We All Scream for Ice Cream (especially in New England!)

Wallace Stevens, the great imagist poet is famous for his statement that “there is no Emperor but for the Emperor of Ice Cream.”  Well, if there is an “Emperor of Ice Cream,” you can be pretty sure he lives in New England. 

In fact, the average New Englander eats 22.8 quarts per year compared to the national average of about 15.1 quarts.  22.8 actually makes New England a leader in ice cream consumption worldwide.  Now, of course, not all New Englanders eat that much ice cream.  There are those of us who have to consume those 22.8 quarts to make up for the vegetable eating slackers who would otherwise bring our average down.   You’re welcome, New England.

I guess the question is why does New England eat so much ice cream?  I mean on the face of it, it makes no sense.  It’s cold here half the year.  We didn’t invent the stuff.  The big manufacturers, whose labels you see in the freezer in your grocery store, are mostly not based in New England. 

So…..are we depressed?  Have you been through a bad break-up New England?  Can’t sleep?  No, I think the answer is less complex.  The ice cream here is just very, very good.  It’s off the scale tasty.  Our ice cream scientists are better than your ice cream scientists.  There’s a lot of innovation in ice cream that is going on here. 

Consider Portland, Maine as a microcosm.  Wander up Exchange Street and you find the innovative Mt. Desert Island Ice Cream, which originated in Bar Harbor, ME.

Check out their board.  There’s a Butter Beer flavor, a Cran Bliss, a Fresh Basil, a Bay of Figs flavor, and a delicious Lemon Poppy, among others.  What the heck is a Lamington (answer: it’s a coconut flavor layered with chocolate)?   The Pain Pedu is a French toast flavor.  It’s about time somebody came up with an ice cream for breakfast.  Thank you, Mt Desert Ice Cream.

Just down the road from Mt Desert, on Wharf Street, you’ll find the dean of Maine ice cream making, the venerable Beal’s Ice Cream.  They have been making small batches of artisan ice cream, over 100 flavors, since 1988.  I think it’s the best chocolate I’ve ever tasted.  But if you go, you have to try their unique Tea Berry flavor.  They do a great pink Peppermint Stick but Tea Berry is more of a wintergreen mint flavor that features big chunks of dark chocolate; in my family we call it peppermint stick for adults.  It’s sophisticated.  Do you have royalty in your family?  They are going to love Beal’s Tea Berry ice cream. 

Now, throw a stone from Beal’s towards Commercial Street on the water and you’ll hit Coastal Creamery.  Coastal Creamery is new to the scene but they are also making delicious, small batches of artisan ice cream.  The big advantage of Coastal is that they are right on the docks.  On a hot day you can grab a cone there, and make it out to the end of a wharf before it melts all over you.

Of course, not everybody likes ice cream.  But lucky for you, we have terrific gelato too, again within spitting distance of Coastal, Beal’s, and Mt. Desert.  Check out the mind-boggling array of flavors at Gelato Fiasco.  Get two or three flavors crammed in a dish.  Across the street, at Gorgeous Gelato, the cold stuff is just as good.  A hot gelato panini anyone?  Yes please, all winter long.