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The Praguery Food Truck at McArthurGlen Designer Outlet Vancouver Airport offers soft serve in hand-rolled chimney cakes.

Photo by Hannah Scott

Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt offer frozen treats in Steveston

Photo by Hannah Scott

Sprinkles Gelato offer frozen treats in Steveston.

Photo by Hannah Scott

Ice cream still appeals in cold weather

By Samuel Cheng

Published 3:14 PST, Thu December 8, 2022

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Although the sunny weather has passed and the days are getting shorter, there’s never a bad time to visit a local ice cream shop for a sweet treat.

Richmond has some longstanding stores like Timothy’s Frozen Yogurt and B&P Ice-Cream. But up-and-coming locations like J Squared, Sprinkles Gelato, and Soft Peaks are also making a name for themselves in the community.

Ice cream is made by mixing milk, cream, sugar, and other ingredients. It is then frozen before being served in a cup, bowl, or cone. It has a soft, creamy texture with common flavours such as vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate. Other similar products include gelato, sorbet, and frozen yogurt.

Gelato, the Italian word for ice cream, originated and was popularized in Italy. It is made using whole milk without cream or eggs. It offers a rich and dense texture compared to other regular ice creams. Some popular flavours include cioccolato (chocolate), stracciatella (vanilla with chocolate flakes), and pistacchio (pistachio).

Kulfi is a frozen treat that emerged from India. It is made through a delicate process of slow-cooking sweetened milk until the sugar caramelizes and the milk condenses. The mixture is not whipped or churned. The milk is then frozen in a cone-shaped mould with a popsicle stick inserted. The texture of the kulfi is creamy and dense. Cardamom, saffron, and rose are some popular flavours.

Sherbet is often confused with sorbet, although there is one distinct ingredient difference between the two. Sherbet is made with fruit puree and milk. The milk in the sherbet can be substituted with buttermilk, cream, or another milk product. Typically, the fat content in sherbet is much lower than traditional ice cream due to the fact that fruit is the main ingredient.

On the other hand, sorbet is simply made with fruit puree, sugar, and water. No eggs, milk, or other dairy products are used. As a result, sorbet has a rough and flaky texture compared to traditional ice creams.

Frozen yogurt uses yogurt as its main ingredient. It can be made with or without the use of other dairy products such as milk and cream. The amount of yogurt and sugar can dictate the level of sourness of the frozen treat.

Soft serve uses the same ingredients found in ice cream but contains less milk fat. This frozen treat is commonly found at carnivals, festivals, ice cream trucks, and night markets. Due to the machinery used, soft serve is rapidly churned, incorporating more air and creating a light, soft, and airy texture. This is the primary reason why soft serve tends to melt faster than regular hard-textured ice cream.

Maraş dondurması, or dondurma for short, is a unique kind of ice
cream from Turkey. Its ingredients include milk, cream, sugar, salep, and mastic. The salep, or ground orchid tuber, thickens the mixture. The mastic, a plant resin, makes it chewy. This tough and sticky ice cream can be eaten with a
knife and fork.

Rolled ice cream has increased in popularity in recent years. Originating in Thailand and other Southeast Asian countries, it was a trendy street food before gaining international fame.The process of making rolled ice cream involves mixing and chopping the ice cream on a freezing cold metal surface until it becomes creamy. The mixture is then spread evenly on the icy cold surface before cutting and rolling it up into a cup with a small metal spatula, similar to the ones chefs use for Japanese teppanyaki.

Other kinds of ice creams include Philadelphia-style ice cream which is made without eggs and Taiwanese snow ice which is fluffy and snowy in texture.