Friday, January 11, 2008

24 flavors

How do you measure the success of a trip halfway across the world?

Is it the stories told? The laughs shared? The memories forged together?

Who knows. What do I look like, the answer man?

All I know is that over his three weeks here, Stu had 24 flavors of ice cream. That's pretty damn impressive.

He kept a journal of the flavors and I've listed them below (with the exception of one lost to Stu's tummy and the ages). I've tacked on some explanations and translations where I could.

Most ice cream shops have somewhere between 20-30 flavors. Of those flavors, probably half to two-thirds are roughly the same from shop to shop. We're talking your dulce de leche (plus variations: with walnuts, with chocolate chips, etc.), your basic fruit flavors, your chocolates (again, plus variations), your vanillas and sweet creams.

After that, you get into the specialties of each shop. These can be named after the shop itself, or they can take the name of the idea/flavor/place that inspired it. So maybe "Chocolate Daniel" has pieces of my favorite fruit in it. But the problem with this is that there are NO explanations on the signs at these ice cream shops. So you have to constantly ask, "Well, what does chocolate of the jungle have in it?" Or "What does dutch chocolate have in it?"

Anyway:

  • Chocolate holandés (chocolate with candied orange peel)
  • Dulce de leche con nuez (dulce de leche with walnuts)
  • Crema de pistachio
  • ?
  • Banana Volta
  • Crema de almendra (almond cream)
  • Crema de cereza (cherry cream)
  • Bacciola (chocolate and hazelnut cream)
  • Vainilla al malbec (vanilla with Malbec wine)
  • Mantecato (similar to butter pecan)
  • Canela (cinnamon)
  • Melocotón al syrah (peach with Syrah wine)
  • Crema portuguesa (Port-flavored cream)
  • Torroncino (Spanish/Italian nougat flavor)
  • Maracuyá (passion fruit)
  • Chocolate alpino
  • Frutilla (strawberry)
  • Crema rusa (booze-flavored cream)
  • Banana split (banana ice cream with chocolate chunks, dulce de leche)
  • Crema de higo con nuez (fig cream with walnuts)
  • Chocolate amadeus
  • Crema maiori
  • Sambayón (Marsala-flavored cream)
  • Mousse de limón

3 comments:

Jeff and Yvonne Weinstein said...

Tastes like a wonderful trip!

Anonymous said...

I almost ordered Banana Volta the other day but asked for a sample first. Good thing I did cuz that color does not exist in nature... neither does the flavor. Ew.

Hey, what was the flavor I tried at that heladería on Corrientes that I liked so much? Do you remember?

Dan said...

Mmm... I can't really remember. No clues to help me out? Flavor category? Color? Begins with ...? Sounds like ...?

In any case, Heladería Las Malvinas is so 2007.

2008 is all about La Flor de Almagro.