I scream, you scream: Where to get the scoop on ice cream in the Akron area

Editor's note: Beacon Journal reporters Kerry Clawson and Tawney Beans in addition to photojournalist Jeff Lange went on their ice cream excursions the week of April 17, fresh off unseasonably warm weather from the weekend before.

When warm, summer-like temperatures hit, the lure of local ice cream shops cannot be ignored. As it wisely says on the wall inside Chill Ice Cream in Akron, "Time is short, eat ice cream first."

To rev up for the upcoming ice cream days of summer, we reporters visited some of our favorite ice cream establishments as well as some places that we were just plain curious about. We could certainly think of much worse ways to spend a day or two.

Here's a sampling of the sweet spots we enjoyed, from old-school ice cream stands to gourmet establishments.

Behind the scenes at Country Maid

It was ice cream-making day Monday at Country Maid Ice Cream in Richfield, where co-owner Dan Torma whipped up nine flavors to replenish supplies after a very busy weekend with temperatures above 80.

"This is a very tired man right now," Torma said. "Everything I made last weekend and the weekend before is gone."

When Beacon Journal photographer Jeff Lange and I arrived Monday morning, Torma was doing a chocolate ice cream run in a 10-gallon batch freezer. The machine whips air into and freezes the ice cream at the same time to produce 10 gallons of ice cream every eight minutes.

"It's freezing up and I'm gonna draw it off," Torma said before drawing the finished ice cream into a 2½-gallon container.

Keeping to a strict, eight-minute timetable, Torma continued to fill pint-sized and half-gallon-sized Country Maid boxes with the chocolate ice cream, handing them off to sister Rose Marie Torma, who closed the boxes, stamped them with their flavor names, set them in a tray and passed them through a vault-like window into a big freezer room.

Lange and I felt like kids in a, well, ice cream shop sampling the rich chocolate ice cream fresh out of the machine. Country Maid specializes in hard ice cream, so next it's frozen solid within about four hours in a blast freezer with temperatures of -20 degrees Fahrenheit and a 30-mph wind.

"The faster you freeze it, the smoother it can be," Torma explained.

I have to admit that I howled a little from the cold when Lange and I stepped inside that freezer.

I have fond memories of going to get ice cream at Country Maid — housed in a white, 1948 concrete block building — with my sister and her family when she lived in Richfield decades ago. I was excited to revisit this storied ice cream spot, which draws lots of people after hiking or biking in the beautiful Cuyahoga Valley National Park nearby.

I even got to "help" when Torma had me draw a batch of pistachio ice cream from the batch freezer into a 2½-gallon box.

Country Maid uses a 14 percent cream mix for its ice cream. In the summer, it uses peaches right outside from its own orchard for its peach ice cream.

Torma was working a half day Monday to make nine flavors. He makes ice cream three days a week, for 8 to 10 hours at a time in the summer.

The Torma siblings bought Country Maid from their former employer, Frank Holeska, 45 years ago and continued his tradition of producing custom-made flavors with natural ingredients. Don and Rose Marie both retired nine years ago from their teaching careers and focus on the family ice cream store in semiretirement, while brother Steve runs the 25-acre orchard.

Country Maid makes 24 ice cream flavors, four sherbet flavors and four yogurt flavors. Top sellers are peach, black raspberry, butter pecan and chocolate peanut butter.

I was excited to order Penuchi Fudge ice cream for the first time, made with caramel and brown sugar for a lighter, subtle fudge taste. I also enjoyed a scoop of honey ice cream, which was sweeter and very refreshing, and a delightfully flavor-filled black raspberry ($7.50 for three scoops).

Country Maid Ice Cream; 3252 Streetsboro Road, Richfield; 330-659-6830; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily; countrymaidicecream.com

— Kerry Clawson

Chill Ice Cream

When I think about gourmet ice cream, I think of Chill Ice Cream. Over the years, my family and I have found it quite a treat to indulge in ice cream at Chill's downtown Akron location, especially after events across the street at Lock 3.

Brothers and co-owners Pat, Zack and Jeremy Jaworski focus on making new and unique artisan flavors each week, in addition to seven signature flavors. Pat said Wednesday that means "really high quality, really unique ice cream."

I was delighted to try the unusual Honey Corn Bread flavor, which features Ohio Honey Company honey with fresh-baked corn bread that makes a grainy bread texture in the ice cream, along with small satisfying chunks of bread. I decided to get two contrasting scoops for $5.95, with the second being the signature Lavender Queen Bee, a fragrant, sweeter ice cream that contains real lavender water.

Chill opened in Medina at 11 Public Square. Its downtown Akron location has been on Main Street since 2019 and the brothers opened another location in 2021 at Plaza 71 at 2775 Medina Road in Medina Township. Their dual business also includes handmade Indulge Chocolates.

These creative brothers come up with plenty of unique flavors with fun names, offering 32 flavors at a time that include sorbets and vegan ice creams. Unusual ice cream names include Feelin' Hot Hot Hot!, which has fresh ground coffee with cinnamon, hot pepper and chocolate chips; and Chai Curious, featuring chai tea combined with "curious" chocolate.

Specially created flavors also reflect the Akron community, from concoctions for University of Akron fraternities to Cherry Blossom, created in honor of Akron's recent Sakura Festival.

Chill Artisan Ice Cream; 209 S. Main St.; 234-678-8008; noon to 7 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday; chill-icecream.com

— Kerry Clawson

Ever-popular Pav's Creamery

This old-school ice cream stand in the Portage Lakes is the go-to summer ice cream spot for my family, especially after a hot day at the beach right down the road at Portage Lakes State Park. I've always been a creature of habit at Pav's Creamery, where I've ordered the dreamy, rich chocolate almond custard for years.

This time, I branched out and tried a scoop of the custard special of the week, chocolate peanut butter cake ($3.75), which did not disappoint. It's made with peanut butter custard with peanut butter swirls and moist, delicious pieces of chocolate cake.

Pav's, which was established in 1969 by Robert Pavlik at 3769 Manchester Road, was always an ice cream stand, opening as Tasty Freeze in 1952. Bill and Claire Micochero bought Pav's in 1978 and sold it in 1990 to their daughter, Michelle, who still owns it.

"Portage Lakes is my baby," said Michelle Micochero, who also owns Pav's locations in Cuyahoga Falls and the newly opened one at Corner Provisions in Bath.

Her son, Nik Pappas, and his wife Melody own Pav's stores in Green and North Canton.

I like to do it old school at the original Pav's stand in the Lakes, where I order straight custard, which is the specialty at Pav's. In fact, the Portage Lakes Pav's sells more custard than any other location.

It always offers chocolate, vanilla and chocolate almond custard, plus a custard flavor of the week.

Pav's also offers about 20 ice cream flavors, numerous sundaes, floats, flurries, milkshakes, custard cakes and more. The other Pav's locations offer adult milkshakes but the old-school, family-oriented Lakes location never will, Micochero said.

At the Lakes location, vanilla custard is the top regular seller and top flavor-of-the-week custards are pistachio and pistachio pineapple cake. Those are older flavors that the older customers in the neighborhood grew up with, the owner said.

"This place brings back your childhood memories," where folks like to sit on benches outside the stand and see their neighbors, Micochero said.

Swimmers, boaters and paddle boarders also frequent Pav's before or after recreation at the Portage Lakes.

Pav's Creamery; 3769 Manchester Road, Coventry Township; 330-644-8524; noon to 9 p.m. daily; pavscreamery.com.

— Kerry Clawson

Stay fresh at La Fresa

Now, I love Mexican food just as much as the next person, but Mexican-style ice cream is on a whole other level in my eyes.

La Fresa is my go-to place when I’m in the mood for fresh, fruity flavors that will cool me down.

I’m not talking about the basics like strawberry ice cream or orange sherbet. They have house-made popsicles of just about any flavor you can imagine, including coconut, blackberry and mango. Some of their more out-of-the-box popsicles are tequila, pico de gallo, pink and purple bubblegum, cereal, cheesecake, pine nuts, eggnog, and more.

Not into popsicles? No worries, La Fresa also makes their own ice creams and sherbets — which can be transformed into some lovely creations like their mangonada or banana split, which my mom (on a separate visit) said was the best she’s ever had.

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I decided to try out that mangonada (small costs $7) which is made of chamoy (a sour sauce), a sprinkle of Tajin, mango sherbet, diced mangoes, squeeze of lime and a Tamarind stick. It was quite the shot of sweet and salty, thanks to the tamarind and sherbet, but it still hit the spot.

There is also a wide range of menu items for those that don’t want ice cream, popsicles or sundaes. Photographer Jeff Lange got fresa con crema (medium costs $9.99), which is simply a cup filled to the brim with fresh strawberries covered in sweet cream and topped with whipped cream. I thought this was pretty fitting since the restaurant’s name literally translates to “the strawberry.”

Dishes like fresa con crema, coupled with their complete dinner menu and attached piñata candy shop, are what make La Fresa a must-try for both ice cream and Mexican food.

La Fresa Ice Cream Mexican Restaurant; 447 Darrow Road, Akron; 234-706-2143; 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily; lafresaakron.com

— Tawney Beans

Keeping it cool at Skoops Ice Cream

I first discovered Skoops during my internship with the Beacon Journal in the summer of 2020.

A few weeks before my visit, I had conducted a poll for the best ice cream shops in Summit County. Though it had only been open for four months, Skoops won by a landslide. I was pretty eager to meet its owner, Terry Rastetter-Helbling, to find out what all the hubbub was about.

That first go-round I ordered Rastetter’s favorite menu item, the Henry’s hot fudge brownie sundae; the contents of which are a quarter-pound brownie with homemade vanilla soft serve and whipped cream, chocolate drizzle and a cherry to top it all off. I ate it in my car with the air conditioning on full blast trying to keep the summer heat at bay after my interview with Rastetter, and it’s one of the clearest memories I have from writing that story.

But what really kept me coming back are the unique sundaes, flurries and ice creams that the shop seems to have a never-ending stream of.

Since my initial visit I have taken quite a few of my friends to Skoops and they are always begging to go back. During the summer, we message each other at least once a week saying “did you see what Skoops posted on Facebook? I need it!”

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Take what Beacon Journal photographer Jeff and I ordered for example. I purchased an Oreo funnel cake sundae ($7.90), which had coconut fudge ice cream (my choice instead of vanilla custard), chocolate syrup and crushed Oreos on top of a fresh hot funnel cake. I can’t think of one place besides a county fair to get something quite like that.

Jeff ate their Miss Trunchbull chocolate cake sundae ($7.90) made of chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream frosting, house-made chocolate and vanilla custard with hot fudge and peanuts.

Between my many visits I’ve also had a cookie butter sundae and puppy chow flurry, but when I’m not sure what to get I always fall back on getting a funnel cake sundae with whatever rotating ice cream flavor catches my eye.

Skoops also sells pup cups for dogs and caters to those with dietary restrictions. Rastetter wanted to provide families with one place where a lactose-intolerant mom, diabetic dad, their sugar-loving children and the family pet can all get quality ice cream.

Suffice to say, Skoops and its wacky creations have not helped me shed any pounds since I discovered it, but it has been the focus of quite a few trips to Barberton with friends.

Skoops Ice Cream; 438 Fifth St. NE, Barberton; 330-217-1291; 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily; skoopsicecream.com

— Tawney Beans

Sweet sweet release at Therapy Ice Cream & Coffee Bar

Have you ever heard of ice cream therapy? Or coffee therapy? How about pastry therapy?

Yeah, me neither, but after one visit to Therapy Ice Cream & Coffee Bar in Akron, I think it’s about time therapists incorporate these delicious treats into their treatment plans.

Knowing my love for exploring ice cream spots, multiple people have recommended I check out the small building on Canton Road with brick-red colored siding. For those more into landmarks than addresses, Therapy Ice Cream & Coffee Bar is located north of U.S. Route 224 and the Giant Eagle grocery, on the east side of Canton Road (state Route 91) — across from Gio’s.

The first floor of the ice cream parlor has one wall lined with ice cream display freezers stocked with 36 flavors. I opted for brown butter bourbon truffle, while Beacon Journal photographer Jeff Lange picked the more colorful playdough flavor (a vanilla-based ice cream).

Depending on what flavor customers order, they will get Country Parlor Ice Cream made in North Royalton, the Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream made in Madison, Wisconsin, or Hershey’s. Both of our chosen flavors came from Country Parlor Ice Cream.

After eating the chocolate truffles and swirls of caramel brown butter in my ice cream, I was a little bummed I hadn’t checked this place out earlier.

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To be fair, I was away at college when owner Pam Strong opened Therapy Ice Cream & Coffee Bar in the summer of 2019. Since then, the business has offered ice cream, coffee, tea and pastries.

Their affogato (your choice of ice cream drowned in espresso) and polar espresso (milk is replaced with espresso in the ice cream making process) are quite popular, according to employee Tiffany Miller. Miller knows a thing or two about ice cream, considering she also works at another personal favorite shop of mine: Biggins Big Dip in Portage Lakes.

I’ve certainly added this place to my growing list of ice cream shops to revisit, especially since the couches and gas fireplace in its lower level would is perfect for winter ice cream eating.

While my “revisit” list grows, feel free to reach out if you, dear reader, know of some local ice cream parlors that need sampling.

Therapy Ice Cream & Coffee Bar; 1177 Canton Road, Akron; 234-334-5011; 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday – Friday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday, noon to 8 p.m. Sunday; therapyicecreamandcoffee.com

— Tawney Beans

Arts and restaurant writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson@thebeaconjournal.com. Contact Beacon Journal reporter Tawney Beans at tbeans@gannett.com and on Twitter @TawneyBeans.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Ice cream in Akron: Our favorite ice cream shops in the Akron area