best ice cream in ottawa [General]

2011 Jul 26
Shawna Wagman posted her list of the best ice cream in Ottawa/Gatineau. The interview is not yet online, but worth listening to once it is posted. She explains her reasons for picking the list below. Here is her list:

Pascale's Ice Cream, sold at the Ottawa Farmer's Market and Little Italy Farmer's Market, as well as stores the Piggy Market, the Red Apron, Life of Pie, Thyme & Again, and 42 Fine Foods

Edgar, on 60 rue Begin in Gatineau

Absinthe Bistro

Gelatini Gelato in Little Italy

Thimble Cakes on Bank St in Centretown

Stella Luna Gelato Cafe, soon to be open in Old Ottawa South

Art-is-In Bakery for their iced hot chocolate

www.cbc.ca

I live near Gelatini and have yet to see it open when I walk past. I will make more of an effort to try it out after listening to Shawna's interview.

2011 Jul 26
My favorite would have to be La Cigale in Chelsea. Second would have to be Gelatini.

2011 Jul 26
I agree with bonnste. Can't believe La Cigale isn't on the list.

2011 Jul 26
i like la cigale too, would be curious what her thoughts are on their ice cream. i wish the audio clip was up. her requirements were hand made using quality ingredients and not too much sugar. she had a real problem with most ottawa ice creams & gelato having too much sugar, so that is all you taste.

i'm curious to try absinthe's ice cream, since she compared it to some of the better ice creams she tried in european. absinthe will sell it by the litre for take-home if you don't want to eat it there.

btw, her inclusion of stella luna was based on gelato tasted on a pre-openning night. the store is not yet open.

2011 Jul 26
I do find La Cigale's ice cream to be sweeter than that of Edgar, Pascale's or Truffle Treasures, which interestingly did not make the cut either.

I'm very curious to try Absinthe's ice cream as well...and perhaps to revisit Pascale's.

2011 Jul 26
man, i have the worst typos! i need my spell check :-)

lady who brunches - Shawna said Absinthe ice cream offerings change regularly. It is $15 a liter and all freshly made.

her issue with sugar was interesting, just using fresh ingredients isn't enough, the sugar has to be carefully calibrated. i think it is more a north american thing to have a heavy hand with the sugar. we get used to it, so we expect it.

she had lovely words to say about marysol and said all the ice cream and gelato she is making is done using a regular cuisinart ice cream maker. alan neal didn't seem familar with edgar. he has had pascale on his show a few times, so maybe he'll invite marysol on to talk food and her approach.

there is more info on Ottawa Magazine

www.ottawamagazine.com

2011 Jul 26
Maison Chalouin, despite being from a Provence recipe, is likely too sweet for her definition then. Which is okay, since it's set out ahead of time this is what's being checked for.

I'll have some shopping to do too...

2011 Jul 26
Neat list!

I will have to try a few on there- the ones that I can get to easily by bus that is.
I usually end up going to the same place as it is near me.
It is good,but usually not very exotic unless you get the Arabic ice cream...that is very different,but so rich I can't eat much of it.
I am trying to get more sorbet though as it is non-dairy and better for me (still lots of sugar though).
(I usually go to Malak on Bank st). The dark chocolate gelato is very good there and their pistachio gelato has a lot of ground pistachio in in..and no almond extract,so you really taste the nuts in it!

Pascale's ice cream is good too (except the chocolate goat milk I sampled...not for me),tried a berry and balsamic "popsicle" last year and that was very good!

Can anyone suggest a place that has pistachio ice cream that does not taste like almond extract? most I have tried except the place I go to have an overpowering almond taste (which is ok sometimes),but I prefer the taste of the actual pistachio in the ice cream.....

Does Thimble Cakes make their own ice cream or is it brought from somewhere else?

2011 Jul 27
I love Pascale's precisely because it is not too sweet. Right now I am enjoying a sour cherry & rhubarb flavor that is wonderful. Maybe I'm just not capable of tasting both those flavours at the same time, but the flavors seem to alternate in my mouth: now it's cherry, no wait! It's rhubarb! Also loved her Jack Daniels salted caramel flavor served at whalesbone, and the Avocado/honey/lime. Her popsicles are really nice too - blood orange buttermilk! Pascale has a wonderful way with unique flavors.

2011 Jul 27
prettytasty - thimble cakes makes their own. they also have vegan options.

for pistachio, Shawna said during the interview, that stella luna - opening in ottawa south, will have one. it is made with pure pistachio nut paste imported from sicily. she sampled two pistachio recipes, both had the same amount of sugar, but one had more nut paste. she preferred the nuttier one, but the rest of the tasters preferred the less nutty/more sweet tasting one. something to check out once the shop officially opens.

thimble cakes is also planning to offer a cupcake cone, which will be a cupcake baked into a cone topped with homemade ice cream.

2011 Jul 27
@PrettyTasty indians do a ice cream called Kulfi. The pistachio and mango are to die for. Even the plain is amazing. I have memories of fresh slabs cut and sold on the beach in Bombay. I've seen these kulfi popsicles sold at various Indian stores locally but from my recollection they aren't great. So I sincerely recommend keeping in mind to try pistachio (pista) kulfi if the opportunity arises. They might actually have some decent stuff in the Ottawa stores but I can't vouch.

I've tried the ice cream at the piggy market when it first opened. Can't recall if it was Pascale's back then. But I was totally unimpressed, we bought three different flavors. It was bad enough that I wanted to pitch it.

I've had the ice cream at Absinthe. It was pretty good, sadly the dessert sampler I had came with the pastry portions all burnt which ruined the experience.

I haven't had a ice cream locally that beats a Hagen Daz.

2011 Jul 27
Some people may like ice cream that is less sweet, but I do enjoy sweet ice cream. Maybe specialized stores could have "sweetness levels" on their ice crema, like the "heat levels" on hot sauce. That way everyone could get something just as sweet as they want. Of course, the good places will let you get small samples of several ice creams to helps you decide which you prefer :-)

For those of you who enjoy sweet, I suggest the banana split at La Cigale. Banana, pick 3 kinds of really good ice cream, plus they make their own caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, strawberry jam and whipped cream. It's not desert, it's a (very sweet and oh so not balanced) meal...

From my own ice cream making experiments, I also know it's easier to get a smooth texture when you use a lot of sugar, so making "less sweet" ice cream may mean having to use additives to get smaller ice crystals. Of course, you can also use extra fast chilling instead to get really smooth ice cream, but I don't have access to liquid nitrogen right now, just a cheap ice cream machine ;-p

2011 Jul 27
@Isabelle: I'm not convinced that more sugar = a smoother texture. I think it comes down to what you do with the sugar and how quickly your ice cream freezes.

I made an incredible earl grey ice cream over the weekend that didn't have more than a cup of sugar in the pint. It was pretty delicious :)

2011 Jul 27
As a chemical engineer, I'm fairly certain that the presence of a good quantity of sugar helps making the ice crystals smaller when the freezing is not super fast (super fast freezing is ideal, but needs more expensve equioment than what I have). Of course, other ingredients (especially fat), as well as mixing, also impact the smoothness.

Earl Grey ice cream sounds delicious indeed, I have to try that! I'm not very good with imperial units, but if that pint is 4 cups (is it?), than 25% sugar by volume seems like a good amount of sugar. More than most recipes I have. I'm sure at that level there is no texture problem.

2011 Jul 28
I forgot about Kulfi!
I can not eat many Indian dishes without very bad indigestion (usually get just baked samosas at the store lately :(

But I think I have tried mango Kulfi many times and that is usually good.

I have never tried gelato made w pistachio paste...sounds really good.
I know the one I buy now from Malak- I was told he does not use pistachio paste but grinds the nuts into a powder and uses that.

I will have to pick up some of Pascale's ice cream this weekend I think,she has such neat flavors.

I also thought that to reduce ice crystals, the ice cream is kept at a low temperature...but this is only ok if you have a freezer just for gelato (like at a store...not useful for home).

I know some people, they use different thickeners to make the ice cream smoother.
I know some Arabic ice creams are made with a special gum -Mastic or Gum Arabic..or it goes by some other name.
I am supposed to be getting my hands on some sometime soon. I want to try making ice cream with it here,since I have a Cuisinart ice cream maker and do not use it much.
-the dang cylinder for it takes too much space in the freezer....

I know there are several other kinds of thickener you can use also,but haven't really tried that yet.
I'm supposed to get my hands on some soon ,since someone who makes gelato at their store offered to sell me some.
I also can get already ground pistachios- so maybe I'll try making some gelato with it (once I finally make my pistachio truffles that is...).