The big thrill

• Pierre Marcolini, Paris

Belgium's most famous chocolatier brings out his glacier diploma to give his ice creams an abundant, ultra-smooth texture. The idea: to combine the skills of a chocolatier with those of an ice-cream maker, with an original version of stracciatella. "I wanted to offer the experience of a crème glace turbinée minute, just like in the workshop. The texture is unique, as is the taste brought by products sourced from farms in our region. I add a thin sheet of homemade chocolate, dark, milk or white. As for the jars ready for sale, I also insert a coulis."You can't go wrong with ice cream!

Turbine ice cream at Galeries Lafayette Gourmet. Pots in the boutiques.

235, rue Saint-Honoré, 75001 Paris

eu.marcolini.com

• Fabien Foenix, in Paris

His trademark: discretion and expertise! All raw products are processed daily in the laboratory. "To concentrate the taste, I like to make infusions like mint or fresh ginger, and offer more daring flavors like black sesame or mojito sorbet. I'm also a traditionalist, making leaded ice creams with candied fruit and nougatine marmite."We love the "homemade everything", including the crunchy cones, the wide choice of half-liters and frozen entremets, including the famous marmite nougatine.including the famous marmite nougatine, a true sin of gluttony, which can be topped to order with scoops of ice cream to your taste.

6, rue Descombes, 75017 Paris

www.glac ier-foenix.com

• Pedone, in Paris

Christophe Pedone has been an ice cream maker from father to son, but he doesn't have his own store. To find out where his creations are sold, you have to refer to his website. "What counts with us is time. Ice creams need to mature to develop their flavors. We like textures that are rich and light. We also make our own caramel to control its taste."Inspired by Italy and its ingredients, there are three new flavors to taste: Calabrian licorice, pistachio orange blossom and Sicilian pomegranate, not forgetting the astonishing Isigny cream ice cream, to be paired with the pomegranate sorbet!

www.pedo ne-glacier.com

• La Glacerie, Paris

David Wesmaël, MOF Glacier, offers a wide range of ice creations. There's a choice of entremets, bonbons chocolat, tablettes, not forgetting the emblematic tubes glacés, at the right temperature, and therefore slicable, straight from the freezer, to compose your own homemade dessert. "85% of our raw ingredients - milk, sugar, cream and certain fruits - come from the Hauts-de-France region. Our sorbets contain up to 75% fruit to bring out the full flavour of our products. Weuse traditional turbines, with limited overrun, and respect the ripening time, which can be as long as 72 hours."You'll enjoy the unmissable Sicilian pistachio, as well as this summer's Breton collection, featuring Madame's butter ice cream with lambic, ribot milk ice cream and kasha, and "Le Kouign à moi", a gourmet frozen dessert.

13, rue du Temple, 75004 Paris

www.lagl acerie.fr

• Emkipop, Marseille

Here, no ice cream in cones or half-liters, but rather "bâtonnets glacés", Emkipop's cross between eskimo and fruit, where ice cream and sorbet are offered in their simplest form, molded on a wooden stick. For summer, we like the "Stimulante", lemon-basil-spirulina, the "Fraise glaciale", strawberry and mint, sorbets in which the fruit represents fruit represents between 55 and 80% of the composition and, of course, the "Noisette croquante" ice cream, with Piedmont hazelnuts.

80, boulevard Vauban, 13006 Marseille

www.emki pop.fr

• Il Gelato del Marchese, Paris

Conceived by the duo Renato Squillante and Veronika Pinzuti, this ice cream parlour is a baroque-style Italian enclave in the heart of Paris. Chef Simone De Feo brings his expertise to the table to reproduce an artisanal gelateria. We love the creaminess of the ice creams made daily, including the emblematic Sicilian pistachio. This summer, we'll be tempted by the blood orange sorbet and the new Tarocco orange compositions with ginger, chocolate or black pepper. Stupende!

2, rue de Condé, 75006 Paris

www.ilge latodelmarchese.com

• Glazed, in Paris

Organic eggs, milk from the Viltain farm and traditional craftsmanship are just some of the ingredients that seduce us, but also confuse us when the flavors come in savory versions. "We came up with a marrow bone ice cream last year. We bake the bones au gratin in the oven, then use the meat to flavor our ice cream. For summer, we've also developed a savory version with smoked pecorino and a 'nduja, a spicy sausage from Calabria. Ofcourse, we also offer classic flavors, such as Alpilles strawberry seasoned with Timut berry or Piedmont hazelnut."We like the idea of pairing iced pecorino with gazpacho, or marrow bone with beef tartare. Ice creams that blow hot and cold!

54, rue des Martyrs, 75009 Paris

www.glac es-glazed.com

• Pierre Chauvet, Aubenas

Chocolatiers certainly have a gift for ice cream! In his home region of the Ardèche, Pierre Chauvet likes to create ice creams with distinctive flavors. "We buy our milk from the Carrier family dairy, a Monts d'Ardèche milk rich in character. Whenever possible, we use fruit from our region: pear, apricot, strawberry and raspberry. As for the chocolate, it's our homemade blend."We love the lime-ginger sorbet and the "Les délices d'Arthur" ice cream, the house spread. For limited-edition flavors: "Blanc Café", made from a cold-brew infusion of Brazilian coffee, and the new floral Caboss mucilage sorbet marbled with exotic fruits or red berries. We're melting!

42, boulevard Gambetta, 07200 Aubenas

www.pier rechauvet.com

• Gaël Jacob, in Lescheraines

In Savoie, ice cream has a taste of the mountains. The milk comes from the dairy 2 km from the chocolate factory, and its taste varies with the seasons: rich in winter, fruitier in summer. "I make a point of buying only French fruit, whenever possible from the region. We then peel them by hand, and the ice creams are made every day. We also have generous eskimos."Gaël Jacob takes his three-wheeler through the hamlets, selling his ice creams in July and August. We love this old-fashioned concept, and love the ephemeral blueberry-gnepi ice cream, the ginger-cactus, the full-fruit apricot sorbet and the melon sorbet, with 70% fruit!

3042 D911, 73340 Lescheraines

www.choc olateriejacob.com

• Frédéric Cassel, Fontainebleau

From entremets to eskimos and half-liters, Frédéric Cassel has thought of everything, including vanilla, which he loves. "We have 7 varieties of vanilla ice cream: Madagascar, Tahiti, Mexico, but also India, Papua, Comoros and the latest, Mauritius, with notes of sugarcane flowers and coconut. This year, I also wanted a dessert that was easy to eat. I came up with profiteroles in fruity flavors: mango, raspberry, pistachio and vanilla."We love the vanilla from Mauritius, served with wild strawberries.

71-73, rue Grande, 77300 Fontainebleau, France

www.frederic-cassel.com