Have you ever met somebody who doesn’t like ice cream? Neither have we. For most people, ice cream is the most refreshing thing they can dream about on hot days. But different cultures around the world have other summer treats and some of them are just as tasty.
Do you even remember when you had your first ice cream? Well if you don’t, that may be because your parents spoiled you with this refreshing dessert ever since you were a little child. You can buy it from any store, from the ice cream truck, or make it at home.
Out of all the summer treats, ice cream is the most famous and widespread around the world. Still, there are countries with different cultures which have their own perfect summer treat (and that doesn’t mean they don’t also have ice cream!). It may be a version of sweet ice cream or a completely different thing. Let’s see:
13 Summer Treats From Around the World
Kulfi – India
Kulfi is a popular frozen dairy dessert from the Indian subcontinent. It is similar to ice cream in appearance and taste, but it’s denser and creamier. People make it from a mixture of condensed milk, sugar, and rice or corn flour. It comes in various flavors. The more traditional ones are cream, rose, mango, cardamom, saffron, and pistachio.
Chocolate frozen bananas – Mexico
Frozen bananas are desserts made by placing a banana upon a stick, freezing it, and usually dipping it in melted chocolate or yogurt. People often cover them with toppings such as coconut, chopped nuts, sprinkles, sugar, and crushed cookies.
Tire sur la neige – Canada
Also called Canadian maple syrup taffy, tire sur la neige is a sugar candy made by pouring hot maple syrup and letting it cool on snow before rolling it onto sticks. Once sufficiently hardened, you can pick up the candy and eat it.
Pflaumenkuchen – Germany
Have you ever imagined summer treats that have nothing in common with ice cream? Well, pflaumenkuchen is a plum cake with a buttery crust. It is popular as a summer cake and has different local labelings throughout Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.
Açaí na tigela – Brazil
Açaí na tigela means açaí in the bowl and is a typical Brazilian dish made of frozen and mashed açaí palm fruit. Brazilians serve it as a smoothie in a bowl and it’s commonly topped with granola and banana, and then mixed with other fruits and guaraná syrup.
Faloodeh – Iran
Faloodeh is a traditional Iranian cold dessert similar to a sorbet. It’s made of thin vermicelli-sized noodles frozen with corn starch, rose water, and sugar. They often serve it with lime juice and sometimes ground pistachios.
Café liégeois – France
Café liégeois is a cold dessert of French origin, made from lightly sweetened coffee, coffee-flavored ice cream, and whipped cream. Often you can have it with crushed roasted coffee beans on top of the Chantilly as decoration.
Raspao – Latin America
Raspao (also called raspa or raspado) is a finely shaved and syruped ice. They usually top it with colorful fruit syrups and sometimes with condensed milk or honey.
Sinh To Bo – Vietnam
Sinh tố bơ is the name of a Vietnamese avocado shake. This drink is a sweet, rich and creamy smoothie (or milkshake) that is made from ripe avocados, regular milk, and sweetened condensed milk.
Tartufo – Italy
Tartufo (“truffle” in Italian) is an Italian ice cream dessert. It is made from a ball of ice cream (usually of two or more flavors), which have either fruit syrup or frozen fruit in the center (typically raspberry, strawberry, or cherry). They cover the ice cream ball in a shell made of chocolate or cocoa and sprinkle cinnamon, nuts, or chocolate shavings over it.
Dondurma – Turkey
Turkish people pride themselves with dondurma, a Turkish mastic ice cream, made of cream, whipped cream, salep, mastic (a resin obtained from the mastic tree), and sugar. It is a famous stretchy ice cream which has a pliability similar to taffy. You can buy dondurma from both street vendors’ carts and storefronts, where they churn the mixture regularly with long-handled paddles to keep it workable.
Halo-halo – Philippines
Have you heard of halo-halo? Filipinos make this popular multilayered dessert from a mixture of shaved ice and evaporated milk to which they add various ingredients: chickpeas, sweetened beans, purple yams, coconut, fruit, jello, flan, and ice cream.
Patbingsu – Korea
Koreans make Patbingsu, a popular shaved ice dessert with sweet toppings like adzuki beans, chopped fruit, condensed milk, fruit syrup, and ice cream. The food originally began as ice shavings with a red bean paste. You can find it at most fast food restaurants, cafes, and bakeries in South Korea.
If you’re looking for simple, but refreshing desserts, here you can see our ice cream recipes.
