Ice Cream Week: Top Ice Cream Places North Of Boston

BOSTON (CBS) - No matter where you go, you can always find a local ice cream stand. North of Boston, there are plenty of places to go, many of which make their own ice cream.

One such location is Hodgie's Ice Cream in Amesbury. Owner Jason Regis says the secret to his success is pretty simple.

"We are very consistent with our product," he said. "We pay attention to every detail we can about making it."

It all starts with the cream, a high-quality, high-milk fat mixture that heads into the ice cream-making machine.

WBZ NewsRadio 1030's Ben Parker reports.

"We'll take the cream, we'll put it in a batch freezer, and then based on what flavor, we'll put in the ingredients," Regis said. "And then it goes into a flash freezer, so you make the ice cream extremely cold right away. After a day in there, we have to bring it up to a little bit more moderate temperature, something you can scoop at."

Web Extra: Hodgie's Ice Cream

Among the more popular flavors at Hodgie's is coffee Oreo, and Regis said that no matter what flavor, he can never get enough.

"I never get tired of it," he said. "I have it every day."

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The folks at Carter's Ice Cream in Haverhill will tell you that the trick to making ice cream lies in what you start with. Owner Jeremy Dinan says the secret is in the cream.

Web Extra: Carter's Ice Cream

"Here we use strictly 16 percent butterfat, which gives it more of that creamy, taffy-like texture" he said. "When it comes out of the machine, it comes out almost like soft serve. We put it into the flash freezer, which we run at about -20, so we try to freeze it as fast as possible."

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When extras are added depends on the specific flavors. Dinan said that exact timing is important.

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"Certain things you don't want to put in too soon," he explained. "If you put M&Ms in too soon, the colors are going to all bleed out of the M&Ms. Every flavor's a little bit different. We have to kind of learn when to put certain ingredients in."

"I've been doing it now for about 20 years, so you just kind of do it by feel," Dinan added.

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Some of the customer favorites at Carter's include double brownie fudge and ginger, but their most popular flavor remains the basic vanilla.

Ben Parker's series can be heard all this week on WBZ NewsRadio 1030. He'll look at the area's favorite ice cream places.