Gourmet ice cream lights for the Mexican summer

Ice cream lights they bring back memories of summer days when, as children, we couldn't wait to enter our street the truck drives away with frozen food loudly announcing his arrival with his blaring microphone. After successfully begging our parents for a bill or two, my friends and I ran for it lemon respectively strawberry light. It was made from water, artificial sweeteners, dyes and flavor enhancers, and it melted so quickly in the summer heat that we licked our fingers and even our elbows during the happy sweetening. Back then, we didn't care that we had blue and red lips, t-shirts and sneakers after carefree sugaring, cold lights were part of children's summer fun and the sweetest way to beat the summer heat. Real fruit juice and delicious pieces of fresh fruit, which we began to appreciate a little later, were not heard of, so we soon left them behind and devoted our attention to more sophisticated gourmet ice cream and sorbet. Until today, as our taste buds have once again conquered ice cream lights, but this time they are modeled after traditional Mexican ice cream lights from natural ingredients that Mexicans they say pallets.

The first fruit lights and paleteria of La Michoacana

Stacks of brightly colored popsicles wrapped in clear plastic and stacked on top of each other are eye-catching, crumb-inducing and a promise of sweet (but not too much) heaven for anyone who bets on fresh and 100% natural. If we were to throw Mexican paletas in the same bin as mass-produced lights made of artificially sweetened and colored water, which we licked with pleasure in childhood, we would be doing them a terrible injustice. Paletas are traditional ice cream lights that Mexicans make from concentrated fruit juice, pieces of real fruit and aromatic spices. The palettes of even such a skeptic are impressed with vibrant colors and intoxicating flavors of mango, coconut, guava, strawberry, vanilla, hibiscus, walnut, cranberry, watermelon, rum with raisins, pineapple with chili powder, cucumber with chili powder, pistachio, tamarind...

Unlike the history of ice cream, which is extremely well documented, the history of paletas ice cream lights is shrouded in mystery. According to an old Mexican legend, ice with fresh fruit was already enjoyed by the Aztec rulers, who went to the volcano to get ice Popocatépetl On the edge Mexico City sent their servants. Long sources testify that the lively activity in the field of ice cream lights began when Mexico gained independence from Spain in 1810, as ice then became accessible to the lower classes. They also appeared during this time Paleteros, street vendors of popsicles that quickly became a trademark of Mexican culture. One of the main inventors of Mexican ice cream lights is Ignacio Alcázar, who in the 1940s, after several years of making ice cream lights, left his hometown of Tocumbo, Michoacán, for Mexico City and in 1946, with the help of his brother and a friend, opened the first paleteria La Michoacana. The small shop eventually became a brand that popularized fruit lights throughout the country. Nowadays, it's almost impossible to visit a Mexico City neighborhood without coming across one of the thousands of stores with the sign La Michoacana or small shops that would not include sweet frozen treats in their offer.

 

New York's People's Pops

If our journey takes us to the city that never sleeps, we must stop at the popular ice cream shop there People's Pops, which he created David Carrel. Since opening in 2008, we can now find four successful stores in the city People's Pops, with gourmet lights of innovative flavors - raspberry with basil, strawberry with rhubarb, watermelon with cucumber, blueberry with peach (their best-selling flavor)... - and you can also treat yourself to New York food markets Farmer's Market.

Pop Nation in California

While wandering around San Francisco we will encounter 100% natural, vegan and gluten-free ice cream lights. The most popular flavors of California's family-owned handmade shop of gourmet ice cream lights Pop Nation are salted chocolate, creamy strawberry with basil and strawberry lemonade. At Pop Nation they don't care about the environment, so their bags are recyclable and their sticks are biodegradable. As a company, they are careful to ensure that their waste production does not exceed one bag of rubbish per week, and all excess food is thrown into the compost, which feeds the communal gardens.

 

Jerusalem fruit lights

V Tel Aviv impresses with its ice cream lights Nomi Zysblat. The trained chef fell in love with ice cream lights made from seasonal fruits, which enchanted her with their vivid colors and intense flavors, while discovering the Latin American districts of New York. Numb, who at that time worked in Brooklyn, before returning to Israel removed to Mexico City, where she learned the craft of making ice cream lights from authentic palateros there. Because Numb likes to experiment, in addition to the classic ones - pineapple with chili, avocado, roasted coconut, jalapeno-lime and guava - we also find unusual flavors such as tahini, tea, date honey, pomegranate and wine. Nomine paletas can be tried at culinary festivals, markets and at a stand at the train station in Jerusalem.

Sweetening up in Spain's La Rambla

Traditional mexican lights paletas also found in Europe. If we want to taste them in Barcelona, we have to go to the culinary market Mercat de Sant Josep de la Boqueria on always lively La Rambla, where the invitees await us neatly folded behind a glass display case of one of the many there booming stalls with fresh fruit and fruit juices.

London's Ice Kitchen

London is witnessing a real rhapsody ice cream lights from natural ingredients, as they have secured a solid place on all of them with many providers local culinary markets, markets, events and festivals. One of them is Ice Kitchen, the culinary project behind which they stand Emperor Roden and his aunt Nadia Roden, which rely on hand-crafting and imaginative mixing of flavors. Ice Kitchen boasts combinations such as sweet pear and ginger, almond chocolate and honey, chocolate and baked peach, tarragon and vanilla...

Paletas in Berlin

While discovering a "hipster" Berlin neighborhood Friedrichshain let's stop in Palette Berlin, which when making of gourmet ice cream lights follows the trend of using exclusively natural ingredients and mixing unusual, but extremely pleasant flavors for our taste buds. They will impress us ice cream lights, which taste just right fruit and vitality – raspberry and vanilla, orange and rosemary, blueberry cheesecake pie, hibiscus and raspberry, prosecco and strawberry, pina colada, aperol and orange...

When popsicle lights aren't just for kids anymore

Ice cream lights, which we knew in childhood as a frozen concoction of water, sugar and indefinable artificial flavoring, has been ushered into adulthood by a (growing) handful of artisan shops specializing in the manufacture and sale ice cream lights from real fruit that can be found all over the world today. Creative makers and vendors have introduced paletas to the masses in their cities, wowing them with a delicious alternative to classic desserts and staying afloat thanks to constant innovation – creative flavors like chocolate with sea salt and strawberry with basil are simply irresistible.