Who Needs Cold Stone Creamery, Anyway?
Sher over at What Did You Eat did a sweet meme yesterday ("Ten Foods I Miss the Most"), and in it she reminisced about the custard she had when she was living in Lafayette, Indiana. Suddenly, I had a craving for a creme de menthe milkshake, my favorite treat from Jarling's Custard Cup on Kirby Avenue. Jarling's opened in 1949 in Danville, and the store in Champaign has been serving homemade custard since 1983.
Stop by for an old-fashioned soda, a wide variety of shakes, malts, and sundaes, or a Snickers parfait. The waffle cones are fresh-baked daily and they have delicious frozen pies as well. Or if you'd rather, pints and quarts of your favorite flavor are always available to take home. Jarling's is open from March through mid-November. In the fall, check out their Pumpkin Pie custard. But don't wait that long to enjoy Champaign's best frozen concoctions. Jarling's Custard Cup
309 W. Kirby Ave. (near Kirby and Neil St.)
217-352-2273
Hours: 12 p.m. to 10 p.m. daily
posted by Lisa at 6:26 AM
Add to Del.icio.us
19 Comments:
I love supporting small ice cream stands...however, cold stone is pretty damn good!! lol
I would be more willing to support Jarling's if it weren't so expensive. At least at coldstone you get stuff put IN your ice cream (my favorite part) for the price. I honestly don't get the "custard" thing--it tastes the same as ice cream to me! :) I am more a gelato person, which is equally stupid expensive and available from independent purveyors about town.
BTW, I think I found your site when googling a recipe. We're both in Prarieland CSA so we happen to cook a lot of the same things at the same time!
where's my mind: Right, Cold Stone, whatever. :)
Jenny: Thanks for stopping by. But hold on here! You're calling Jarling's expensive? Compared to, say, Cold Stone? Where you pay about four dollars for world's tiniest cup of ice cream? Hmm. Well -- I might have to do a scientific price comparison. :)
Gelato, gelato, gelato. Not sure what the fuss about this stuff is. We had it in Florence a few years ago, after hearing that the city had the best gelato in Italy, and Keith and I both said, Hmm. This is good, but a lot like...ice cream we have at home. Probably we just don't possess sophisticated ice-cream palates.
I'm not in the CSA (I used to be; in fact, I was a cofounder of the Prairieland one), I just buy stuff at Farmer's Market. If we had the opportunity to have a "true" CSA, where a group of people own a piece of land and all the food grown on it is paid for by and divided up among shareholders, I would probably do it. I'm not at all dissing the current CSA, I'm just saying it didn't work out particularly well for me.
Fresh baked waffle cones, Snickers parfait!! Wow!! The pumpkin pie custard sounds delicious. I need a sugar fix baaad. I have to admit I was so looking forward to Cold Stone when they opened here, but I wasn't bowled over when we finally had our ice cream. Maybe I expected too much.
Now that we have a sweet new ice cream maker (thanks, Lisa!), I can say I understand why Custard Cup prices have gone up in the past few years. Have you bought whipping cream lately? It's surprisingly expensive. So I'll gladly pass my $3 on to our local Custard Cup for a small crackle sundae with pecan pralines. Ahhh, perfection.
By the way, my understanding of custard is that it has less air and more egg yolk than ice cream, which is supposed to result in a creamier, richer texture.
I guess I think if you get plain ice cream, yes ColdStone is more expensive. But for me, plain ice cream is not worth eating really, and getting toppings at Jarlings is expensive. I guess Jarlings was hyped to me a lot, and the custard seems like normal quality to me--the same that I can buy in the store. At Cold Stone, it's expensive, but I am getting something I can't get elsewhere, so I am willing to pay it.
I get why custard is different CHEMICALLY, I just don't see any difference tastewise. I am to custard as you are to gelato, I guess! :)
I think uppity gelato snobs suck. I grew up in an Italian neighborhood, so I grew up with gelato. I think gelato places use fresher ingredients (esp. fruit), and I LOVE the texture of the chocolate they use in the chocolate chip--it's not like regular chocolate chip. I am weird. Also, I like milk better than cream!
Ah you linked to the CSA, thus I assumed. it's my first year. We'll see how it turns out!
Hi Heather, thanks for the info on custard vs. ice cream/ice milk. I never knew what the difference was. Sometime, I'll have to sit down with Jarling's, Cold Stone, and gelato from Persimmon or somewhere and do a professional taste test. :) Oh, and of course I'd have to compare to homemade (hint, hint).
Jenny, let me know how the CSA works out for you. I remembered that one thing I didn't like was that being in it, I didn't need to go to Farmer's Market, and I missed that scene...
Well I don't have a vehicle, so in that regard, CSA having available, nearby, good veggies is great. Not having a choice is a double edged sword--it's made me try things I wouldn't have otherwise, but also, sometimes I get something I know I don't like. At the moment I feel like it's worth it if only because it forces me to go out and get veggies, and it's convenient. It's probably not cost/time effective for me, but like I said it's an impetus to make veggies more a focus and try new things.
I blog about what I make with the ingredients generally at http://www.jennyjenny.org.
I went to the U of Illinois for my undergrad and I have fond memories of Custard Cup! It's so good! Now I live in Paris where they make superb ice cream and gelato and I still love custard cup! Divine! I can't wait to read more of your blog!
Coldstone uses a dry powder mix for flavoring. Ice cream is made on site, but that really makes no difference if your flavorings are powdered. 'Nough said.
This is an interesting site. I never thought I'd find myself reading a blog by googling Cold Stone.
The cake batter ice cream is made with real cake mix. So yes, technically cold stone uses "powdered" mix in some ice cream flavors. If cake batter mix wasn't powdered, then something would be wrong. :-)
Cold Stone is the ultimate ice cream experience, but Jarling's is pretty darn good too!
i worked at cold stone and i can tell you for a fact that (besides cake batter, as the above poster mentioned) the ice cream is NOT made from a powdered mix.
Veronica, thanks for the info. I've had Cold Stone's ice cream, and I think it's very good. To me it seemed more expensive than Jarling's, but obviously others disagree! Anyway, I like supporting our local outfit.
Actually, Custard Cup's product is not technically custard. The creator did not like the aftertaste left from the eggs in custard so he created an ice-milk product without eggs. Also, Custard Cup's product is 93% fat free! The price of the mix that Custard Cup uses has gone up atleast 3 times since they opened in March, which is why they have to charge the price they do. But, atleast they don't pump air into their product like some ice cream places do (*cough*, Dairy Queen, *cough*). I will always be loyal to Custard Cup not only because I worked there but because I grew up with it! BUT... I can't resist cake batter ice cream with brownies mixed in from Cold Stone!!
Have you tried to Dad's Custard in Paxton? It is hands down worth the drive. I would drive up there and get several quarts and share with my favorite people, they have the best hot fudge too, and nice people. MMM I hope it is still open!
I grew up in Champaign and definitely miss Jarlings now that I'm in New York. You can't get the cold fudge anywhere else!!
Thanks for the info, Anon.
Jackie, I've not heard of Dad's in Paxton. Maybe I can get up there sometime and try it; sounds good!
Grace Notes NYC: I can see how you would miss Jarling's, even in the big city. Cold fudge—yeah. Did I mention the creme de menthe shakes??
I grew up in Danville, my parents went to school with the Jarlings. I have lived on the west coast for many years now and besides my family in IL, the two things that I miss most is the Custard Cup on North Vermillion and Steak-n-Shake. When I was a kid we would spend the day at the Danville Country Club and then would head out for a treat at the Custard Cup after. It brings back great memories.
Anon, thanks for your comment, and for sharing your memories.
Post a Comment
<< Home