Local ice cream stands add flavor to your summer

With summer right around the corner, you can guarantee increasing temperatures will bring increasing appetites for the dessert of summer -- ice cream. It is easy to head to your local grocery store to grab some pints or popsicles, but the same ice cream all the time can get boring quickly. Luckily, here in Northeast Ohio we are fortunate to have great ice cream stands and stores close by.

Here in Aurora, we have two great options for ice cream. Fantasy Delight is an ice cream stand located right next to the Shell gas station on North Aurora Road. It is open until 10 every day, and offers your typical ice cream selections.

Malley’s Chocolates in Aurora Farms Premium Outlets is the second option for ice cream in Aurora. Even though ice cream is only available in the summer months, they have great options such as cookie dough, black raspberry, and of course chocolate. They are open from 10-9 Monday-Saturday, and 11-7 on Sundays.

Down the road in Streetsboro is the popular Strickland’s Frozen Custard. They offer all your usual ice cream selections, and have special “Flavors of the Day”. One unique menu item they offer are Strickland’s Chillers, which are essentially slushies with a scoop vanilla ice cream in the middle. Strickland’s is open from 12-10 every day, and also has locations in Akron, Montrose, Cuyahoga Falls, and Green.

Most Aurora High School students have heard of or visited Mitchell’s in Solon. Even though the parking lot is tight and difficult to maneuver, the treats inside are worth the struggle. Mitchell’s Ice Cream is made in downtown Cleveland with locally sourced ingredients, and offer over 30 different ice creams, sorbets, and frozen yogurts, as well as ice cream cakes and milkshakes. They offer two different vegan flavors, as well as quirky flavors such as lavender honey and Geauga maple walnut. Mitchell’s is open from 10-11 Sunday-Thursday, and 11-11 on Saturday and Sunday. You can also find them in Rocky River, Ohio City, Westlake, Avon, Beachwood, Strongsville, Cleveland, and Shaker Heights, and can even tour their factory in Ohio City.

You can visit Handel’s Ice Cream in Twinsburg on Ravenna Road, as well as at their other 24 locations in Ohio. Open from 11-10 every day, you will find a wide menu of traditional ice cream favorites, along with some unique items. You can buy Handel’s Hurricanes, which are blends of popular candies such as M&M’s, Nerds, and even cotton candy with vanilla ice cream. You will also find Handel Pops, ice cream scoops in a chocolate shell served on a stick.

Most Northeast Ohioans are unfamiliar with Graeter’s Ice Cream. Based out of Cincinnati, Graeter’s is slowly making the climb up north with locations at Pinecrest in Beachwood and Crocker Park in Westlake.

I might be bias, as I have spent many summer visits to my great aunt in Cincinnati enjoying the local’s preference for ice cream, but Graeter’s Ice Cream is well worth any drive--whether it be to the suburbs of Cleveland or Cincinnati. They offer 25 different ice creams and sorbets, as well as seasonal flavors. I personally recommend the often imitated but never truly rivaled Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip, as well as their S’mores flavor you can buy during the summer. If you do not want to make the drive, you can find many Graeter’s flavors at Heinen’s in Aurora.

Northeast Ohio is home to five Honey Hut Ice Cream locations, with the closest being in Solon, its hours being 12-9. They are also located in Parma, Old Brooklyn, Brunswick and Brecksville. They offer 13 regular flavors, as well as 5 monthly special flavors. Even though their menu might not be as expansive as other local ice cream stands, their flavors are delicious, homemade, and available in pints so you can enjoy Honey Hut at home.

Ice cream is a beloved summer treat, and here in Northeast Ohio we are fortunate to have a multitude of different options to satisfy our seasonal cravings. With so many local options, we have the great opportunity to support local businesses and find new favorites.