Veracruz’s unique ice cream

If you are coming to visit Mexico you know that you’ll be enjoying some amazing food and traditional drinks!

Being a native of the dairy state of Wisconsin, I consider myself pretty well-versed in ice cream. However, the ice cream that I ate in Veracruz on my recent trip to Mexico was completely new to me.

Veracruz is known for its unique form of ice cream, or nieves in Spanish. If you are a Spanish speaker you probably learned the word helado for ice cream, as nieve means snow, but in many parts of Mexico, it’s used to mean ice cream. In fact, Veracruz’s ice cream is a bit more snowy or icy than your typical ice cream but still melts in your mouth. Think sweet, frozen coconut milk without the coconut flavor. Flavors are 100% natural and there were a lot of them that I had never heard of. Nanche?! Mamey?!

There are branches of these stores all over, but it’s best to head to the original in the city center by Los Portales. The fast-talking employees yell “pásale güero” with dizzying speed to entice anyone strolling by. Güero is a term for someone with light skin or hair but is used in a friendly way and in this case for anyone, kind of like saying dude or man, come on in. These employees are as much of a draw as the ice cream itself. I would love to know what kind of test they have to take to be able to work there!