Scoop There it is: Visit the Hendersonville Ice Cream Trail

There are homemade ice creams, brand-name ice creams, soft-serves, frozen custards, frozen yogurts, banana splits, milkshakes and sundaes, as well as authentic Mexican sorbets and paletas (ice pops).

“We recommend a lot of trails in our area of the Blue Ridge Mountains, but the Ice Cream Trail is the one you’ll want to take after completing the others,” says Hendersonville tourism director Michelle Owens. “Who hasn’t earned the right to enjoy a scoop or two of ice cream after a long hike, trail ride or paddle?”

Several trail locations craft ice cream from scratch, including Celtic Creamery, El Rio Ice Cream & Paleteria, La Vida Loca Ice Cream, McConnell Farms, The Baker’s Box and Whit’s Frozen Custard.

The Baker’s Box is the only trail stop featuring chef-driven ice cream. Co-owner Mara Nicholas is a culinary school graduate of Johnson & Wales University. She focuses on ice cream and pastries, while her husband, George, also a Johnson & Wales grad, handles the savory side of the restaurant.

Mara serves six homemade ice creams at all times. Chocolate and vanilla are constants, interspersed with creative combos like spicy butter pecan, blueberries and cream, and Baileys Original Irish Cream and chocolate swirl. Enjoy her ice cream by the scoop (toppings available) or in tasty milkshakes. The restaurant also displays Mara’s collection of more than 150 LEGO sets.

At McConnell Farms, long-time owners Danny and Kathryn McConnell dipped into the ice cream game in 1999, making strawberry ice cream with an antique hit-and-miss engine attached to an Amish freezer. They have since attended four ice cream schools to significantly upgrade their equipment and output.

McConnell Farms typically offers 14 flavors made with fruit and other items from the farm, like cherries, blackberries, raspberries, peaches, figs, honey and ginger. Danny is also known for concocting unusual combinations like rum raisin, blackberry chocolate chip and fig mascarpone.

“We use the best ingredients we can find,” Danny says. “Our mixer turns slower, putting less air into the product and making it denser.”

Celtic Creamery scoops extra-thick Irish-style ice cream. Everything is made in-house, including waffle cones. The Hogan family regularly visited Ballybunion, Ireland, where they fell in love with McCarthy’s Ice Cream and worked with owner Joanna McCarthy to duplicate her recipe’s amazing texture and taste in Hendersonville. Celtic Creamery also has freshly cooked mini donuts.

El Rio Ice Cream tempts the taste buds with more than 30 flavors of extra-creamy homemade ice cream and a delicious selection of Mexican paletas (popsicles) in flavors like mango, pineapple, strawberry, vanilla raisin, pistachio, guava, watermelon, cantaloupe, lemon and key lime.

Another Mexican ice cream shop, La Vida Loca Ice Cream, offers paletas and chamoyadas — the perfect combination of sweet, salty, creamy and spicy!

If you’re feeling froggy, hop on down to Main Street for two nationally known ice cream shops.

Hendersonville’s sweetFrog Premium Frozen Yogurt has 21 daily choices: 14 individual flavors and seven “twists” that combine two flavors such as peanut butter and pomegranate raspberry for a PB&J.

A toppings bar contains 40-plus options. Frozen yogurt is lower in fat than ice cream and there’s always at least one no-sugar-added flavor, plus gluten-free options and dairy-free sorbets.

On the opposite side of Main Street, Kilwin’s has been a popular stop for lovers of ice cream – and fudge – since 2000. The shop carries 32 flavors crafted from a proprietary recipe that’s famous throughout the country. Flavors include cappuccino chocolate chip, cookies ’n’ cream, toasted coconut and sea salt caramel. Another confection, made in-house, is Kilwin’s signature Mackinac Island fudge.

Whit’s Frozen Custard always offers four fresh options: chocolate, vanilla, a flavor of the day and flavor of the week. The custard is made daily via a process that uses less air than ice cream, resulting in a thicker, creamier product. Whit’s also serves gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan and low-sugar options, plus custard cakes and pies.

Another trail highlight is the warm, fresh waffle cones made daily at Luv Ice Cream, who also offers a variety of savory treats on their menu.

The final few stops on the Hendersonville Ice Cream trail all offer both sweet and savory options, and are great 1-stop shops. Check out the long-time summer camper’s favorite, Harry’s Grill & Piggy’s Ice Cream. Part of its charm comes from the large signs and characters that adorn its roof, part comes from the thick-spun milkshakes they proudly serve.

Baabal’s Ice Cream Shoppe & Family Grille is another family-owned operation. They offer a whopping 36 flavors to choose from – perfect for a large group or family with differing tastes.

Dairi-O, one of the locations of a small, North Carolina-based chain of restaurants, also offers a large selection. Choose between 30 flavors of premium ice cream, including hand-scooped and soft-serve. Plus, they serve up some major nostalgia, offering to dip your cone in a hard coating of chocolate or butterscotch.

“The trail highlights mainly local shops, sprinkled with iconic stores that visitors look for,” Owens says. “Because there are stops on Main Street, out at farms and everywhere in between, the experience takes you beyond ice cream to all that’s great in Hendersonville and Henderson County.”