It is believed that the forerunners of frozen desserts, such as sherbet and flavored ices, date back to Persia over 2,500 years ago. Though Marco Polo is sometimes credited with bringing the concept of ice cream back to Europe from China, it’s more likely that it made its way to Europe from the Arab world (like coffee, surgery, algebra, the toothbrush, and a hundred other innovations), where a single lick of a frozen dessert in that desert environment must’ve seemed like manna from heaven.

So it is in our own desert environment. Who hasn’t felt instant relief from the beating sun by imbibing a simple vanilla shake or risked the stroke-like headache from injudiciously gobbling a double-dipped cone? The desert is to ice cream like salt is to chocolate; it makes it all the sweeter.

Handel’s, Palm Desert

The story goes that during one very hot summer in Youngstown, Ohio, in 1945, Alice Handel picked some fruit in her backyard and made a few batches of ice cream. What started as a neighborhood favorite was soon available at a store and then spread across the country. Handel’s has a cult-like following … just check out their Town Center store, where there is usually a line out the door. Unlike “frozen desserts” (which can’t be called ice cream because of the lack of actual dairy in them), ice cream has a rich, wholesome taste. Though I adore their black cherry ice cream, a simple scoop of vanilla is among the best I’ve ever tasted. And made into a shake? You’ll be back in line before you finish it.

Perfect Pint, Palm Desert

Jordan Panaiotov and Gabrielle Nagengast were restaurant professionals who found themselves out of work after the pandemic struck. They decided to do something about it. In their small condo, they began to experiment with making frozen custard. Unlike Philadelphia-style ice cream (which is the standard American ice cream style), frozen custard is more of a pudding because it has egg yolks cooked into it. The result is an intensely rich, smooth dessert, almost like a frozen crème brulee. It’s less about the sweet and more about the fat. And, as Panaiotov says, “Fat is flavor.” Everything on the menu is worthy of a try, though I can’t get past the pistachio custard with raspberry preserves and white chocolate chunks. 

Lappert’s, Palm Springs

The history of Lappert’s is somewhat counterintuitive. When Walter Lappert retired to Hawaii in 1983, he decided to open an ice cream store. It became so popular that Lappert’s is the largest ice cream chain in the islands. Lucky for us, it not only made the jump over to the mainland but can be found in downtown Palm Springs on North Palm Canyon Drive. One of the genius aspects of Lappert’s is that their menus are created for local tastes. For instance, at the Lahaina store on Maui, a must-try is the Dole soft-serve float, composed of pineapple soft-serve ice cream with fresh pineapple juice and pineapple shavings. An absolute standout at the store in Palm Springs is their date shake. Sure, there are date shake purveyors at the eastern end of the Valley who boast the use of “date crystals,” but Lappert’s makes its sublime concoction with date ice cream and date paste. The result is, hands down, the best date shake on planet Earth. 

Nitroinfusions, La Quinta

Seven years ago, Nancy and Sebastian Prieto were looking to open an ice cream store and stumbled across a YouTube video of a chemistry teacher showing how liquid nitrogen (-321 degrees) creates ice cream with no air. The result is an ice cream so smooth and creamy that it makes a tub of supermarket ice cream taste like flavored cotton. Their Nitropops are outrageously good; the pistachio, strawberry balsamic, and Key lime pie flavors are high on my favorites list.