March 12, 2017 at 7:26 pm

It is ice cream time here as summer has arrived. Temperatures will soar to forty degrees Celcius in a few days. Every one of us will remember our childhood having different variety of ice cream. If we are short on budget it would be the one which happens to be a ice bar with different flavors of syrup juice in it. The basic varieties which I used to enjoy as sticks childhood in summer season were the orange, mango, raspberry, grape and pineapple to name a few. In the milk variety I used to get the pure milk variety, vanilla, pista and cadbury variety.

The choice were limited and few at that time when I was a child. In the one litre pack variety I remember the vanilla which was widely available and the strawberry and pista flavors. There also used to be cones but this same ice cream was scooped on the cone and sold. The vending used to be done by a push cart ice cream man with a bell attached to his two wheeled cooler vending machine which was a small push cart. It used to be made of metal, inside there used to be a compartment of metal in which ice cream was stored. To keep it cool there used to be ice which used to be put in between the space of  the ice cream container and the outer cover. That was it.

All said and done it was an enjoyable experience with limited choices. I was happy with what I got to taste life was simple those times. Happiness was found in little things. Money had its real worth too. You could buy something even for one paise. This was around the 1970’s. Then came the brands which are all pervading now which spelt the deathknell of this small scale industry which used to provide employment to many small families who used to eke out a living and run the house out of the earnings from this business. This was a family oriented industry at that time.

Now there are famous brands in the market with a wide variety of products competing with each other to get a share of the business. Production has become full automated too. Prices have also shotup exponentially. One liter which one used to get earlier has been reduced to 700 grams while price is of more than one liter. Some of the varieties which I taste occasionally as I have to take care not to get cough or cold after consuming the same.

The varieties which are usually bought by our family now are the tub varieties which are basically family packs. We generally buy two to three varieties at one time and try the same in a assorted way or even individually. The ones which we usually buy now are of course the vanilla, pista, tuttyfrutty, mango, lemon, cadburry, kesar pista, fruit and nuts, straw berry, almond, pure milk, badam and a few more varieties.

So go ahead and enjoy the summer with your choice of  ice cream during the hot months and share your experience whichever part of the world you are in. Taste ice creams and enrich your and your family and friends life and take care of your health too.

March 21, 2017 at 9:32 pm

Had the first vanilla ice cream this summer, it was good for a start. Looking forward to tasting more varieties as summer progresses. People feel like having ice cream more especially between 12 in the afternoon and before 4 in the evening. As that is the time when the sun is very hot and summer becomes harsh. This turns out to be a boon to the ice cream vendor as majority of his business is between this period. Even fruits like water melons, musk melons and pine apples and grapes are in great demand.

Prices have gone up substantially as demand increases. One more business which is benefited due to summer is the coconut vendor as there is great demand for this nut especially the one containing lots of water which is very healthy for the body. When the demand is too high and stocks dry up these vendors approach those who have coconut trees and pluck the nuts from the tree and sell the same for which the owner of the house in which the  tree is located is paid an amount per coconut plucked. An interesting business venture.

March 22, 2017 at 4:24 pm

I only prefer two flavors for my taste. One being chocolate and another being mango. I think mango is one of the good flavors out there. If it is mixed with some other nuts and flavors, then that can be good too. Though there are some other flavors like pista, cashew and all. I think mango and chocolate still remained my favorites so far. As they are good in terms of taste. It’d be fun to check them out every now and then these days. As the season for the mango is already out, so the ice cream tastes good.

March 22, 2017 at 4:44 pm

@mahesh

Interesting choice you have to taste in the summer, I like mango but I have not tasted chocolate much. Would like to taste the same during this summer. We have many things which we have not tasted. It would be a good thing to try out something new too. I like the family pack as the content in the pack is more compared to the other varieties too. Thanks for the inputs and the feedback.

March 29, 2017 at 10:35 pm

I highly prefer chocolate ice-cream as it gives me sufficient energy in this typical summer in India.  Whenever I think of ice-cream, always I visualize chocolate ice-cream!

There is 2nd choice also… Butterscotch! I like that also.

March 30, 2017 at 10:40 pm

@Barnali sarkar

Even I like to eat butterscotch too. But many of you seem to like the chocolate variety including you. So base on the good review I got about chocolate. I have to choose a good chocolate ice variety this summer and taste it. I have been seeing ads of many different companies who are well established brands selling chocolate ice cream. I will taste the same and let you people know how  my views  about the same.

For you this summer enjoy lots of varieties of ice cream with family and friends. I think the prices of ice creams would also have increased appreciably as the heat wave is extending all over India. Especially North India is having heat wave predictions for the coming two days. It is time for good business for these companies also for consumers to savor the best ice creams which they would want to.  Have a tasty and healthy summer too.  Best wishes.