Five Great Ice Cream Stands and Shops
The cooling comfort of an ice cream on a lazy summer afternoon is a magic formula for chasing cares away, especially when it is served up as a sundae, swirled with add-ins, crowned with clouds of whipped cream or cradled in a handmade waffle cone. Since New Hampshire can claim to have one of the highest per capita consumptions of ice cream in the country, we thought we should bring to your attention those made with the best ingredients, rich with cream and packed with flavor.
Slice expert Hillary Davis is the author of "Cuisine Niçoise: Sun-kissed Cooking from the French Riviera" and "French Comfort Food."
Can't get enough ice cream?
The Granite State Dairy Promotion has an official New Hampshire Ice Cream Trail with more than 45 participating ice cream stands and shops. Ice cream lovers are invited to pick up a passport at NH rest areas, welcome centers or online at nhdairypromo.org and start licking away.
| What and Where | Description | Tip |
|
Nitrogen-frozen Hand-mixed Custom-made Ice Cream |
The best part is watching them make your blended ice cream starting with a base, adding in flavor and mix-ins, and then watching them freeze it with vapors of liquid nitrogen. It’s pure theatre, mostly science and totally fun. Plus, there are all kinds of bases to choose from, including high-fat, vegan soy or almond milk, yogurt, lactose-free, custard and low-fat. |
Order off the menu or customize to your personal delight. |
| Handcrafted Micro-batch Ice Cream 18 degrees Celcius 2683 White Mountain Hwy. North Conway (603) 986-1036 |
Your adventure starts here. Imaginative flavors like ghost chili chocolate, carrot ginger, cereal milk, Earl Grey, maple, Woodford Bourbon vanilla, peanut butter and French toast are made from all-natural New Hampshire ingredients, no corn syrup and no stabilizers at this energetic, small North Conway enterprise. Super-healthy cool popsicles can include choices like kale-banana-pineapple-spirulina and carrot-pineapple-tumeric. |
Walk down the street to their bakery, McKaella’s Sweet Shop, for equally inventive and utterly delicious baked surprises. |
| Old-fashioned Ice Cream Granite State Candy Shoppe & Ice Cream 13 Warren St., Concord (888) 225-2531 or 832 Elm St., Manchester (603) 218-3885 |
Known more for their candy and fudge, since 1927 this family-owned business still exudes the feel of yesteryear. Their ice cream, made with local Contoocook milk, includes flavor-packed selections like espresso bean with chocolate-covered espresso beans, Tai Chai, vanilla with ground Australian ginger, ice cream flavored with coconut purée and shredded coconut, vanilla blended with mango, chocolate hazelnut with a hazelnut swirl, among others. | Try their maple sundae, which is topped with authentic New Hampshire maple syrup. |
|
Homemade Ice Cream |
Located in a 1767 grist mill overlooking the Newfound River, The Mill’s Ice Cream Café makes all-natural, artisanal ice cream in basic flavors with their famous fudge mixed into it or with “swirl-in” flavors like Butterfinger, Kit Kat, York Peppermint Patties, Mounds bar, M&Ms, banana, black raspberry, raspberry, strawberry or coconut. Pick a seat outside and enjoy the view of the rushing river. |
For a many-splendored sundae, order their ice cream with hot fudge sauce. They melt down their homemade fudge for it! |
| Straight from the Farm Small-batch Natural Ice Cream Wicked Good Dairy Delights Ice Cream Stand 3095 Dartmouth College Hwy. North Haverhill (603) 787-2388 |
Using their own Hatchland Dairy milk, Wicked Good’s ice cream business is in its fourth year and growing. Try the sweet cream flavor and ask them to slice strawberries over the top. Popular flavors rotate and can include salted caramel, cheesecake, black raspberry, cookie dough, orange pineapple and real maple syrup walnut. | Their ice cream base is all-natural with 15 percent butterfat, producing a dense, rich ice cream reminiscent of what ice cream used to taste like. |
