Ice Delights: When cool rules

11 February 2015 - 02:18 By Rea Khoabane and Siphiliselwe Makhanya
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From homemade ice cream to frozen yogurt and artisanal ice lollies, tasting some of the best cold treats was a pleasure.

Paul's homemade ice cream

What started with a lick on the streets of New York for Johannesburg-born Paul Ballen has become his signature creative indulgence. He is the son of world-renowned photographer Roger Ballen and artist Lynda Ballen, who previously designed his labels. A present of an ice cream maker was Ballen's first step on the road, and an experiment with Nutella and chunks of Oreo led to his first batch.

Ballen's ice creams are made from the best fresh milk and imported chocolate from Belgium, eggs, sugar.

This is what ice cream is supposed to taste like, says the 25-year-old slim ice-cream maker. He recently replaced his 90ml round plastic tubs with 125ml cardboard boxes.

"It's nice to hold, the paper is tactile. It brings another element to the eating of our ice cream," he says.

We tried:

Roasted banana

The delicate caramel flavour left my mouth tingling for half the day. The sweet, complex roasted banana played brilliantly with the cream.

Milk chocolate

The flavour to judge really good ice cream by. Rich Nutella notes balanced with cream and a slight bitterness.

Other flavours

White chocolate and honeycomb, caramel popcorn, peanut butter Oreo, milk stout and molasses, chilli chocolate and many more.

  • Delivery in Johannesburg for orders of five litres or more. Try a scoop at Wolves, Melissa's Food Store, Thrupps and Meat.etcpaulshomemade.com

Cocobel

Cousins Cornel Visser and Belinda Gebhardt believe that the pleasure of their product is enhanced by the experience. The two women set up their store in an old green truck on a Maboneng sidewalk. Cocobel offers the creamiest frozen yogurt in town . Then there are toppings such as caramel, chocolate and fruit. But Visser and Gebhardt have become creative with the extras and also offer what they call "the sweets of their generation" - things like apricot sweets and jelly bears. I knew I'd be back for more of the creamiest "fro yo" ever. Yo u can also try one of their delicious speciality slush puppies.

We tried:

Strawberry swirled with vanilla topped with apricot sweets

Gorgeous and yummy but they change their flavours every week.

  • Maverick Corner, corner Fox and Albrecht streets, Maboneng

Las Paletas

Paletas (Spanish for ice lollies) are hand-made artisanal sorbet and dairy ice lollies, some of which are alcoholic. The Las Paletas artisan lollies franchise in Johannesburg is run by mobile cocktail services Thirst. Husband and wife team Jason Sandell and Diana Chavarro specialise in exotic flavours such as guava and cheese, coconut lemonade, pineapple and chilli, sour mango, peanut butter and jam, mango lassi, litchi raspberry and more. The alcoholic pops come in mojito, piña colada, margarita and cosmopolitan flavours. The lollies are sold from a kombi at Neighbourgoods Market.

We tried:

Watermelon and mint

The ultimate in fresh flavour. My child said it was the best thing she ever tasted.

Margarita

Perfect balance of salty, sweet and sour. Like having a drink in your hand without holding a glass.

  • To hire the truck contact Clyde at thirstbarservices.co.za or go to www.laspaletas.co.za

Era homemade ice cream

Enjoy a flavoursome lick of the past at Penny Fitchet's charming Durban homemade ice cream shop.

Pablo Picasso's peanut butter, Marie Antoinette's apple and cinnamon and Liberace's lemon meringue are delicious nods to nostalgia.

Fitchet, a 2014 MasterChef contestant, opened Era in November. She uses cream and only real, fresh ingredients.

Her whimsical parlour is picture-book sweet and the menu features incredible tales of each ice cream's namesake. Lord Chelmsford, she would have us believe, was "slaughtering a bowl of his favoured choc orange" while his men fell to the Zulus during the Battle of Isandlwana. And Chairman Mao of the chocolate mint "really didn't brush his teeth".

We tried:

Marie Antoinette's apple and cinnamon

Tastes like Christmas.

Liberace's lemon meringue

The sherbet top is amazing. Not too sweet, the lemon is sharp but the meringue cuts through it.

Julius Caesar's salted caramel

Initial tang of salt - the way your lips taste after a day at the beach - then sweet, caramel yumminess.

  • 118 Problem Mkhize Road, Durban
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