They are the latest thing, they are about to be huge, they cost a pretty penny and they disappear in seconds.
Welcome to the world of Artisan Ice-cream.
‘Artisan’ is a fancy way to say ‘handmade’….it’s actually Hipster for ‘funkier than you’. Right now globally, the trend for Artisan ice-pops is reaching the same tipping point that saw cupcakes become reality TV stars, and frozen yoghurt pronounced as a cure for everything from stomach ulcers to diabetes and loneliness to baldness.
Food is fashion.
Trends in what we eat and how we eat it are as fickle and variable as the colour and tightness of our jeans. When it was decided that red meat was responsible for the Cold War and all forms of heart disease, tofu became not just a nutritional choice, but a way of life.
We have seen the same blossoming of dark chocolate over white and white tea over black.
Artisan ice creams come in flavours such as Carrot Habanero Pepper, Tomato Water Olive Oil, Eureka Lemon & Marion Berries and Salted Caramel Swirl with Curried Nuts.
Want to know the foodie version of social death? Head into your local ice-cream store (obviously now called a Gelataria, ‘cause that’s artisan) and ask for a scoop of chocolate and vanilla. Not Madagascan vanilla pods hand husked by virgins, just plain old white ice-cream, perhaps with a bit of strawberry looking sauce.
Chances are you will be swept out of the shop. “Sorry, can’t serve you right now; come back when you grow a goatee”.
But you don’t have to be ‘hip’ to enjoy this new way of eating sweets, you just have to have tastebuds. The multitude of flavours now available means that literally every taste is catered for. Gin and Tonic gelato, for example, hit the headlines recently because a) it sounds delicious, and b) why not? You can find a recipe for it here http://bust.com/gin-and-tonic-ice-cream-zomg.html
If that doesn’t appeal, check out the blog site 52 scoops, where you will find recipes for flavours such as Black Forest Ice Cream, Nutella Ice Cream or Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream (ZOMG, YES!!)
52 Scoops can be found here https://52scoops.wordpress.com/recipes
Ice-cream is surprisingly easy to make, and there are machines that can turn any kitchen into your very own hipster gelataria.
But if ‘buying’ seems easier than ‘making’, rest easy. Stunningly delicious flavours are being whipped up in parlours from New York to New Delhi and Sydney to Moscow.
These ones were bought and inhaled in Bangkok from a retro-fitted Tuk-Tuk. Funky AND Hip.
They may cost a little more than big brand cool treats, but these pops are made with love and invoke a special kind of childlike delight.
Given that we hear a hundred times a day that almost everything we eat carries one danger or another, it’s actually rather nice to indulge in a little bit of fancy-scmancy what you fancy.
#ICECREAM
