There aren’t many locations left where ice cream is made the old fashioned way, especially during July which is National Ice Cream Month.
Niederfrank’s Ice Cream, located in National City, thrives on making natural ice cream with old-fashioned freezers instead of modern machines.
Elmer Niederfrank opened the street-front ice cream parlor in 1948. There he experimented with new flavors that are still sold today.
“The most popular flavors are still the regulars, chocolate chip, strawberry, vanilla, and then the ones after that are like pistachio and papaya pineapple,” said Mary Ellen Faught, 53, one of the current owners of Niederfrank’s Ice Cream. “The most rare flavors are probably avocado, Thai tea, vanilla-quarter all which is made with beer, champagne sorbet, so really, kind of everything.”
The taste doesn’t stop there; the ice cream menu includes an extensive list of more than 50 different ice cream flavors that are everything from fruity, creative, nutty, coffee, chocolate, sorbets and sherbets.
The ice cream is made in a cylinder-like steel machine that has been around for about 100 years.
“Everything is made very old fashioned with very old farm recipes,” said Faught.
The machine spins for about 10 minutes with all the ingredients inside until the consistency is thick enough to stand on its own. Then gallons of ice cream are poured into buckets that are either sold in the store or distributed to other locations around San Diego.
“We don’t take out strawberries and put in flavor, we don’t do any of that stuff. Baskin Robbins doesn’t have one banana in their banana ice cream, ours is only banana,” said Faught. “There’s no reason to have a chemical make you think like your tasting something else. I think that’s where all the cancers come from because if it’s not natural, what is your body saying when it’s taking it in. It doesn’t know what to do.”
Ice cream prices range from a single scoop at $3.25, to a double for $5.25 and a triple for $6.75. A a pint with two flavors costs $6.50, and a quart with two flavors is $8.50. Niederfrank’s Ice Cream can be found in the San Diego Country Club in Chula Vista, in Aqui Es Texcoco in Chula Vista, and at the National City Parlor on A Avenue.
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