It’s an Ice Cream World After All
March 15, 2013
America isn’t the only place on earth where ice cream is celebrated. All over the world ice cream is manufactured, embraced, and culturally unique. From China to Finland and all the way to India, ice cream is an important part of almost every diet. Turns out, it’s an ice cream world after all.
China – Ice cream is incredibly popular in southern China; however, their frozen, ice cream-like dessert isn’t made from milk, sugar, and eggs like western ice cream. It’s made from mung beans that are softened into a paste and boiled with milk and sugar. Popular flavors include vanilla, chocolate, coffee, mango, black sesame, and red beans.
Cuba – Cuba is home to one of the largest ice cream parlors in the world. The Coppelia ice cream parlor was founded in 1966 in Havana. Coppelia is the main branch of the national Coppelia ice cream parlor chain in Cuba. Lines are long, supplies are small, and only two flavors are served to the 35,000 daily customers.
Finland – Coppelia in Cuba doesn’t hold a torch to the two largest ice cream manufacturing companies in Finland: Nestle and Ingman. Finland was the first country to manufacture ice cream and holds bragging rights as the leading ice cream consumer in Europe.
India – Although western ice cream has established itself in India, Kulfi, the native frozen dairy dessert, is still extremely popular. Kulfi appears and tastes like western ice cream but is much denser and creamer. Since it is not whipped like western ice cream, it is considerably more rigid and less susceptible to melt in the heat.
Italy – You’re probably more familiar with Italian ice cream, commonly called gelato, than other renditions not native to the western hemisphere. Gelato is made with whole milk, sugar, and sometimes eggs. Most gelato is still made fresh, daily, in each parlor and since it contains significantly less fat than western ice cream, many consider it a healthy ice cream alternative.
It’s easy to see that ice cream and ice cream-like desserts are enjoyed worldwide. There is a world full of ice cream to taste, so where will you start?
