"ICE CREAM!" It's right to shout about it. You can burn food and spoil wine but this is one dish that's flawless. This article explores this delicious deserts' strengths and the few pitfalls to enjoying this finish to a fine dine experience.
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Beware the Refreeze
Refreezing ice cream occurs between the factory and the shop. The ice cream melts in transit. The shop keeper often overlooks it - it is hard spotting it - if the creamy desert only melts by, say, 1% in transit. When put back into the shop fridge, that 1% refreezes. The result? Ice crystals form under the lid. When you open your mouthwatering chilly treat you will see them. The ice cream in the container has, "retreated," from the sides of the tub. This is spoiled ice cream - it tastes slightly, "off," with a sandy texture. The lot is spoilt; throw it away.
Read the Label
Like wine, ice cream labels are good examples of succinct prose that reveals a lot about it. I spy the ingredients first - avoiding ice cream that has fillers like, "Binder ( 620 )" and the likes. Nice Cream, a local brand, is pure frozen cream. With subtle flavours and high price this is one local company that makes the best. Go for purest ingredients.
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Expensive!...Dah'ling...!
Ice cream seems as flawless as Lady Diane. Avoid the cheaper ice creams; spend up on the most expensive, quality you can get. It's the little luxury that foils all the fear of this doom-and-gloom economy. Indulge and enjoy luxury; you truly deserve it.
Go on, spoil yourself
Make your own
This article is less about finding fault with the flawless than encouraging the best-of-the-best. Few people dislike this wonderful desert, with melting, being it's only enemy. If you are crazy about the stuff, purchase your own Ice cream maker ( I favour the machines with the in-built freezer ) and get going. We came from a big home - so Mum was thrilled - a large pack demands lots of this expensive treat Plus, we all made flavours that we wanted except the day my baby sis put some doggy-do in the machine - freezing our production for the time being.
Dread Heat
The principal foe of this desert is heat. Ice cream starts melting if the temperature is higher than 28 degrees C. on a guess. Add a hot breeze and your ice cream will start melting down the side of your hand. The cone may then become soaked, tipping over the scoops that then splatter on the sidewalk. This is a maximum heat wave scenario. Find the nearest shady spot, if you can make it, or stay inside the ice cream parlour.
Heat wave
Sweet fruits...
Cocoas, exotic spices and stories of the World frozen in beautiful Ice cream. It is the most imaginative dish found. Flavours from Cassis to Cardamom and textures like silk, snowflake and gelato leave you going back time and again for more. Let your palate travel this earth and try all the flavours there are.
My favorite of all this Earth's icy treats is the violet, 'Ube," ice cream from the exotic Philippines. It's made from the purple yam; giving it a shimmering lavender appearance, soft delicate flavour and smooth texture. One flavour I can pass up - "Chilli Beer-Nut Crunch" - no thanks.
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Do I look fat in this?
Ice-cream's core fault is of course - it's unhealthy. Fat, sugar and calories clash in each cone adding heaps to the hips. Remember that old adage, "everything in moderation...including moderation"? So it is with Ice-cream. Ice cream as a desert, after lunch is perfect, because the rest of the day's actions burn it away.
Cupids Bow
If your parents hadn't met over an Ice cream sundae you wouldn't be here to read this prosody.
You Can Never Have Too Much of a Good Thing
Thank-you Antonia and Daniel xx oo
