I scream, you scream, we all scream for Ice Cream
Strolling past my neighborhood ice cream shop last week on a breezy fall day, I wondered how the owner managed sales in the winter months. Surely, people don’t consume as much ice cream when it’s cold outside. While it may appear off-season to discuss a commodity so associated with warm weather, why not think outside the box? Or should I say “container” as so many of us enjoy ice cream year-round?
Child’s play turning snow into ice cream
My first recollection of ice cream was trying to make it with snow under the direction of my bossy older sister, Sharon. As I couldn’t remember what we used, other than snow and vanilla, I went on-line. A chatty, preteen Martha-Stewart-in-the-making divulged the missing ingredient on her YouTube video: condensed milk. Here she is https://yhoo.it/2VMzigU. Later, former university food scientist Diane McComber told me you could also use maple syrup as the pioneers did.
During a long conversation, we chatted about ice cream and our youth. Diane told me about her growing up in Iowa where her family’s annual Fourth of July picnic centered around ice cream made the old-fashioned way, churning by hand. Electric ice cream makers, such as Breville or Cuisinart, were not even a thought in the minds of kitchen gadget inventors back then.
The good old days
Instead, Diane described how her mother would first insert the canister—filled with chilled custard—into the ice cream maker. Next, she would pack it with ice and salt, four parts to one. Finally, the fun began with the kids taking turns cranking away. Within 30 minutes the ice cream would be frozen. She reminisced about the best part: licking the dasher (now called “paddle”) with all the delicious ice crystals.
The hardest part, Diane recalled, was waiting for the ice cream to “age.” While most people would eat it right away, her mother would get rid of the melted salted water, repack it with another round of the two ingredients, then cover it with burlap. Only after patiently waiting another hour would the ice cream develop the creamy texture her mother deemed essential.
Glace aux truffes, anyone?
Continuing down memory lane, I recounted my ice cream story from thirty years ago. When I was working at Food and Wines from France, we staged a press lunch showcasing black truffles from Périgord. We flew in a guest chef from the region, Jean-Louis Palladin, a lanky, awkward, young chef totally unknown at the time. Years later he would open Jean-Louis at the Watergate in Washington, DC and become one of the most famous French chefs in America.
For our lunch Palladin concocted an entire menu using truffles, including the dessert. Our guests gathered around to watch the chef’s alchemy using liquid nitrogen to turn his truffle-infused custard into ice cream within seconds. Even the jaded New York City media was awed. It was the creamiest ice cream any of us had ever put in our mouths.
Ice cream has been around for a long time
I wonder if any of today’s little kids making snow ice cream know its origin? For those readers who crave a detailed history, check out this PBS article: https://to.pbs.org/1kMVoIs.
For the rest of us, I’ll cut to the chase. Ice cream was invented in ancient China, perfected by the Italians (thanks to the Arabs in Sicily), then made even tastier by the French. The Arabs—who inhabited Sicily in the 800s—were credited with figuring out how to take snow cut from the top of Mt. Edna and mix it with sugar (which they introduced) along with exotic flavors— such as jasmine, bergamot and rose—to create sharbat, one of ice cream’s precursors.
Who consumes the most?
Given America’s love affair with ice cream, wouldn’t you assume our country consumes the most per capita? In fact, we are not the frontrunner. With 7.5 gallons per person, New Zealand has us beat as we only eat 5.5 gallons. Nonetheless, everyone I chatted with for this post eagerly admitted their almost addiction to ice cream. Could edging out New Zealand be in our future? Maybe not for several years.
But Americans do love ice cream so much that sometimes we need restraints. Physical therapist, Dan Bogart, explains he manages his intake by the size of the container he buys. “If I have a pint of ice cream, I’ll eat it in one setting. However, if I get a half gallon container of Breyers’ strawberry, my favorite flavor, I can proportion it out over a period of five days.” Commenting on the high caloric content of ice cream, Dan added, “I need to be careful as my days of fast metabolism are behind me. I now even prefer frozen yoghurt to better control my calorie intake.”
Mass versus artisanal
America has a plethora of ice cream producers. From mass market brands such as Haagen-Dazs and Ben & Jerry’s to the small, artisanal producers such as Graeters and Jeni’s, there is a price point and flavor for everyone. Every city also has its list of “best ice cream shops” to feed its hometown’s endless craving.
Some people even make pilgrimages to ice cream shops. Former stockbroker Karen Olaf recently read that Ample Hill Creamery was the best ice cream in America. She mentioned it casually to friends who live in New Jersey. They replied enthusiastically, “Let’s go exploring.” Delighted, Karen asked, “Shall we make a day of it then? You drive in from Saddle River, pick me up in Manhattan, and we’ll all go to Brooklyn first for lunch, then to Ample Hill Creamery for dessert.” Now that’s an odyssey for a scoop of ice cream!
An ice cream odyssey
Karen reported her findings like an investigative reporter. Ample Hills is famous for its creamy bases, natural flavors and textured bites. Being able to select among the various flavors of crunchy, sweet, and salty mix-ins brought out the kid in her, Karen admitted with a childish giggle.
One of the flavors Karen discovered on her trip was called “The Munchies.” She explained that it was packed with bits of Ritz crackers, pretzels, M&Ms, and potato chips. What third grader wouldn’t go crazy for this flavor? Also sounds like the perfect choice for an adult to enjoy in front of TV. Turns out, according to the “Real California Milk” board, 64% of Americans consume ice cream in front of the TV or on the couch!
Ample Hill Creamery’s owner, Brian Smith—and former monster movie writer which explains the wacky concoction of salted/sweet add-ins—offers more adult flavors, too. Take “Sweet as honey,” for example. Not only does Brian pasteurize his own milk, but he also makes all the add-ins from scratch. Once the honey candy is set, he chops it up and adds it to the ice cream as it comes out of the machine. Ample Hill has become such a success that it now has scoop shops in multiple locations around New York, in Los Angeles and at Disneyland.
What time of year do we consume the most ice cream?
The Chicago Tribune answered my original question. They did a deep dive in 2016 into what people ordered in restaurants throughout the Midwest. According to NPD Group, customers were 3.36 times more likely to purchase ice cream from June to August than from December to February. So, President Ronald Regan was spot on when he recognized America’s infatuation with ice cream by declaring July “National Ice Cream Month” back in 1984!
How do ice cream shops manage slower winter months?
To keep the customers coming in year-round, owners need to be inventive. Some of today’s popular techniques include: serving hot beverages (hot chocolate, anyone?); expanding sales to local stores and restaurants; lowering prices; and offering new seasonal flavors only available in winter months, such as the wildly popular pumpkin spice.
America’s passion for local artisanal ice cream makers
Like having a local football team to cheer on, people are loyally obsessed with their hometown artisanal ice cream producers. From Austin’s Amy’s Ice Cream with it 300 revolving flavors; to Bar Harbor, Maine’s Mountain Desert Ice Cream where they add local marine salt to their salted caramel flavor; to Denver’s Sweet Action which makes funky flavors like Oatmeal Stout using 100% wind power; to Cincinnati’s Graeters which makes only two gallons at a time whipping it in such a manner so that no air gets into the ice cream; to Seattle’s Molly Moon with its “Lickwich” or grilled doughnut halves filled with ice cream.
Jim Carle, my financial advisor at Merrill Lynch, told me about his youngest daughter, Amy Rose, and her obsession with her local producer. According to her father, she is a walking disciple for Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream, a company founded outside Columbus, Ohio two decades ago by Jeni Britton Bauer.
Like most of the highly respected, small ice cream producers, Jeni has an interesting backstory. Afterall, part of marketing requirements today--besides have a smart on-line presence and mail order capabilities—is having a story people can relate to.
Jeni was one of the forerunners of the gourmet artisan ice cream movement. She studied art, worked in a bakery, and had a serious hobby blending perfumes and collecting essential oils. She turned this passion into a phenomenally successful business. The quality of her ice cream today is based on locally sourced milk and natural ingredients. Jeni’s is also a role model for maintaining rigorous environmental and social practices—such as supporting diversity and working with minority-and women-owned business—which everyone applauds.
What’s your favorite flavor?
My trainer, Jenn, was raised in a family of four kids. Her mother never bought expensive ice cream as her kids would plough through a half gallon carton in lightning speed. Jenn remembers the inexpensive supermarket brand of Neapolitan ice cream with the three stripes of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry. No one in the house liked chocolate. So often, as Jenn recalled, Holly Hell would break out when the kids discovered that only the middle row of chocolate was left after a clandestine, midnight freezer raid by one of her siblings. To this day, Jenn confessed, she still doesn’t like chocolate ice cream.
According to Haagen Dazs, taste preferences vary by region, but vanilla consistently holds the number one slot around the country. It happens to be my favorite, too. Here are the HD flavors which reign supreme in my region of North eastern America: Vanilla, chocolate, coffee, vanilla bean, strawberry, butter pecan, vanilla Swiss almond, Dulce de leche, chocolate, chocolate chip, and rum raisin.
Weird and wonderful flavors
Part of the appeal of artisanal ice cream producers is their ability to constantly churn out interesting new flavors beyond the classic standards. To make sure their parlors are always mobbed, the little guys seduce their local audiences with exotic flavors such as corn tortilla, black pepper fig, labneh-honey, and cranberry vodka. These imaginatively delicious flavors are worth the wait in line!
Who makes the best ice cream?
My spinning buddy, Beatrix, was born in Germany. Like many of her countrymen, she has a passion for ice cream. She remembers as a child late evening summer walks to the local Italian Gelateria. “My family and I would head down around 10 PM. There would always be a crowd of people milling around outside the shop chatting with their friends in between licks of delicious gelato made by our local Italian family. To this day, people still congregate at their stand. No one makes ice cream like the Italians,” she recounted with firm conviction implying that the Germans don’t even try to compete.
Gelato wins, hands down!
On a recent cycling trip in Sicily our group asked Alfredo, our tour guide, what the differences were between our ice cream and his country’s gelato. He explained with apparent authority and great pride as though any Italian should be able to answer this question easily. First, by law in Italy, gelato has far less butterfat, on average 3.8 % compared to our minimum of 10 %. The lower-fat content means that gelato is normally served a bit warmer and tends to melt in your mouth faster. Unlike our version, gelato is made with milk and not powdered milk or cream. Additionally, gelato is blended slowly which means it has less air than our commercially produced ice cream. All of this helps intensify its flavor and create a creamier texture too. Lastly, handmade gelato is usually produced in small batches and consumed quickly thereby avoiding the need of any preservatives or additives.
When the occasion makes a difference
Jim Carle and his wife Nancy just returned from Italy where they were vacationing in the Logo di Como area. One afternoon, after summitting a particularly steep cobblestone path in the picturesque town of Bellagio, they came across a gelateria artigianale. They studied the wide array of different flavors, pointed to a cone and then tried their best to pronounce hazelnut in Italian: Nocciola (or noh-cho-lah).
Nancy told me that not only was it the creamiest ice cream she had ever enjoyed, but the cone was unusually good as it tasted like a biscotti. She also remarked, “Perhaps it was the combination of where we were, too, which made everything taste better.”
We can debate until the cows come home who makes the best ice cream and what the most delicious flavor is. But no one can dispute ice cream’s magical power to bring joy and make the old feel young again. Its infinite possibilities of new flavors keep us coming back for more. Whether we enjoy it in the heat of summer or the depth of winter’s sub-zero temperature, no one argues with its universal appeal nor its ability to instantaneously lift our spirit. Besides, what else are we supposed to eat late at night when we end the day with Steven Colbert?