As the hot weather makes its way into our lives, it only makes sense to keep the coldest food and drinks coming in. One thing comes to mind, right? Ice cream! And, lucky for everyone around the world, there are delicious flavors of ice cream available everywhere.
No matter where you live in the United States, or even if you are visiting an international location, it’s easy to find a tasty ice cream vendor with a delicious snack to fill part of your day. For starters, let’s take a look at some of the historically common international frozen treats from around the world:
- Japanese Mochi: a thick, chewy Japanese cake that is believed to be at least 2,000 years old, wrapped around ice cream since the 1990s.
- Turkish Dondurma: defined as “freezing,” dondurma has a thicker, almost chewy texture in comparison to American ice cream.
- German Spaghetties: coming from ice cream parlors pressing vanilla ice cream through spatzle presses to make long spaghetti-esque “noodles” and topping them with sweet strawberry “sauce” and shaved white chocolate “cheese.”
- Indian Kulfi: is denser and creamier than air-filled ice cream, and also comes in tasty flavors with various toppings.
- Italian Gelato: is lower in fat, and made from milk, it is churned more slowly than ice cream, so it doesn’t contain as much air, resulting in an intensely flavored and rich frozen dessert.
- Ecuadorian Helado de Paila: is a roadside treat, which you can watch being made in a large round-bottomed brass pan filled with a blend of local fruit, sugar, and water or cream placed on a bed of crushed ice, then continually spun and stirred until a light frozen concoction appears.
- Russian Plombir: The food of Russia was heavily influenced by classical French cuisine in the 19th century, where plombir has its roots. Unlike the ice cream that is currently popular in France, plombir is heavy on the eggs — like a thick, frozen pastry cream.
- United Kingdom’s Viennetta: is made with thin layers of vanilla ice cream interspersed with even thinner layers of crunchy chocolate, found in the freezer section of most supermarkets in the U.K.
- Chinese Stir-Fried Ice Cream: comes from a show cooked by a freezing-cold surface, chilled to minus 31 degrees F where it is folded over again and again until it is finally spread into a thin sheet then shaved into delicate rolls using an ice scraper.
- Philippines’ Sorbetes: nicknamed “dirty ice cream” because it’s commonly sold by street peddlers in the crowded city streets — not because it’s filthy.
- Mexican Chongos: During the hot weather, a Mexican custard called chongos is transformed into cold and creamy ice cream. Originally made by nuns back in colonial times, chongos begin with a pot of milk and sugar which are curdled with rennet, the enzyme used for cheese making. The soft curd is then sprinkled with canela, cinnamon from Mexico which is widely considered the world’s best.
With these being only some of the most common ice cream treats around the world, there are definitely plenty more to keep your eyes out for on those exciting summer vacations!
