By the time spring arrives, all I can think about is one thing: ice cream.

Ice cream is delicious year-round, of course, but eating something cold when it’s cold outside takes the joy out of it a little. Believe it or not, good ice cream is hard to come by, but the best ice cream is the smaller batch, homemade kind.

As Syracuse residents, our reward for enduring long winters can be found at Gannon’s Isle. Gannon’s has three locations: The Valley, Shady Brook and soon-to-be downtown location opening in mid-April in the Dey’s Centennial Building. The Valley location, at 1525 Valley Drive, is the only one currently open for the season, but the Shady Brook location, at 4800 McDonald Road No. 6, will open within the month.

Run by the Gannon family since 1982, The Valley shop is Gannon’s flagship store and where the ice cream is made daily.

When we pulled up to Gannon’s, it was packed. Customers can order outside or inside, but both lines had about a 20-minute wait. Few, if any, other Syracuse University students stood in line. Located only about 10 minutes from SU, I figured the place would be packed with students, not just nearby residents.

All of Gannon’s ice cream starts with a base of cream, containing 14-percent butterfat, and sugar, according to an article by The Post-Standard. Most ice creams, the article said, have only 12-percent butterfat, which makes Gannon’s richer, creamier and, well, better. Air is mixed into the ice cream to make it lighter, then it is flash-frozen to prevent ice crystals from forming.

Gannon’s ice cream is well known and has received the Syracuse New Times “Best Ice Cream Shop” award for many consecutive years. I felt like a giddy school child as the line in front us became shorter and shorter until finally, it was our turn to order.

The list of flavors was so long that deciding what to order was headache-inducing. We ended up getting two single-scoop cones, Almond Bark and Sea Salt, $3.10 per cone. I also added a waffle cone for 85 cents extra.

We got our ice cream within minutes and headed inside to the seating area. The walls and tables were covered with hand-painted, graffiti-esque images of ice cream and cones coming to life. There was ice cream smiling with cones dancing and having a great time.

The Almond Bark was a chocolate ice cream with chocolate shavings and whole almonds throughout. The chocolate was rich but not too chocolaty, and I could still taste the caramel. There were plenty of chocolate shavings and I loved how they kept the almonds whole, whereas most brands would’ve chopped them up. I did, however, wish for more almonds, as there were only six or so in my entire scoop.

Overall, though, the ice cream was heavenly and I savored every bite.

The Sea Salt cone was like an ice cream version of a sea salt caramel. It was a vanilla ice cream with strong notes of caramel and a slight aftertaste of saltiness. The salt enhanced the flavor of the ice cream, rather than being a dominant flavor. It was salty-sweet perfection.

The portion sizes were perfect, too — big enough where you felt like you were getting your money’s worth, but not too big that it might’ve been hard to finish.

As we were walking to our car, we heard a little boy scream, “I love Gannon’s ice cream!” I found myself not wanting my ice cream cone to end, and even thinking about what flavor to get next time.

Published on April 10, 2013 at 12:19 am

Contact Riddley: rsgemper@syr.edu