EAT IN ASIA / Destinations / Other destinations / Northern america / Mexico
Best homemade ice creams in Mexico
Best homemade ice creams are in Mexico. So natural, so traditional and so rich! Prepared according to traditional recipes, only with natural and local ingredients are something that you must try. Regular or vegan, in scoops or popsicles, with milk or juice. Whatever you want, you can get it. With fruits, nuts, cereals or syrups. Rich on flavor, exotic and beautiful.
In almost every Mexican city you will find a place where you could buy ice creams. Small stalls, bars or bigger shops have a huge selection of artisan ice creams. In some places you will get both ice creams sold in scoops and popsicles. We preferred popsicles, as they looked so lovely and were so colorful. The choice was enormous. It was really hard to decide which one to choose. Fruity flavors were dominating – strawberries, pineapple, watermelon, green apple and mango were the most popular. Then you got classics – chocolate, vanilla, walnut, coffee, toffee, nougat and of course coconut and natural.
Some popsicles had almost everything you might imagine. Were richly decorated with an artistic inner part. The best popsicle was the one we had with a full strawberry at the bottom. The outer part was perfect, and you might think, that inside the popsicle would be plain, but to our surprise, small strawberries’ pieces were also plunged in it. With every bite, the strawberry flavor was wonderfully mixing with the outer crunchy chocolate and delicacies. It was like eating a strawberry from a chocolate fountain. Sweet chocolate, salty peanuts and a little bit sour strawberries created a perfect composition. Bite after another you were closer and closer to the bottom. You knew the pleasure was ending, but the final bite was so exciting – a frozen big strawberry was something wonderful. Its taste was lasting on the tongue for a long time.
Large fruit parts were so intriguing for us. Smaller or bigger, in slices or whole were factors convincing us to select that particular popsicle. We tried some with kiwi, some with strawberries, with mango and blueberries. Most of them were natural yogurt ice creams with slices or whole fruits – depending on the size of the fruit. However, the best of all, were these with mixed fruits. The one we liked the most was with mango, kiwi and finally with a strawberry slice. So you started with something sweet (mango) mixed with the first bite of the natural ice cream. Then, when you had enough sugar on your tongue, came kiwi that neutralized the taste. Thanks to that, you were once again ready to get something sweeter – a slice of a strawberry. The combination of these three fruits with a neutral yogurt created a colorful and refreshing dessert.
Being in Mexico we couldn’t go without trying coconut ice creams. We did it a couple of times and did not regret it. The first time was in Cancun – a fully coconut popsicle with coconut flakes! A lot of coco, but not too much 😊 (if it could happen anytime 😉). Although made with a lot of coconut it wasn’t over flavored. Relatively light, a little sweet and a little bitter. Neutral in color was not encouraging to buy, but once tried, became beloved.
Artisan homemade ice creams had an artistic look. Either because if these fruits, that were inside the popsicle or because of the topping. Chocolate with delicacies, with nuts, oats, cereals, coconut flakes or coffee. The crunchy chocolate, neither sweet nor bitter plus sweet, bitter or salty additional ingredients, created a mysterious coverage for the inner part. Chocolate, vanilla, coconut, natural yogurt, strawberries, coffee, nougat, walnuts and many other flavors could be beneath.
Of course, if you are in Mexico, you will surely mention big signs with ‘Nieves’ – local ice creams sold per scoops. Nieves are ice cream sorbets that are very popular both in touristic spots and in local areas. Nieves are prepared with sugar, fruit juice and water. To that, milk and egg yolks can be added. Flavors differ from place to place. Starting with these traditional flavors as chocolate, vanilla, coconut and strawberries, and ending on more sophisticated tastes as mandarins and guava. Their consistency is light, are more watery and usually don’t have any additional ingredient inside. No nuts, no delicacies, no fruits. Just plain ice creams. Worth trying to know what that is and how they taste but cannot be compared with artisan homemade ice creams.
If you are more traditional – try ice creams per scoops. Creamy, full of taste, rich in ingredients and perfectly smooth. Fruity, chocolate, walnut, coco, coffee, toffee and many more other flavors. Generously formed scoops in the cone, create a huge portion of pleasure and remind the childhood…
