Gelato. Sorbetto. Glace. Granita. Remember ice cream? Dense with butterfat, tasting of fresh cream, in flavors that are easy to pronounce?
Bassetts Ice Cream has never forgotten. The only original merchant remaining in the Reading Terminal Market, Bassetts has occupied the same location since the market's opening in 1893, still passing hand-dipped cones across the original marble counters that have graced the site since the beginning.
With the founder's great-great-grandson at the helm, the company has acquired a few modern trappings. There is a website and a distribution deal with Wawa, and next-day air shipments that satisfy the cravings of Philly transplants around the globe. Some of the current offerings like lowfat frozen yogurt and apricot-mango sorbet would probably have old Lewis Dubois Bassett shaking his head. But the super-premium ice cream is virtually unchanged. French Vanilla is still enriched with an egg yolk custard base and while vanilla beans, Rum Raisin remains a stubbornly adult flavor, and autumn still brings seasonally-available Pumpkin and Egg Nog.
And for the record, vanilla remains the perennial top-seller.
Bassetts Ice Cream is located at 45 North 12th Street (at Arch Street) in the Reading Terminal Market.
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