Nantou ice cream connoisseur makes frozen desserts with only the best local fruit

Nantou ice cream connoisseur makes frozen desserts with only the best local fruit

2022-11-07

Now we head to the countryside, for one of the best local ice creams you’ll find in Taiwan. Ice cream connoisseur Wen Ping-sen scoured the country for the best fruit, in his effort to make the most Taiwanese ice cream possible. He eventually settled in Jiji Township, Nantou, where he serves up sorbets and ice creams with nothing but the best, local ingredients. Visitors say the delicate flavors are great for folk who find normal ice cream too cloyingly sweet.

Fresh dragon fruits are washed and peeled.

The lush pink flesh is sliced. Wen Ping-sen does it all by hand to make sure the dragon fruit ice cream is as delicious as can be.

Making the desserts, he relies on years of experience and skill. Dragon fruit has a mild flavor so first it needs to have a flavor enhancement. Wen says that some Taiwanese fruit can’t go with milk. For the perfect texture, you must make sorbet.

Member of public
The fragrance of dragon fruit is great. It’s not too sweet. So people who don’t like it too sweet should come and give it a try.

Wen Ping-sen
Ice cream store owner
Some fruit really doesn’t go well with milk. Because milk has its own fragrance, and it destroys the original aroma of the fruit. So that’s why lots of fruit goes better when presented as a sorbet.

Wen is originally from Taoyuan, and spent six years perfecting the art of ice cream by traveling all over Taiwan to find the best fruit. Finally he decided to open his store in Nantou’s Jiji Township, using the local produce to create the most delicious fruit ices creams.

Wen Ping-sen
Ice cream store owner
We get the fruit straight from the farmers, before anyone else. I think it’s a win-win.

This gelato has the unmistakable taste of Taiwan’s fruit. Processed in the simplest way by hand, the result lets the natural flavors shine through, giving visitors a local, seasonal, Taiwanese treat.

選用在地當地水果義式冰淇淋濃濃台灣味

2022-11-07

南投好山好水好風光，也有品質好的水果，一位熱愛冰淇淋的達人，為了要製作出品質好的義式冰淇淋，嘗遍台灣各地水果，最後決定落腳南投集集，開了冰淇淋店。老闆堅持，製作的冰淇淋，源料都來自台灣在地的當季水果，像是集集香蕉，埔里百香果，每一口冰淇淋，都有濃濃的台灣味。

新鮮的火龍果清洗後削皮。

再將紅通通的火龍果肉切片，老闆親力親為，就是要作出美味的火龍果冰淇淋。

冰淇淋製作，全得靠老闆的經驗和功夫，因為火龍果味道比較淡，製作前得先做風味上的調整，老闆說，台灣水果有些不適合加奶，有些只適合雪酪的口感。

[[民眾]]
“火龍果的香氣很棒，不會到很甜，所以不喜歡太甜的朋友，都可以試試看”

[[老闆溫秉森]]
“有些水果真的不太適合加奶，因為奶有奶香味，把水果原汁香氣直接拉走，那所以這個原因，很多水果比較適合，用雪酪的方式去呈現出來”

老闆溫秉森是桃園人，為了做出完美的冰淇淋，他花了6年的時間，嘗遍全國各地的水果，最後選在南投集集設點，利用當地的環境做出風味最棒的水果冰淇淋。

[[老闆溫秉森]]
“我們這邊拿的，直接跟果農直接第一手拿，我覺得可以創造雙贏局面。”

有著濃濃台味的義式冰淇淋，用最單純的方式製作，才能凸顯出食材本來的特色，吃得到本土水果的香氣，職人製冰，食當季、用在地，發揚台灣味。

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