Ice Cream!

(This is "news about popular science communication", and not medical advice - especially since, as a reader of this blog, you're likely someone who will find glorious confirmation in the results...)

Via a thread on Bluesky I encountered an article from The Atlantic titled Nutrition Science’s Most Preposterous Result (alternate version) pointing to a 2018 Harvard doctoral dissertation¹ that suggests a counterintuitive reduction in heart health problems associated with a particular risk group consuming half a cup of ice cream a day. The article focuses more on the "how science is supposed to work" part of it, than actual mechanism - we're far over on the "more research would be interesting" side of the line, not the "change your diet/join our cult" side.²

The thread author writes about a personal experience with health and ice cream that aligned well with the article and has some interesting theories around stress, cortisol, and saturated fats. I think the sensible takeaway is probably just "no really, individual humans really can be more different from an ideal metabolism than we'd like to pretend they are."

And after all, you were going to go have some ice cream anyway, right?

Seen in Burlington: in between Osteria Nino and Wegman's, in the corner space where David's Tea used to be, there are now these huge signs that a new Holy Cow Ice Cream Café is opening in Spring of 2025!

This will be dangerously convenient, especially for their glorious Mintsanity or Corner Piece flavors...

Their Locations page doesn't yet mention it, though there's a 3rd Ave Burlington real estate/marketing page that suggests their hours will be noon to 10pm. Other sources give a target date of May. Ping me if you hear of an opening date!

Went out to the Hopkinton Winter Farmer's Market since it was an unusually nice day for February and I wanted to check out Edward's Coffee Company and Pure Pastry. As far as I can tell, every ice cream shop in Hopkinton proper is closed for the winter, but T. C. Scoops in the next town over was open.¹

There's no outdoor seating (just a dozen or so spaces of shared parking lot) but the interior space is huge - lots of spread out tables and a long serving counter. They have an unusual number of brightly colored ice cream flavors - some conventional, some you just have to ask about (like "Crazy Vanilla".)

T. C. Scoops serves Hershey Ice Cream, FoMu non-dairy (coconut-milk based) dessert, and an oat-milk-based option; they also have sorbet and "Incredible Ice".

Toppings are divided into wet (hot fudge, strawberries, whipped cream) and dry (oreo bits, heath bar bits, gummy bears), including Chocolate Jimmies and Rainbow Sprinkles. They also have "Crunchy Cotton Candy" and "Plantain Chips" which might be worth a try just for the novelty.

They have four serving sizes of ice cream, and corresponding sundae sizes, along with a top-it-yourself sundae bar. They also have specialty sundaes like banana split, brownie, and waffle cone.

They have frappes, floats, ice cream soda, smoothies, and raspberry lime rickie; they also list a decadent-sounding "frozen hot chocolate".

First Visit

I started with their "Extreme Chocolate" with Chocolate Jimmies (sort of redundant, but they're more for added texture anyway.) It was an almost black color with a strong (but not bitter) chocolate flavor; nothing mixed in. Not quite as creamy a base as I'm used to but the richness of the chocolate flavor made up for that.

A closeup of the Extreme Chocolate ice cream itself, without the layer of Jimmies hiding it.

The "Creamsicle" deserves the name - a bright orange with a "cream" swirl that reminds me exactly of the true Creamsicle® bars from my childhood. (It's not unusual to make a Creamsicle variant by swirling in vanilla ice cream - which is also a tasty treat and I'm not suggesting it's wrong, but it doesn't hit the exact nostalgic notes the way this version does.)

Another view showing the density of the cream swirl after getting halfway through the Creamsicle part.

Next Visit

Holliston is kind of small and out of the way (before this review, the town was entirely absent from my travel photography collection) so it isn't likely to become a regular haunt - but I'm likely to find an excuse to stop back at Gaetano's Bakery for their Florentine Cookies, so that would be a good chance to stop in and try some of their more unusual flavors like "Playdough" (colorful vanilla base with cookies mixed in), "Crazy Vanilla", or "Butter Brittle Crunch" - or maybe just get a Frozen Hot Chocolate (perhaps in the summer, just to compare with the classic Serendipity 3 version.)

I was out running errands and discovered that Mad Willie's was nearby and had winter hours. The storefront is right on that little chunk of Route 30 that splits off of Route 9 and then merges back; there's a relatively small parking lot shared with a couple of buildings, but on a Wednesday afternoon there wasn't much going on so there was plenty of available space. There are a few tables out front, which you wouldn't expect for early February, but it was very sunny and just above freezing, so it was actually a fine place to sit and at least start on some ice cream (fulfilling my role as a stereotypical ice-cream-obsessed New Englander.)

There's also indoor seating - a window bench and a couple of tables. There were a couple of people there, at what would otherwise be a completely dead time, which is encouraging as far as them having enough business to stay open.

They have a broad menu - aside from Proper Ice Cream, they have an extensive Frozen Yogurt list, Soft Serve (I didn't notice at the time but they have both Cinnamon and Ginger listed as Soft Serve flavors), Richie's Slush, Smoothies, Frappes, Floats, Milk Shakes and Sundaes. Toppings include Butter Finger and Heath Bar; I didn't see Sprinkles or Jimmies on the menu but they probably have them.

The large cup there is 4½" across (115mm) which is large even by New England standards! They also have a range of cones, and it looks like the Italian Ice servings follow the same set of scales.

First Visit

I started with Death By Chocolate - rich chocolate flavor, shading towards dark but not overwhelmingly so; had big chocolate chunks as well. Since it was so sunny out, I sat at the outdoor picnic bench and soaked up the sun (and the chocolate...)

I actually took the rest home and finished the Maple Walnut later in the afternoon. Big walnut chunks and a pronounced maple flavor in a creamy ice cream - exactly what Maple Walnut is supposed to be.

Next Visit

Green Monster, Butter Pecan, and German Chocolate Cake all stood out as future choices; they also have Maine Black Bear which I need to try one of these days. They also have about twice as many Frozen Yogurt flavors as ice cream flavors, including Grapenut and Cotton Candy Krunch.

I had to look up what a "Cry Baby Slush" was - turns out that's Sour Apple. Not for me, but an interesting novelty if you're into that...

Happy Solistice! After Thanksgiving I'd gotten out of the habit of doing regular ice cream shop explorations, but the days are getting longer and it seemed like a good time to visit the places that are staying open over the winter.

Today's shop is Moozy's, a corner shop in Belmont (right where Trapelo Road meets Belmont Street.) There are a bunch of outdoor tables and a half dozen indoor booths; the interior is dominated by a large ice cream counter, with a self-serve frozen yogurt bar tucked in one corner, and a burger and grill section on the far side.

Their ice cream menu includes Graham Central Station, Black Raspberry Chip, and Moose Tracks. Aside from the usual cups, cones, packed quarts and pints, they have Sundaes, Banana Splits, Frappes (including an Espresso Frappe), Floats, and Smoothies. For toppings they have a list of fresh fruit options, a range of Sundae toppings, and a "candy & crunchies" section including Real Chocolate "Jimmies"¹ and Heath Bar Pieces. They also have three sizes of Ice Cream Cake (custom orders need 48 hours notice, per their website.)

First Visit

I started with a sample of my friend's Eggnog (a christmas-season-only flavor.) Really strong, even a little bit tangy - very convincing eggnog ice cream with a rich base. Sufficiently strong that it overwhelmed my intended followup, the Peanut Butter Oreo - I made it about halfway through before the peanut butter taste actually stood up to the eggnog; though I don't think that would have been a problem by itself, maybe add the "creamy peanut butter" sundae topping if you want to go all in on peanut butter flavor.

The second half was their Extreme Chocolate, which earned the name - a rich chocolate base, chocolate chunks, and a dark chocolate sauce, delivering chocolate on multiple fronts. This was a much better flavor experience than the peanut butter oreo - no subtlety at all, and no need for it either.²

Meletharb Homemade Ice Cream¹ is in a little strip mall just inside I95, halfway between I93 and Route 1. It's in a mostly residential area, but it's only one exit away from the last Fuddruckers in the state.³ It has a two-station indoor serving counter and indoor tables and chairs.

The ice cream flavor list is fairly long - they also have soft serve, but only vanilla and chocolate. They have a toppings list (hot fudge, whipped cream, salty caramel, etc) and a separate "Crunchy & Squishy Toppings" list (including Heath Bar, Krunch Kote, and Gummi Sharks.) They are also the first place I've seen with "Real Chocolate Jimmies"⁴.

Ice cream servings are Kiddie, Small, Medium, and Large; they also have design-your-own Sundaes (plus a Brownie Sundae and a Banana Split.) They have frappes, freezes, slush⁵, ice cream sodas, and floats, as well as a freezer case full of ice cream cakes and ice cream cookie sandwiches. They also have a short frozen yogurt list, two non-dairy flavors, and Orange Sherbet.

First Visit

I started with "Peppermint Bark" - a vanilla base with bits of peppermint candy and chocolate. Nice strong mint and a lot of crunch, but the ice cream itself had a somewhat "stretchy" texture to it - not unpleasant, but I've never noticed it anywhere else, and it made taking spoonfuls one-handed⁶ a little tricky.

The other half was "Coffee Heath Bar" which didn't have the texture issues the Peppermint Bark did. It had a distinct but relatively mild coffee flavor, which weathered the mint quite well, while still being pretty far over on the Latte side of the coffee flavor scale. Heath Bar is a really good crunchy add-in (it's also available on their Crunchy Toppings list.)

Future Visits

The flavor list has some of the more interesting variations I've seen; next time I'm here (they do appear to be open all winter) the "Cinnamon French Toast", "Baklava", and "White Pistachio" are all tempting creative choices; if I'm instead leaning towards crunchy classics, they also have Maple Walnut and Grapenut. If I'm feeling more indulgent than usual, I'll construct a Sundae with strawberry and whipped cream, and about half of the Crunchy Toppings list on top...

For the 50th ice cream shop in this series, I went to Herrell's Ice Cream and Bakery which is sort of a nostalgia trip for me. I'll leave most of the history to Wikipedia but the bits I personally experienced include

• Steve's in Davis Square (the building was torn down years ago, the Italian restaurant Posto¹ is in what was the parking lot) two doors down from the Original Bertucci's²
• Steve's in Harvard Square (on Church Street) which is where I first encountered the labor-intensive "mix-ins" process (Herrell's now calls this "Smoosh-ins")
• Herrell's in Harvard Square (on Dunster Street, I think Mike's Pastry is there now) which is more well remembered as "The Place with the Bank Vault" (the vault had benches, mirrors, and undersea artwork decorating the inside, a surprisingly cozy spot)

It turns out that this one, in Northampton, was the original, after Steve Herrell sold Steve's (to the Bertucci's guy) and then waited out his noncompete agreement.

Herrell's in Northampton is tucked in to the bottom floor of the "Thornes Marketplace" multi-story mall, which leads to it having a street entrance and an indoor entrance (and 30ft ceilings.) No outdoor seating, but plenty of indoor booth space and a row of barstools along the Old South Street window. Parking is a little odd - there's a huge amount of street level parking downhill from the center of town, which is 100% full during business hours - but the E. J. Gare Parking garage (which is connected by a second-floor skybridge to Thornes) is free for the first hour (and only 75¢ for the next) so just go there directly, and follow the signs to the Old South Street exit, Herrell's is Right There (150ft away, up a slight hill.)

Ice cream serving sizes run from Kiddie to Large (and packed pints and quarts); toppings are divided into "Goodies", sauces, fruit, and whipped cream (plain or chocolate). Goodies are the ones that can be used as "Smoosh-ins" (medium or large servings only.) They also have sundaes, banana splits, and ice cream cakes; milkshakes, smoothies, floats, spritzers, ice cream soda, and New York Egg Cream. Since they're open year-round, they also have six flavors of hot chocolate. They also have a 4-scoop "sampler" (similar to the Tasting Flight we've seen a few other places.)

While they are very clearly an Ice Cream First sort of place, they do have multiple flavors of sorbet including Concord Grape, frozen yogurt, no sugar added, and oat-based No-moo® flavors.

First Visit (to this location)

I went with a double scoop (served side-by-side, which is unusual but convenient for comparative tasting) of "Mudpie" and Peanut Butter. Herrell's gets credit for documenting the mystery flavors (like "Cookie Combustion" and "Microchip") right on the menu; Mudpie is an espresso ice cream with cookies and fudge swirl. Definitely a "coffee ice cream for people who actually like coffee" and a strong dark chocolate flavor to the swirl - Herrell's has always been famous for their hot fudge sauce, which they sell in 10oz jars. The ice cream itself seemed a little bit icy, but they had just opened for the day - it might just not have been out of the deep freeze long enough. The flavors were still excellent.

The Peanut Butter was was also surprisingly rich - you usually need a peanut butter swirl to get that strong a flavor, but this was coming from the ice cream itself - which might make it a better base for your choice of "Smoosh-in".

Going back

Herrell's is more than an hour away for me, though I combined this trip with visits to the adjacent used book store and the Quabbin Reservoir high trail (eagles!) I'm not likely to return often, though I'm sure I'll find some excuse. I will definitely try some smoosh-ins (though I'll try to resist the temptation to just put walnuts in everything) and their "Real Chocolate Sprinkles" (and decide if I want to get a packet of them to go.) While I'll probably start with Chocolate Pudding and High Definition Vanilla, their Sweet Dreams (novelty flavor with chamomille tea, honey and lemon) might be worth a taste, along with their Concord Grape Sorbet.

I'll also have to remember to bring a proper spoon of some sort - they serve bamboo spoons, which aren't as bad as paper straws, but they're a little off in texture (specifically that they have a texture.) They also feel like they're going to break - though as the picture shows they were sturdy enough to finish a large without failing - so that might be a matter of getting used to them. I haven't seen them anywhere else, though - Northampton being a "college town" this might be an upcoming trend.

Art's Creamery is on Trapelo Road in the middle of Belmont - a couple of blocks east of Belmont Wheelworks. It's in a short block of retail storefronts, with lots of street parking, especially in the evening - and since it's open until 10pm (11pm on weekends), there's very little contention for it. This being Massachusetts, there's actually another (small) ice cream shop a couple of doors down in the same block¹.

No outdoor seating or service, and no indoor seating either; just a long line² of serving/display tubs of ice cream and gelato, then another counter with a grid of toppings (which might have been self-service in a bygone time.) No frozen yogurt or other items in the "almost but not entirely unlike ice cream" category, other than 3 Vegan flavors including "Vegan Almond Chai". They do have a long toppings list including, correctly³, Chocolate Jimmies and Rainbow Sprinkles. They also have a 3-scoop milk shake, and any-flavor cold-brew Affogato.

They do have a variety of "mystery flavors", like "Chiller Bee" and "Matrix Brownie", but not only are the staff enthusiastic about explaining them, the online menu has more detailed ingredient lists⁴ than most shops do.

First Visit

Since they had such a broad Gelato selection (and encouraged sampling), I tasted the "Belgian Chocolate Gelato" - pleasantly strong chocolate flavor, but I personally find the texture of Gelato a little off - if you already know you like gelato, though, go for it.

For the ice cream itself, I started with Maple Walnut - which has candied walnuts, making the texture a bit more like Butter Crunch, as well as having a really distinctively maple flavor in the ice cream itself. (Chocolate Jimmies on top.)

I followed that with "Matrix Brownie" - a serious dark chocolate base with brownies, chocolate swirl and some other chocolate crunch to it. Not sure about the theme behind the name, but it is competitive with several of the Extreme Chocolate flavors I've tried - a good choice for a chocolate fan.

Future Visits

Next time around I'll definitely try "Chiller Bee" (assuming it is actually a honey-based flavor) and maybe the "Peanut Butter Banana Fluff". This is also the second place I've seen that lists Butterfinger crumble as a topping, which might be a good addition to add texture to basic Chocolate. It would also be interesting to see if their Cinnamon flavor is more "autumn seasonal" or "butter crunch but with red-hots instead", but fortunately they encourage sampling.

Schoolhouse Ice Cream is on 3A about two miles north of 128; it's in a strip mall with True North Coffee, across the street from Mehfil Indian¹. Lots of parking, picnic tables with umbrellas out front and booths inside. On a mid-November evening it wasn't crowded but there was a steady stream of takeout traffic.

They have two dozen ice cream flavors, with complicated ones like "Chocolate Fudge Brownie Dough" and "Blue Moon" alongside basics like "Mocha Chip" and "Black Raspberry". They also have a short list of frozen yogurt, sherbet, slush, and sugar-free flavors, and basic soft serve. They do make up for it in toppings - three kinds of dip cone, dry toppings including gummy bears, skittles, and snow caps, and a bunch of topics. They also have both rainbow and chocolate sprinkles (but no Jimmies.)

Ice cream is served in cups, pints, quarts; sundaes go up to X-large and Banana Boat. Drinks include frappes, malted, sherbet cooler, slush freeze². On the extreme end, there's a Sundae Bucket Challenge, "10 scoops, 10 toppings, 1 spoon", and while they don't have named sundaes, they do have a dozen or so Staff Suggestions up on the wall, there are certainly enough options to build what you want.

They do emphasize that they use 16% butterfat for their own ice cream. However, most of the places I've been are on the high end of the scale anyway. The other detail on the sign is that this is "Schoolhouse of Cape Cod" - the backstory is that the Mom of one of the owners has an ice cream shop in Harwich Port out on the cape that they got advice from.⁴

The Ice Cream

I went a little fancier than usual and added whipped cream and walnuts to this one. Since there were multiple "location" flavors, I went with both of them: "Harwichport Mud Pie" and "Burlington Heath Bar".

The "Burlington Heath Bar" was sweet and crunchy, with enough chocolate from the heath bar to be more than just a butter crunch variant.

The "Harwichport Mud Pie" is named for the location of the owner's Mom's ice cream shop out on the Cape. Very rich, lots of chocolate mixed throughout; their website lacks details but I enjoyed it, it was a nice complement to the "Burlington Heath Bar" I started with.

Next Time

I'm definitely going to have to remember this place, while I'm not in the immediate neighborhood as much it is still pretty convenient (if you're coming from the east, you can get off 128 at Winn St and take that to where it meets 3A and you're almost there.) I'm going to have to give their soft serve dip cones a try, also "Chocolate Peanut Butter" - and I should at least ask what the "Blue Moon" flavor is.

Johnson's Restaurant and Dairy Bar is on 225, about 10 minutes outside 495 - if you're driving anyway, it's not too far from the O'Neil Cinemas movie theater in Littleton. I first found it on one of my summer convertible trips - 225 and 119 meander north west, where you can pick up 202 to meander back south, optimizing for scenery (and avoiding cities.) Even before you get to the Quabbin Reservoir, this is the part of the state where the towns are outnumbered by "Wildlife Management Areas." However, I mostly remember the convenience of the location, I have no idea (and no pictures of) what ice cream I got (or what year it was.)

The spot is surrounded by parking, and has a bunch of outdoor picnic tables (some around back with umbrellas.) There's also some partially-dismantled seating on the hillside which is probably available in the summertime. There's also a bunch of indoor seating, both tables and benches. There are two outdoor ice cream windows, and an indoor counter for ice cream and a lengthy grill menu¹. They're open all week over the winter, but Monday through Wednesday they close down after lunch.

Aside from a lengthy ice cream menu, they have a couple of flavors each of soft serve, frozen yogurt, sherbert, and dairy free sorbet. They also have ice cream pies and sundaes. They have the usual toppings, including marshmallow and Sprinkles (not Jimmies.)

The Ice Cream

This is the first place (out of almost 50 reviews!) where ordering a cup half one flavor, half the other, got me a cup split down the middle so I could start wherever I wanted or go back and forth. Kudos to the server; worth the extra effort, and not just because I only needed to take one picture! (To be fair, I wouldn't blame them if used the faster top/bottom scoop approach at busier times; this was an evening visit in early November, there were only a couple of people there the whole time I was.)

The left half was a brightly colored Butter Crunch - not as bright as the neon yellow Butter Crunch at Chelmsford Creamery - this one was definitely "not vanilla" in color and had a distinctly buttery taste as well. Not a lot of crunch bits, but the flavor was definitely enough.

The right half was a flavor called "Scooby Snax" - they have a few "mystery" flavors like "Suzanna Banana" and "Hawaiian Supreme", fortunately the servers have the descriptions handy - this one was a vanilla base with mini peanut butter cups, cookies, chocolate, and fudge sauce. Lots of texture, lots of flavor - though I think they should consider a chocolate- or coffee-based version of this one, I was happy with it, and it was a good pairing with butter crunch.

Next Time

Other flavors that caught my eye included "Coffee Heath Bar", "Salted Caramel Cookie Dough Chip", and "Frozen Pudding". The "Hawaiian Supreme" sounds like it might be a good choice for summertime, but I didn't get to ask what was in it, and their website has been untouched² since 2013 - and only has the meal menus, doesn't have any of the ice cream flavors anyhow.