Summer is officially here, and it’s hot, y’all. It’s already downright stifling hot in Alabama, and that’s all anyone seems to want to talk about. Wherever you go, folks are commenting about how hot it is. There’s only one thing to do about it: Cool off from the inside out by eating something nice and cold and comforting, like ice cream.

Down in Mobile, where we’re absolutely sweltering, there’s a diverse array of places to beat the heat with a tasty frozen treat. Here are five of al.com’s picks for the best ice cream in the city.

As we eat our way through the summer, we’ve already brought you our choices for the best barbecue, pizza and burgers. Here’s the scoop on ice cream in Birmingham and Huntsville.

5. Peppermint Gelato & Café

5951 Old Shell Road, facebook.com/peppermintmobile

Located in a cozy house across from the University of South Alabama’s Mitchell Center, Peppermint is a new addition to the ice cream scene in Mobile. Its menu is simple: You choose from 12 daily flavors of gelato (pistachio, raspberry white chocolate and peach cobbler were recent offerings), and you decide whether you want one, two or three scoops. The friendly staff is happy to give samples. There’s also a case filled with fresh pastries like baklava, walnut cupcakes and brightly colored macarons, Turkish coffee and an assortment of teas. You can take your selections outside to the covered porch, or enjoy them in the serene inside dining room, where you might linger over a chess match. Proprietor Mahin Ghavamian, whose family has operated the nearby Food Pak International market since 1991, named Peppermint after her adorable granddaughter, Pepper.

Order this: Sample what looks good and order at least two scoops of two different flavors of gelato.

4. Sno DASH

3240 Dauphin St., facebook.com/SnoDashMobile

Lan Nguyen opened Mobile’s first rolled ice cream shop in 2017, with plans to offer several locations. But today, Sno DASH – named for Nguyen’s son, Dash – and its sister business, DASH Poke Co., operate in one spot in a busy strip mall on Dauphin Street near I-65. Watching the rolled ice cream being made on an ice-cold plate is a mesmerizing process that’s part of the fun of getting a frozen treat here. The thin slices of ice cream, expertly rolled and stacked in a cup, can be blended and topped with cookies (like Oreos and Nutter Butters), cotton dandy, Nutella, cheesecake, fresh fruit, candy bars (Snickers, Reese’s and more) and cereal (Fruity Pebbles, Cocoa Puffs, etc.) – in other words, all the good stuff, in seemingly endless combinations. Sno DASH also offers soft-serve ice cream and ultra cheesecake milkshakes as well as a variety of shaved ice.

Order this: S’mores, with graham crackers mixed into rolled ice cream topped with more graham crackers, a Hershey’s chocolate miniature, toasted marshmallows and chocolate syrup. It’s like camping, only much cooler.

3. Jefe Paletas

5301 Cottage Hill Road, facebook.com/JefePaletas

Fabian Leon, who grew up working in his parents’ Mexican restaurants in Mobile, opened Jefe Paletas (“popsicle boss”) almost two years ago. Specializing in artisanal popsicles, this colorful spot has since built a cult following. Available in 40-some-odd flavors, the popsicles are either cream-based (such as Mexican cinnamon chocolate with Nutella filling, arroz con leche and others) or water-based (think strawberry basil, watermelon mint and many more). In addition to popsicles, Jefe Paletas offers homemade ice cream and sorbet as well as savory snacks like chicharrónes and esquite. One of the most popular items, the sweet-spicy mangonada, is also available in other fruit flavors like strawberry, watermelon and lime. Don’t miss the creative crepe combinations, which typically sell out on the weekends.

Order this: Jefe Strawberrynada with strawberry sorbet, bits of fruit, lime juice, chimoy and tajin topped with “a little extra”: an assortment of gummy candies and a popsicle of your choice. There’s a lot going on in this one.

2. TraePay’s Café

3295 Bel Air Mall, Unit B, facebook.com/TraePaysCafe

TraePay’s isn’t an ice cream shop as such, but stay with me for a minute. Named for owner Crista McCants’s sons (whose likenesses are featured in the logo), TraePay’s is a success story that started with a food truck and evolved into a brick-and-mortar restaurant at the Dillard’s end of Bel Air Mall. They referred to themselves as “gluttony corner” on Facebook, and it’s the delicious truth. Specializing in all kinds of unapologetic junk food – nachos, fries and tater tots topped with pretty much anything you could want, sno-ball-flavored pickles, pickled eggs, grape salad and deep-fried candy bars are among the offerings – TraePay’s also has an amazing assortment of New Orleans-style sno-ball flavors as well as gigantic sno-bowls that combine finely shaved ice with fruit, cheesecake bites, syrups, whipped cream and much more.

Order this: The Strawberry Crunch Sensation is a bestseller for a reason: It’s a strawberry and wedding cake sno-ball topped with diced fresh strawberries, strawberry shortcake ice cream pieces, drizzled with sweet cream.

1. Cammie’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shoppe

2511 Old Shell Road, cammiesolddutch.com

Twenty-five years ago, Cammie Wayne bought the former Widemire’s Old Dutch Ice Cream Shoppe from Edwin Widemire, who’d been her boss at her first job when she was 16 years old. She has reigned as queen of the ice cream scene in Mobile ever since, making 700 gallons a week with the help of her husband, Larry Wayne, at their creamery on Halls Mill Road, where she has opened a second location. But that original, cheery yellow building at the corner of Old Shell Road and Florida Street in Midtown, a former Texaco station before Widemire opened his ice cream shop in 1969, has become a Mobile icon. Cammie offers some 47 flavors in the shop (Creole Praline is the most popular) and supplies 25 other shops and restaurants as well as 25 local grocery stores with her products.

Order this: The Banana Split is a classic on Cammie’s menu, and on Sundays she sells 60 to 100 of them.

MORE: Ice cream from Cammie’s is the best thing I ate last week

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