Why I Make French Custard

When I started with the idea of Cool Hope, the first thing I decided was to test the vanilla. Not out of romanticism, out of stubbornness.

Vanilla is the most classic flavor in the world, the one with nowhere to hide. Any brand can cover a weak recipe with caramel or dulce de leche. Vanilla doesn't forgive. So I drew the line: if I couldn't pull off a good (basic) vanilla, I wasn't going forward.

Six recipes, eight tasters, one table

I made six mixes, different bases, different proportions of yolk and cream: French, American, Philadelphia, gelato, and two of my own.

I called family and a couple of friends, eight people in total. I gave each of them an index card and a spoon per mix. No names, no hints, just numbers one through six.

The rule was simple: taste, write, score. French custard won, and not by a close margin.

What makes French custard different

Without getting into chemistry class, it uses egg yolks and cream. That's what changes everything. The yolk lets the fat and the water blend without fighting. That's where the silky texture comes from, the one that stays in your mouth a second longer, the one that doesn't feel like ice when it melts.

Gelato is denser but less fatty. Philadelphia doesn't use yolk and comes out lighter. Each base exists for a reason. French custard is one of the richest, and it lasts longer in the mouth.

The ice cream you don't devour

Cool Hope isn't an ice cream you eat standing up before it melts. My ice cream asks you to sit down. It asks for a small spoon. It asks for a second person at the table, or a book, or a long silence.

When I chose this base, I wasn't only choosing a recipe. I was choosing the pace at which the brand exists.

Most of the flavors that come out of Cool Hope today are made on the same base that won that night. The Signature Collection, the Flavors of the Month, the Handwritten Collection. All of it starts from the same point: eight people picked blindly at a table.

Upcoming drops are announced at cool-hope.com and by email. We deliver across San Juan and Guaynabo.

#RitualOverRush