French Ice Cream

Everyone knows there are different types of ice cream - from gelato to sorbets to custard base ice creams such as this definitive vanilla ice cream made with a real vanilla.

How about French ice cream? You may not think there's anything special about French ice cream but back in Edwardian England they did. On the last day that the great liner RMS Titanic ever saw daylight, the 1st class dining menu featured 'French Ice Cream' as a dessert. By contrast the 2nd class menu offered 'American Ice Cream'. The White Star Line chefs certainly thought there was something special about French ice cream. Read the full detail of why in an earlier blog post about Titanic ice cream.

If you've not tried French ice cream then you're in for a treat. I was recently in France (in the Vendée) and made a point of seeking out and trying as much locally made ice cream as I could. My family kindly helped me with this 'exercise' needless to say :-))

The verdict? Delicious! We tried ice creams from all different types of 'establishment' - waffles topped with vanilla ice cream in a small cafe in Vouvant, various ice cream cones in St Martin on the beautiful Île de Ré, ice cream sundaes in a small town, pavement cafe close to La Tranche Sur Mer ... the list goes on. Every time it was the same great experience. Every time we ordered vanilla ice cream it was real vanilla ice cream (you could see the tiny dark brown vanilla pod seeds in the ice cream). Every time we went to a new ice cream parlour we were stunned by the fabulous presentation of their glaces maison (homemade ice cream). Just look at this photo of almond ice cream decorated in almond flakes and caramel sauce!

I took lots of ice cream photographs whilst in France and hope to share them with you over the coming weeks and months via my ice cream blog and of course my ice cream recipes website.