Toronto’s best artisanal ice creams
Toronto’s dairy artisans are creating ice cream for grown-ups with quality ingredients and sophisticated flavours. Here, the city’s four best.
NITRO CRÈME FRAÎCHE Hand-churned in a nitro-fuelled billow of cold smoke and plated like a po-mo sundae, this is dessert as art. With an incredibly rich, tangy cream base (both sour and fraîche) and an intense lemon kick, it’s simply the best ice cream we’ve tasted. Ever. $17. Colborne Lane.
STAR ANISE The combination of heavy cream and finely ground star anise makes for a supremely smooth, mellow bite. It might induce momentary eye closing; snagging a sidewalk seat is recommended. Small cup $3.85. Greg’s Ice Cream.
PEDRO XIMENEZ AND PRUNE Forget the medicinal ring to the word “prune.” This barely sweet Callebaut milk chocolate ice cream is dotted with plump and chewy chunks of sherry-soaked fruit. It’s like cocoa-kissed rum-raisin with sun-ripened Spanish swagger. $4. Xococava.
POMPELMO (or “grapefruit” to anglophones) Refreshing doesn’t come close to capturing the pure puckery hit of citrus. Light, bright and undeniably thirst-quenching, the blush white gelato is a scoop of zingy heaven. Small cup $4. Il Gelatiere Artigianale.
