The Blue Pig
(121 Maple St Croton-on-Hudson 914-271-3850; thebluepigicecream.com)
The locally sourced ice cream here is fresh and free from steroids and antibiotics, high-fructose corn syrup, and gums. Owner and Chef Lisa Moir says, “We make everything by hand and from scratch. For our chocolate ice cream, we use melted Callebaut semi-sweet chocolate and vanilla paste, which has less water than vanilla extract. Ice cream doesn’t like too much water in it.” The result is creamy, delicious chocolate ice cream (with no ice crystals). ($3.50 single cone, $4.75 pint, $12.50 quart)
Méli-Mélo of Greenwich
(362 Greenwich Ave, Greenwich, CT 203-629-6153; melimelogreenwich.com)
The flavor-intense ice creams and sorbets are all natural and house-made. For chocolate ice creams and sorbets, they use Callebaut and Valrhona chocolates. Try the chocolate truffle ice cream or the Valrhona dark chocolate sorbet. ($6 pint, $12 quart, $48 gallon on pre-order)
Abbott’s Frozen Custard
(1143 E Main St, Shrub Oak 845-282-1761; abbottscustard.com/location/shrub-oak-0)
A 2010 Best of Westchester winner, this frozen custard comes in chocolate, chocolate almond, and rotating flavors like mudslide and mocha. The recipe has less than 2 percent air (8 percent less than ice cream and 38 percent less than soft-serve) and is made with fresh cream and egg yolks, yielding a creamy-soft frozen dessert that is as thick as it is delicious. (Just don’t call it ice cream!) Abbott’s is open seasonally from late March through October. ($2.37-$3.12 cone, $4.49 pint)
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