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6 Min
21/01/2026
Ice creams are for summer, winter, spring, and every season in between. But beyond the typical frozen dessert, there are more than one variety of ice creams, made with condensed milk, salep, and of course milk. The preparation techniques differ to a degree, making the desserts local hits in their respective countries. Be it gelato, paletas, or dondurma, these taste way different from your local ice cream.
Ice cream has evolved far beyond its Western roots. Today, frozen desserts reflect the cultural identity and creativity of different regions across the globe. From the elastic, show-stopping Turkish Dondurma to the fruity, handcrafted Mexican Paletas, and from Japan’s chewy mochi ice cream to Korea’s elaborate shaved bingsu, each variation tells a story. While these dominate social feeds, certain other ice creams deserve the spotlight too. Let’s get our swirl on!
This is exactly the viral ice creams that Turkish ice cream vendors playfully stretch and tease their customers with. Head to any Turkish restaurant, and you will find this ice cream served with the vivid orange kabak (sweet pumpkin sauce). It ranks #1 on TasteAtlas' Best Ice Creams Around the World, and rightly so because it’s resistant to melting, unlike traditional ice cream. It is dense and chewy, and the reason for this is the addition of two thickening agents – Arab gum (mastic resin) and salep (flour made from the root of the purple orchid). Thanks to its tough texture, this Turkish ice cream is usually eaten with a knife and fork.
An Italian classic, gelato comes in different types, which are made with milk, sugar, cream, and eggs. To add flavours, fruits, nuts, and other flavouring agents are added. What makes gelato different? The slow churning process and lower fat content make gelato denser than regular ice cream. Gelato also has concentrated flavours, a creamy and silky finish, and is spread, not scooped, into cones. Because of its dense nature, it is stored at lower temperatures than usual. Gelato is believed to be Sicilian, but it is credited to the Florentine Cosimo Ruggieri, an alchemist, astrologer, and advisor to Queen Catherine de' Medici, the regent of France.
A rage across the United Kingdom, Cornish ice cream or clotted cream ice cream, is from Cornwall. It is a traditional ice cream made with whole milk, cream, eggs, and clotted cream. The clotted cream is what makes this ice cream unique and gives it a velvety finish. It does not use much else, except vanilla or other mild flavouring agents. Typically, this is served by adding a dollop of clotted cream over scoops of ice cream.
Nicknamed dirty ice cream, as it's sold by street vendors in the polluted streets of the Philippines, sorbetes is a Spanish adaptation. This frozen dessert is made with coconut milk or carabao’s milk (water buffalo). They are sold in typical ice cream carts that are not too hard to recognise. It comes in different flavours – chocolate, mango, ube (purple yam), and coconut, with the ice cream sometimes incorporating cheese. It is typically scooped into tiny sugar cones, and some locals like to have it sandwiched between bread buns.
This Iranian ice cream is the work of Akbar Mashti, Tehran’s first ice cream vendor. It is a dense saffron ice cream made with milk, sugar, egg yolks, and cream, which is cooked first and then churned. What sets it apart from other ice creams is its use of salep, like the Turkish dondurma. Apart from the saffron that gives the ice cream its vivid yellow hue, it also incorporates rose water and ground cardamom. A bite into this confection might have you find ‘makhloot’, which are pieces of clotted cream. Head over to Iranian ice cream parlours and you will find it served alongside faloodeh (vermicelli noodles in rosewater syrup).
These look and taste a lot like your local popsicles, but are less watery and denser. Paletas are of Mexican origin and use whole fruits and cream, which you can spot in each popsicle, which will have traces of fruit pulp, nuts, or cookies. The name comes from the little ice cream stick on which the paletas are set. The Filipino sorbetas were inspired by the paletas, and this one is from Tocumbo, Michoacán, made around the 1940s. Street vendors usually sell them, but they can also be found in local speciality shops called paleterías.
A Peruvian dessert, it’s made from whole milk, evaporated milk, desiccated coconut, sugar, egg yolks, and whole spices like cinnamon and cloves. It was first made as a substitute for ice cream at the Santa Catalina convent at Arequipa. It is cooked first with the egg yolks and corn starch added to the pan, off heat. The ice cream mixture is strained and then frozen to set the ice cream. It’s usually handmade and not by an ice cream machine, so it tends to have a granular and cheesy texture. After the ice cream is frozen, it is sliced and served in bowls dusted with cinnamon powder.
From chewy Middle Eastern ice creams to icy Latin American popsicles, ice cream isn’t just a dessert – it’s a delicious dialect of global culture. Across continents, every scoop and spread tells a story, and every bite holds a tradition of ancient alchemists. So whether you lick, bite, slurp, or spoon it, ice cream always speaks the local language.
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