Deep from the archive from summer 2012.

 

Best Ice Cream on Earth

It finally feels like summer and that means one thing: ice cream on a cone. If I could click my heels together and be transported to the ice cream of my dreams, it would be Berthillon. It’s a tiny place in Paris where both locals and tourists flock there like bees to honey.

The ice cream is all natural with intense flavors. Strawberry is the most strawberry possible and pistachio is the most pistachio. I’m salivating at the thought. Must… Get… To… Paris…Now…

Seriously, if you do go, you must go, but keep in mind they are closed the last two weeks of https://berthillon.fr/

Editor’s note: Alas, there are no original photos but I have new ones from Finland, New York and the QM2. And new thoughts. Yes, I still love ice cream and I eat ice cream probably almost every day. Don’t tell my doctor.

Best Ice Cream on Earth

It finally feels like summer and that means one thing: ice cream on a cone. If I could click my heels together and be transported to the ice cream of my dreams, it would be Berthillon.

Many years later, we have another contender from my favorite Caribbean island, Bequia. Maranne’s. It’s as homemade and heavenly as sin.

Closer to home, there is Ben & Jerry’s. It’s okay but honestly no comparison. Sorry not sorry.

So what actually makes ice cream exceptional? After all these years and all these ice creams around the world, I keep coming back to the same answer: it’s the cream itself.

Fat content is non-negotiable for me, anything low-fat or “light” just doesn’t deliver that silky texture that makes ice cream worth eating in the first place. And it has to start with real, high-quality dairy. I’ve had plenty of famous ice cream from famous cities that honestly couldn’t compete with a good Dairy Queen, because the base wasn’t there.

After that, it comes down to honesty in the flavors. When I had strawberry in Paris, I could actually taste strawberries, and the pistachio didn’t come in that alarming shade of green, it looked and tasted like actual pistachios, because that’s what was in it. No artificial dyes, no shortcuts. These days I’m completely smitten with coconut ice cream paired with mango or banana, which apparently is having a real moment right now, and I understand exactly why.