Calgary's Best Ice Cream

When the weather turns warm, stepping out for an ice cream cone is the best way to chill out here in Calgary. Where once there was a simple choice — the reigning triumvirate of strawberry, chocolate and vanilla “hard” ice cream, versus a swirled cone of soft-serve ice milk — we are now spoiled for choice. There are premium ice creams, frozen yogurts, Italian gelatos, fruit ices, ice milks and even new fruity frozen Korean yogurt. Here’s the scoop:

THE FOOD
There are rules about what can and what can’t go into your favourite ice cream.

By law, ice cream is a frozen dairy product that must contain at least 10 percent butterfat (less than that, and it’s ice milk). Premium ice creams have closer to 18 percent butterfat, and sometimes even more. Overrun — how much air is whipped into the mixture while it’s being frozen — is also a consideration when it comes to creaminess and quality. Premium products, like local MacKay’s Ice Cream, have an overrun of 60 percent, while less-expensive supermarket products have overruns of up to 125 percent. A low overrun means a denser dessert that melts more slowly in your mouth.

Soft serve — the stuff you get in a Dairy Queen cone — is actually ice milk, with only five percent butterfat. That means fewer calories and less fat per serving, but also a whack of sugar.

Gelato, the Italian-style ice cream, is lower in milk fat and higher in flavourings, whether mixed with fresh fruit purees, or chocolate and hazelnut tartufo.

Frozen yogurt is just that — made with milk-based yogurt, tangier in taste and with less fat than most ice cream. You can flavour your ice cream, frozen yogurt and gelato with almost anything, from garlic to purple yams, but the old classics — chocolate, vanilla and strawberry  — are still the best sellers.

THE FIND
For sheer longevity and flavours, MacKay’s Ice Cream is the local brand of note. It’s been churning out small batches of premium ice cream in a mom-and-pop plant in Cochrane since 1948.

It was James MacKay who started making ice cream by hand in the family’s general store in a bid to lure people out for a Sunday drive. And a MacKay’s cone is still a fine reason for a mini road trip. Now his daughters Robyn and Rhona run the Cochrane scoop shop and make the myriad of flavours you’ll find in groceries around the province, whether it’s good old-fashioned strawberry, maple walnut or something of-the-moment like Mayan Chocolate (with chili and cinnamon) or Chai Tea.

MacKay’s serves a particularly rich and dense ice cream, with 17 to 18 percent butterfat and only about 10 percent overrun.

My Favourite Ice Cream Shoppe is another classic spot to line up for a cone with the kids. With 80 flavours of ice cream, and its old-fashioned ice cream memorabilia, this south Marda Loop scoop shop oozes nostalgia. Play the piano in the shop for 10 minutes, and get a free ice cream.

At the luxury end of the scoop, there’s the silky ice cream made in-house at Manuel Latruwe Belgian Patisserie and Bread Shop, flavoured with good things like Callebaut chocolate. Or try the handmade ice cream at another French pastry shop, Eclair de Lune.

Amato Gelato Cafe is a classic gelateria specializing in authentic Italian ices and retailing 72 flavours of premium Mario’s Gelati, from classic spumone and hazelnut to chocolate truffle, durian, green tea and wicked espresso macchiato, swirled with caramel.

It also makes gelato tortes and pies to take home. Another Kensington favourite, Fiasco Gelato, had sadly closed its 10th Street N.W. shop at press time, but promises to open a new location for scooping its locally made Italian confection soon.

For the latest in healthy frozen yogurt, in a tangy Korean style, try Spoon Me in Kensington, a new shop featuring fat-free plain, acai or green tea frozen yogurt, which is served with your choice of fresh fruit toppings, nuts, chocolate chips and even cereal.

THE FIX
Back in the 1500s, when ice cream was first invented, ice was so expensive and rare the frozen-milk dessert was considered the ultimate luxury, reserved for royals. Catherine de Medici may have spread the recipe from Italy to France when she travelled there as a new bride, apparently with recipes for frozen desserts in her trousseau.

In the mid-1800s after the hand-crank home ice cream freezer was invented, frozen desserts really caught on. And the simple crank models you can find today — even the fancy electric machines — use essentially the same technology.

So if you want to make ice cream at home, find a good recipe for the base (made with real cream and eggs), and use top-quality flavourings. If that sounds too much like work, just pick up a tub of your favourite frozen dessert and scoop it into pretty dessert dishes or goblets for a festive finale.

You can also have fun making frozen desserts with ice cream or gelato. Soften and smooth into a graham wafer crust, then freeze for an ice cream pie. Or make a multi-layer frozen torte in a springform pan, freezing between each layer.

Match the ice cream to the occasion: mango and coconut with an Asian or Indian meal, pecan praline with southern barbecue, strawberry rhubarb ice (or maple) for a local feast.

You can also top your ice cream with fresh fruit or chocolate sauce banana split-style, or layer it with crunchy crushed cookies or nuts, and drizzle it with coffee, mint, white chocolate or praline liqueur.

You can whirl it up in the blender with milk and strawberries or chocolate syrup for a homestyle shake. For even more childhood nostalgia, I like my ice cream in a creamy float — a scoop of vanilla topped with fizzy Coke to slurp in the sun.

Or just scoop it into a good waffle cone and lick. When summer hits the city, we all scream for ice cream.