Resources Director Jackie Palacios, who is Puerto Rican, described his ices as “the original type of ice cream.”

She recalled Puerto Rican vendors pushing carts to sell ices flavored with coconut cream and pineapple. Those light treats were a cool relief, she said, on days “when it’s so hot you can’t imagine.”

Recently, Ms. Palacios brought the clerk of Magistrate Court, Gayle Gazaway, to Sweet Tooth.

“She tried every flavor, like a little kid,” Ms. Palacios recalled, laughing.

Ms. Gazaway said she marveled at the visible chunks of fruit in her ice, and she only found a few flavors a little “too twangy.”

“I tried everything there,” Ms. Gazaway said. “I couldn’t help it.”

The visit to the East Side was unusual for Ms. Gazaway, she said, noting Dalton has divided itself into east and west. Each side even has its own Wal-Mart, she said.

“There’s not anything over on that side ... that I need,” she said, “except for now Sweet Tooth.”