i'm an ice cream lover and i love to go to gelare for ice cream with my ice cream partners. how about you? where do you often go for ice cream?
i make my own
>>2
wow! where do you work? as in where do you go and make your ice cream? any company name?
Ben & Jerries' ^^; They have many good flavours thee IMO x33
I don't often get to go, but the ice cream at the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory in nyc is awesome.
I like Ben & Jerry's when I'm looking for some good and sugary icecream. Anyone try the Black & Tans?
Has anyone ever made ice cream the ghetto way?
Basically it's ice and salt, and heavy whipping cream and milk and vanilla.
I have.
Even if you use half-and-half instead of whipping cream, and put in just a splash of vanilla extract and a little sugar, it comes out quite nicely. There is something about the texture of homemade ice cream, maybe something to do with the ice crystals, that can't be reproduced in mass production.
I last had it when I was a kid, back in the 80s and I still remember. Yes, I'm old (-_-;)
lol screw vanilla extract, use the bean.
Wait...tell me if i'm wrong on this.
Isn't vanilla extract EXTRACTED from the vanilla pods?
>>9
You are right, but some chefs feel that you get more complex, subtle and complete flavor by grinding the vanilla pod instead.
This is why some vanilla ice cream has the black flecks in it that look like pepper.
Vanilla is quite popular in ice cream.
Why is that?
Wny don't they use vanilla in any other food?
What's so special about the relationship between vanilla and ice cream?
They use vanilla in plenty of foods; it's sweet, so generally in desserts. Cakes, custards, other assorted baked goods.
Seriously, wtf? I don't know how you came to your conclusion...
Chocolate is normally made with a bit of vanilla too.
With some brands it is artificial vanilla, though.
Vanilla is expensive. Less than a hundred years ago, but still, natural vanilla is expensive. It's orchid seed pods, remember.
My favorite artisanal Ice Cream shop would be "Le jardin des Glaces", at Montpellier (France). They have some flavors that I rarely see elsewhere, and are not that expensive. But more important, they have that particular artisanal texture, and every ice cream lover should test some Tea ice cream with some Cinnamon ice cream. Really. With hot chocolate. If you ever get the chance to go to Montpellier, this place is a must-go. Main downside is: they open only on summertimes (may/june~september).
My favorite industrial ice-cream shops would be Haägen-Dasz.
Local places are almost always best - if you find a roadside market or fruit stand that sells ice cream, you can bet it will be good (especially in the fresh waffle cones they'll make right in front of you) - but for chains, Ben & Jerry's has a lot of creative flavors, Baskin Robbins just has a good variety at a good price, and Cold Stone Creamery is a bit pricey but a lot of fun. At Cold Stone you start with a basic ice cream flavor- they have like 10 - and then add "mix-ins", like brownie chunks or nuts or sauces - stuff that would normally be toppings. They literally fold it into the ice cream and mix it on, well, a cold stone.
>>14 seems to imply that Haagen-Dasz has a chain - never seen one of their stores, but their ice cream is the best of the store-bought, at least for normal flavors. Again, B&J has the bizarre flavors.
i've only been to baskin robbins & marble slab. i prefer baskin robbins because of the larger selection.
>>15
They do have a chain indeed. Ice cream, waffles, pancakes, muffins & the like, drinks. And ice cream.
There's a place around here that has the best ice cream ever...
It's good stuff. Of course, it's only local, so there's only one restaurant...
Best chain ice cream is Haagen Dasz or Baskin Robbins imo.
Coldstones is kind of cool and gimmicky, but I really can't tell how good their ice cream actually is, because they mix stuff in. I always get cake batter flavor when I go there though.
I'd go with Haagen daz and Baskin but they're very expensive where I am right now so I don't usually go there instead I buy the cheaper brands instead (yes I currently live in some under developed asian country).
My favorite ice cream EVER is Jeni's Ice Cream in Columbus, Ohio, USA.
http://www.jenisicecreams.com/
Really great gelatos and sorbets in the most interesting flavors ever. Favorite gelato? Cocoa Zin. Sorbet? Pear Riesling. Other great ones are salty caramel (French caramel with chunks of sea salt-- nice bite) and Queen Cayenne (chocolate, cayenne pepper, and cinnamon). Really good stuff. And they do mail order!
Otherwise, as far as chains go, I'm loving Coldstone Creamery. Sure, their cheesecake ice cream was recalled for e. coli (or something) about a year and a half ago, but it's really delicious stuff.
Heh, "jenis"icecreams is a letter away from being something a lot more exotic.
Coldstone Creamery is great! I didn't know about that recall though.
There's a new chain around here, Maggie Moo's. Great, rich flavor in their ice creams. They mix it similar to the Coldstone people.
I like http://www.mitchellsicecream.com/. The shop itself has little atmosphere, but they do a lot of really nice "tropical" flavors, mostly Philippine-inspired fruit, with the occasional Mexican/Central American special. It's the kind of place where you'll see a crowd of people waiting outside in line, and then eating ice cream outside on a foggy, cold San Francisco night. Speaks to the power of their flavors.
For atmosphere, I like Socrates Garden, just outside the Basilica de la Soledad, in Oaxaca, Mexico. It's a small, shady square full of traditional Mexican ice cream vendors. Local flavors include tequila, which is not as good as you might expect, and corn, which is better. Bad photo here: http://oaxaca-travel.com/guide/photo.php?&lang=us&fotodir=10060215&imagefile=03.jpg&imagealt=S%F3crates%20Garden&atractivo=Dance%20Square%20and%20Socrates%20Garden
cold stone creamery! mmm tasty. They had the yummiest cinnamon ice cream EVER there once. i think it was a seasonal ice cream though ;__;
>>21
You make me blush.
Also, I love Graeter's ice cream. Afterthought!
cold stone creamery's the best one i've been to
I like Ted Drewes. It's mostly a local St. Louis thing. But they have the best frozen custard. Spanky's is good too.
HAGEN DAZZ! =)
I work at a Cold Stone Creamery, and the ice cream's good, but the texture's actually a lot different from ice cream. There's this one hometown ice cream shop that I go to with a friend of mine every one in a while(it's a little tradition we have, to go there at least once every summer), and, after work one day, I had some ice cream there. The place is called What's The Scoop, and they're amazingly delicious. I have a thing for their moosetracks flavor, but they also have green tea ice cream, which isn't all that common. It's an aquired taste, but I like green tea.<3
Oh, by the way, if you ever go to a cold stone, be wary of the french toast flavor. It supposedly tastes like eggs. Egg flavored ice cream...D:
There's also a place in Chinatown(NY) that has a wasabi flavored ice cream. WTF...o_O But supposedly, the place is actually pretty good. I'm probably going to go there this weekend, and if they let you have samples, I'm definitely going to try some of the wierder ones. If I don't die of food poisoning, I'll try and let you all know how it goes.o_o;;;
http://www.chinatownicecreamfactory.com/?q=home
That's the website for the Chinatown place.:3
>>29
Ahaha, I'll be looking forward to your update.
>>29 here. I'm back from Chinatown, and that ice cream place was actually pretty good. The only problem is, they only let you sample two flavors. I managed to sample three of them with my crazy ninja skills...and the fact that they were busy and two different people gave me samples.:3 They didn't have wasabi, unfortunately, but they had pumpkin pie and red bean ice cream. If you get the 2-scoops size, you can get three different flavors of ice cream. I got pumpkin pie, red bean, and green tea. The pumpkin pie flavor surprised me, it really tasted like pumpkin pie. Not too sweet, and, well...pumpkin-y. The red bean had a more mild flavor than the pumpkin, and had actual red beans in it, so if you try it, common sense dictates that you take care not to choke on the red bean bits.^_^;; Green tea...well, it's green tea flavored. It doesn't focus on the sweet so much as tea-ness, so the richer flavor might not be a big treat for ice cream enthusiasts.
They don't have all that many toppings, but they definitely had an extremely wide array of flavors. They had a ton of sorbets, too, including some stranger flavors like passion fruit. They also have t-shirts for those who want a souvenir of the place. On the downside, however, there's not that much space, and there's no place to sit. You have to eat your ice cream outside. It was warm and sunny when I went, so I was fine, but make sure it's not raining when you go there.
So ends my report. Overall, it's got a lot of tasty exotic flavors, but be wary of when you go.^_^
I get a 50% discount since I work at Cold Stone. There's better out there, but I get it really cheap there for now.:3
