Iran penetrates the Green Zone...with ice cream

Credit: Liz Sly, Washington Post Liz Sly, formerly of the Chicago Tribune and now with the Washington Post, did a fun little story last week about IcePack, an Iranian ice cream chain making headway in Iraq - in the Green Zone, no less.  I'm not sure that a few ice cream stores, albeit ones from a chain that claims to "exalt the name of Iran and reinforce Iranian Identity", truly represent a big Iranian challenge...

Professional Foray #14: DC does gelato, and how: Dolcezza, Dupont Circle

DC does a few things right.  Museums.  Air quality.  Indian food, namely at Rasika, where I had quite possibly the best Indian meal I've ever had.  Chinese food, humor and politics are not its strengths. Gelato, it turns out, is.  Dolcezza, of which there are three locations in the DC area, is some of the finest gelato I've tasted in America, on a par with Grom or Cones.  The location near Dupont is clean, mostly white, intimate and rustic, like the sophisticated little cafes that dot the historical...

Professional Foray #13: Sorry Grom (and sorry readers), I'm back - with a new NYC favorite, Maialino

Photo by Kelly O'Connor from Maialino's Facebook page Readers, if there are still any of you left, I'm sorry.  I've neglected you (but not ice cream) for a long time. However, someone has brought me back into the fold.  And her name is Jennifer Shelbo, pastry chef at Maialino. Friends, this is the best gelato in New York.  Not only is the texture perfect - and I mean spot-on, no margin of error, to...

More medicated ice cream...this time with weed

You know what I always say - "Ice cream.  Good for what ails you."  Are you getting older?  Try anti-aging ice cream.  Recovering from chemotherapy?  Ice cream.  Perhaps you're afflicted with the ailment of not being stoned?  Let's review the options...there's...oh hey! Look at that! Ice cream.  Creme de Canna, which also makes a small selection of cookies in flavors like chewy...

Ice cream treats cancer! Maybe!

I just came across this old article from a March issue of The Scientist.  The writer Katherine Bagley describes an effort by scientists to isolate milk proteins that can help patients recovering from chemotherapy and insert them directly into...strawberry ice cream.  Yes. She writes: "One protein in particular, lactoferrin, has been shown to inhibit tumor growth, promote intestinal cell growth, and regulate immune response in the intestine (Biochem Cell Biol, 89:95–102, 2002). The scientists reasoned it could therefore...

Brainfreeze does not cause long-term brain damage

Getty Images Did you really think it did?  I've never heard that before.  Luckily a writer at Popular Science has cleared all of this up for us with this helpful post, in which he first describes the two theories of how and why one gets brainfreeze (or an "ice-cream headache"): "First, let’s get one thing straight. “This condition is referred to as an ‘ice-cream headache,’ ” says Stacey Gray, a sinus surgeon...

To anyone who thought Unilever was not intent on world domination: anti-aging ice cream

Unilever, the biggest ice cream manufacturer in the world (so I guess it doesn't need to intend to dominate the world; it already does), makes Ben and Jerry's, Magnum, Cornetto, and is sold in more than 40 countries.  As if this wasn't world-dominate-y enough already, they're also planning to research anti-aging ice cream.  It will apparently contain anti-oxidants.  Ampere Life Sciences, based in San Jose, California, will carry out the research over a period of five years, Fox reports. I don't know how a few...

Professional Foray #12, Cones gelato, Bleecker St, NY

Happy news, dear readers!  I'm moving into the Bermuda Triangle of gelato - the rocky zone bordered by Bleecker Street, Carmine Street and 7th Avenue South, home to no less than three of New York's top gelaterie (Grom, l'Arte del Gelato and Cones) and one of my favorite Italian ice shops (Rocco's pasticceria).  Luckily I've got a fifth-floor walk-up, so hopefully the running up and down the stairs a few times...

Professional Foray #11, Emack and Bolio's, Houston Street, New York

Zagat's, the Scoop on Cones, and my friend Oscar all think this is some of the best ice cream in New York City.  Is it?  They definitely have ground-breaking flavors, and for someone whose benchmark is Cookies and Cream, I was delighted to hear from the proprietor that E & B were the first company to put Oreos into ice cream, in 1975.  "That's why it's called 'The Original Oreo,'" she explained.   Since 1975, the instinct to throw Oreos into ice cream has gone unrestrained, resulting in such triumphs...

NYT spotlights the helados of Buenos Aires

Horacio Paone for the New York Times Man, I wish I'd gotten to this place before I had to read about it.  I've been hearing about Persicco (watch out for the crazy techno runway-show intro) for years, from my friend Massoud, who told me that by running an ice cream blog and not featuring Persicco, I'd "lost the plot already," in his words.  Luckily the NYT has thoughtfully found the plot, with a great story...

Pregnant nuns shill gelato

The esteemed Daily Mail of London brings us news that Italian gelato company Antonio Federici has offended Catholics by using a pregnant nun, with the tagline "immaculately conceived," as its poster girl.  The firm "said the adverts celebrated the ‘implied forbidden Italian temptations’ of the ice cream," according to the article.  I can see how this might be offensive to Catholics, several of whom have...

USA Today names the top 50 ice cream destinations in America

My best friend Brendan once described USA Today as "an experiment in how much of the news can be expressed as a pie chart."  Journalistic quibbles aside, here's their rundown of the best ice cream parlors in America, state-by-state.  I'm already skeptical since their California listing forgoes Bi-Rite in favor of, well, who cares? Somewhere else.  So that can't be right.  How's their list, in your view?  Do you spot an error?  Is your favorite missing?  Do weigh ...

Artisanal ice cream hits South Korea

I can't say I'm very familiar with the Korea Herald as a news source, but for now I'll trust their ice cream reporting on good faith.  According to the paper, a couple of artisanal ice cream parlors have opened recently, including one that's owned and operated by a protege of les deux grands Pierres - Pierre Herme, author of Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme, and Pierre Marcolini, one of Belgium's top chocolatiers....

Blue Marble's flagship will close due to rent hike

The Brooklyn Paper reports that the flagship location of Blue Marble, the organic, local-dairy, seasonal, yada yada yada ice cream parlor in Boerum Hill in downtown Brooklyn, will close because of a rent hike.  I wasn't overwhelmed by the ice cream, but it seemed like a sweet place and it's too bad it will close.  The story does a nice job of pointing out how Blue Marble was one of the first businesses to trigger that neighborhood's gentrification, and the irony of its being forced out because of said gentrificati...

Why Sicily is the greatest place on earth: The Empire of Ice Cream

A gorgeous paean to Sicily and its tradition of gelati, by Mary Taylor Simeti, in Saveur. Christopher Hirsheimer, from Saveur, issue 52 ..."Sicilians took their ice cream very seriously, at all levels of society. In northern Italy, ices remained the preserve of the sick or the wealthy until the late 19th century, owing to the cost and limited availability of ice and other ingredients. But in Sicily even peasants...

A review of yesterday's ice cream social at the New Amsterdam Market

I had to work yesterday, and am furious that I missed the ice cream bonanza at the New Amsterdam Market.  Luckily, a writer named Brad Thomas Parsons from Serious Eats had a roundup, with Bent Spoon of Princeton, NJ, coming in #1.  Here's his review of Bent Spoon, find the rest here. Heirloom Tomato-Peach sorbet.  Photo by Brad Thomas Parsons via Serious Eats Featured Flavors: Fresh Ricotta, Bourbon...

Food writers reminisce about ice cream around the world, from Saveur

Photo: Christopher Hirsheimer, from Saveur edition 52 I just stumbled across this beautiful collection of vignettes from writers around the world, reminiscing about memorable ice cream run-ins.  I hope this blog becomes a wider, richer version of this kind of story.  Here are two of my favorites - and notice how the second one hints at the historical roots of the relative dearth of good ice cream in the UK,...

Baskin Robbins India launches Kulfi ice cream for the local market

Baskin Robbins is offering a kulfi ice cream in India to celebrate its 65th anniversary (as a company, I'm presuming, not as a presence in India).  The flavor sounds delicious - it will feature saffron, cardamom and cinnamon.  From the photo, it doesn't look like it will resemble a true kulfi, which is made with boiled-down milk and is usually much richer and heavier than normal ice cream, and is often served...

Obama loves Martha's Vineyard ice cream, reports USA Today

USA Today - known for their Beltway coverage - reports that Obama is "a big fan" of the ice cream in Martha's Vineyard, according to a White House spokespers...

A modern-day tragedy, by Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman

A modern-day tragedy, 2010, Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman Jeffrey Bowyer-Chapman is an actor and artist whose sharp eye and deep sense of empathy captured this image and called it out for what it truly is: a modern-day tragedy.  The random scattering New York City sidewalk debris echoes the sprinkles caught amidst the vanilla ice cream, and the drip attunes the viewer to the sense of time passing.  How long...

Watermelon Ice Cream Cake - a retro recipe from Big Girls, Small Kitchen

Like a watermelon, only not. I have to confess, I'd never heard of watermelon ice cream cake before Cara from Big Girls, Small Kitchen, sent me this recipe.  I may have seen (and repressed having seen) them, but from her description, it actually sounds like a good idea.  Raspberry sorbet, flecked with chocolate chips, surrounded by pistachio or green-tinged vanilla ice cream - how bad can that be? ...

Los Angeles catches on to the ice cream sandwich

L.A. Weekly rounds up five places doing interesting-sounding ice cream sandwiches.  Watch out, Melt Bakery. Sandwiches from MILK in L.A.  Goodness me, those look fantasti...

Village Voice chats with the Big Gay Ice Cream Truck's Doug Quint

Here's a sweet little Q and A with the chef/owner of the Big Gay Ice Cream truck, which apparently pushes its wares on Union Square.  I'll be back with a professional foray so...

Pus in your ice cream, from John Robbins

John Robbins, the only son of Baskin-Robbins founder Irvine Robbins, had a piece in the Huffington Post this week about Monsanto's recombinant bovine growth hormones (rBGH) showing up in ice cream.  Ben and Jerry's has pledged not to use rBGH-tainted milk in their products, and Robbins calls on other companies to do the same: Ben & Jerry's gets all their milk from dairies that have pledged not to inject their...

Proustian moment #5, regarding my late father, the wonderful Gerald Sussman

I emailed my Uncle Harvey to tell him about the blog, and this is what he sent: "Here's a true ice cream story from your own dad: Gerald was at a party talking to some guy. The topic was the best ice cream each guy had in his life.  Each said his was for sure the best there is. Turns out they both attributed the best ice cream to the dairy school at University of Wisconsin in Madison. Gerald had some when he visited me. You need to take a field trip there. The ag students make it and they sell it at a student run store...

Blast from the Past: Golden Gaytime ice cream video via HuffPo

Huffington Post links to a hilarious advertisment for Golden Gaytime ice cream pops, described on the company's official website as a "combination of toffee and vanilla-flavoured centre, dipped in a scrumptious choc coating and covered in crunchy biscuit pieces....

Professional Foray #10, Melt Bakery

As a day camper at Mount Tom, I remember eating ice cream sandwiches on days when we weren't lucky enough to get Toasted Almond bars or even Strawberry Shortcake bars. They consisted of two slightly salty, cake-like chocolate wafers with slimy vanilla ice cream in between, and the whole thing was the size and shape of a mid-1990s cellphone.  A thin sticky residue usually coated the paper wrappers. Blech. I never...

Professional Foray #9, Alphabet Scoop

Several friends who have lived in the East Village, apprised of my blog, have oriented me in the direction of Alphabet Scoop.  It sounds like my dream come true: ice cream as income-generating tool for kids from underserved communities.  Their motto is "Changing lives, one scoop at a time."  Or three scoops at a time, if you're me. Their website describes the project: "Alphabet Scoop is a homemade ice cream store that trains and employs youth in the life and job skills that will allow them to advance in their...

Dispatches from the Frontline #4, Scoopless in Shanghai

Scoopless in Shanghai, by Mona, LME East Asia correspondent Upon hearing that I was moving to China for the summer, various well-traveled friends of mine assured me that I would just LOVE Shanghai, because...well..."it's just so cosmopolitan!" And that's proven to be true. I do love Shanghai. A city that boasts a wealth of international cuisines, cultures and communities which most other Chinese cities lack.  Shanghai...

The "Worst" Ice Creams in America, via the Daily Beast

The Daily Beast has a slideshow of 40 dastardly ice cream desserts that run from 880 calories (a Dairy Queen nut and fudge waffle sundae) to 1,900 (Baskin Robbins' Fudge Brownie 31 Below dessert).  Most of the offenders are, predictably, from the likes of Carvel, Friendly's, Dairy Queen, Cold Stone Creamery and Baskin Robbins.  Most of them also contain mix-ins like peanut butter, fudge, Oreos, brownies and...

Ice cream news round-up, week of August 14th

The Center for Science in the Public Interest is after Ben and Jerry's for its deceptive mislabeling of products containing high-fructose corn syrup and other funky ingredients as "all-natural." Don't you wish anything at all would happen in San Francisco?  Until then, the SF Chronicle will run stories by staff writers on Ghirardelli's ice cream parlor. John McCain and Jan Brewer ate some ice cream yesterday and then made empty campaign promises. Ice cream sales remain strong (4% growth in the retail sector) in the Middle...

Professional Foray #8, Mia Dona gelato cart, East Midtown, NY

After reading about the cart a few weeks ago on Daily Candy, I've been looking for an afternoon window in which to go check out Mia Dona's ice cream cart.  According to this posting on the Midtown Lunch blog, Dona is serving "the best takeaway dessert in the area."  And Serious Eats NY's Kathy Chan liked it well enough. Credit: Kathy Chan Kathy wrote that, seeing her torn between the two flavors, honey-ricotta...

Professional Foray #7, People's Pops and Mercer's Dairy, Highline, NY

On Tuesday night, my friend Valentina and I went for a walk on the High Line, something I never get tired of doing.  L'Arte del Gelato (full review to come) has been replaced by People's Pops as one of the High Line's rotating cast of concessions, and although I'd just polished off an Ultimate Summer Cooler before we set off on our walk, I forced myself to have a pop, after having a bite of Valentina's watermelon-and-cucumber...

Upcoming ice cream events: Austin, TX, Brooklyn, NY and South Street Seaport, NY

My sources in Austin, TX, tell me that this Saturday from 10-7 brings a mighty, mighty Ice Cream Festival in Waterloo Park.  The $5 admission fee goes to children's charities, among others, and the weekend includes a homemade ice cream contest (just dangle that in front of me, why don't you, when I have to work that day), and an ice cream eating contest with someone named Joey Chestnut. This guy is the champion? I...

Professional Foray #6, Lily Lolly, Bryant Park/Soho

In all honesty, I was favorably disposed towards these ice cream popsicles before I even tasted them.  Have a look at the Lily Lolly website, and tell me you don't feel the same. Lily Lolly is a 1920s flapper character created by Nadia Roden, artist, illustrator, and ice cream perfectionist.  She's also the daughter of Claudia Roden, one of the world's experts on Mediterranean food. Nadia wrote the first-ever...