What do Americans produce 1.6 billion gallons of, spend $20.5 billion on, and consume 20 quarts per capita of each year? Three guesses.
No, it's not soda (good guess). Nope, it's not potatoes either (and you don't measure them in gallons). You're not good at this. The headline and graphics should have given it away; it's ice cream.
That's right, the cream-and-sugar-based dessert, and your two best friends on a Saturday night (Ben and Jerry). Though you might have chosen Tufts because of its location in College Central, its reputation of academic excellence, or its proximity to Harvard, superior ice cream is a benefit you might not have considered. The modern ice cream industry as we know it has its roots less than a mile from campus. Oh, you didn't know that? We'll get there.
You've become acquainted with the Columbo soft-serve options in Dewick- MacPhie and the various choices in Jumbo Express - it's time to expand your horizons. According to the Greater Boston Convention and Visitors Bureau, Bostonians eat more ice cream per capita than any other urban area in the country. Not coincidentally, the region also boasts some of the best stuff around.
Unfortunately, most Tufts students who venture off campus only go as far as JP Licks. It's convenient, pretty good - and pretty overpriced ($3.39 for a small?!). It's time to venture past the confines of Davis Square into the wily wilderness of Beantown's surrounding areas.
The Boston Ice Cream Party?
Legend has it that "cream ices" first reached the masses when Francesco Procopio dei Coltelli started selling them at his Paris caf?© ©n 1660. After the invention of modern refrigeration in the 1870s, large-scale production became feasible as we stopped storing ice in straw-covered holes in the ground. The rest, quite literally, is history.
After the vanilla, chocolate, strawberry monolith, recent ice cream innovations over the last couple of decades have involved mixing different things into the different creams - Reese's Pieces, Heath Bar Crunch, M&Ms and beyond. In recent years, Cold Stone Creamery has taken the art of the add-in to previously unimaginable heights (actual pieces of cake? Apple pie filling?). "Wow, what a great invention by Cold Stone," you think to yourself. Think again.
Way back in 1973, Steve Herrell ushered in the modern era of ice cream when he opened the first Steve's Ice Cream Store in the location that is now O'Naturals, just outside of Davis Square on Elm St. It was here that modern ice cream was born, with nut and candy "smoosh-ins" of various sorts and his now famous homemade fudge sauce.
The landscape is now less diverse. An industry of mom-and-pop ice cream parlors has become a land of Dairy Queens and Cold Stones. Boston, however, has retained much of its unique ice cream charm. Single stores and small chains dominate the region. After the rest of the nation caught on to the mix-in craze, Boston stores again diversified. Diversity of flavor is what sets current Hub shops apart.
One of the drawbacks of the standardization of frozen treats is that, unlike Forrest Gump's box of chocolates, you always know what you're gonna get. How, then, is a poor college student to differentiate between the multitude of distinctive offerings available? Never fear, the Daily is here.
The Tale of the Tape
Among the various options, three in particular stand out. First to weigh in is Cambridge favorite Toscanini's. What sets this two-store operation apart?
"We make more flavors than other places, especially from other countries," says owner and founder Gus Rancatore. It's hard to argue with him; got a craving for some old-fashioned hamentashen ice cream around Purim-time? Fancy some champagne or pumpkin instead? Look no further.
Once lauded by the New York Times as the "the best ice cream in the world," their ever-changing flavors, which over the years have included Belgian chocolate (decadent) and Grand Marnier (surprisingly tasty), are widely renowned.
"Some flavors you can fake. But if you have good peaches, you make good peach ice cream. If you don't, you don't. There's no way around it," Rancatore said. "We have good peaches."
It's also probably the chicest ice cream shop in the area: fancy hot beverages and syrup-flavored sodas give it a decidedly European feel. Best of all, Someday Caf?© ©n Davis carries their product.
Next is Herrell's Ice Cream. Remember the Steve who founded Steve's? After selling his trend-setting business in the late '70s, he returned a few years later with Herrell's.
With three locations scattered across the state - Harvard Square, Brighton and Northhampton - Herrell's can be thought of as the patriarch of the region's ice cream scene. Recipient of fistfuls of Best of Boston awards over the years, Harvard Square store owner Jessica Leahy believes that she knows the chain's secret.
"Everything is homemade on the premises, including the fudge sauce," she said. Although the flavors might not be quite as unusual as Toscanini's, they're not to be taken lightly.
Offerings such as chocolate pudding (a regional favorite) and their especially superior cookie dough are trip-worthy. If those options aren't enough, "we'll gladly make up a flavor for people," Leahy said. Keep in mind that Herrell invented the mix-in, and his franchise has stayed true to form, offering a comprehensive selection.
Rounding out the top three is Inman Square's culinary masterpiece, Christina's Ice Cream. Like Herrell's, Christina's prides itself on making ice cream on location. Like Toscanini's, Christina's can claim a number of unique flavors.
"I think we've taken it to a different level," Christina's owner Ray Ford said. "What sets us apart, I think, is that we use fine ingredients. We also have a greater variety of ingredients. That's the key, that variety. Our flavors never come from a recipe book."
Inventive flavors such as carrot cake, banana cinnamon and adzuki bean are perennial favorites. Perhaps most impressive are their improvements on standard flavors. Their fresh mint, instead of the industrial stuff we're used to, tastes like you're nibbling on a leaf garnishing your dessert.
To choose an individual winner between the three would border on criminal. You tell us who is better: da Vinci, Michelangelo or Van Gogh? Soccer fans rejoice; this one's a draw.
But, why male models?
An unanswered question remains: why Boston? It seems counterintuitive: Why would a cold-weather city lead the nation in ice cream consumption? Owners point to a number of reasons.
"Most food anthropologists think that in cold climates people eat high-fat diets. In the south people tend to drink a lot," Toscanini's Gus Rancatore said, noting Atlanta-based Coca-Cola as an example. "Our sales triple in the summer, but there's enough business to stay open year round. Boston's better than New York - it's better than anywhere I can think of for that matter."
"Because the winter here is so hard, people still see ice cream as a treat. In California and other warmer-climates it's warm all the time, so people don't appreciate it as much," said Christina's Ray Ford.
Herrell's Leahy wasn't as positive about the cold climate. "We do well for several months [in the summer], and then it slows down a lot. It's tough when the students aren't here in December and January." Asked if she could imagine moving the chain to a milder climate, however, Leahy seemed content. "It's a New England institution and franchise," she said.
Beyond the climate, the various owners see Boston as a fertile ground for various experimental ice cream options.
"People that go to school here tend to have more discretionary income," Rancatore said. "It's not enough to go out to a fancy dinner, but it's enough for a good study break."
Ford agreed: "Cambridge works very well [for ice cream variety]. You can do things here that maybe you couldn't sell in other places. It is its very culturally diverse, very sophisticated market that makes it a great place to be."
Keep screaming for it
Overall, Boston's cream industry appears here to stay.
"It's really a New England tradition," said Joe Prestejohn, owner of Newton's famous Cabot's Ice Cream. "It's a great business to be in. Everybody's happy eating ice cream."
Leahy summed it up best: "Ice cream is like blue jeans - it never goes out of style."
