Florida's Best Ice Cream Comes From A Shop That Uses Plants To Color Its Creations

What's most important when you go out for dessert: friendly and efficient service, a top-notch product, supporting local? Or, how about avoiding questionable ingredients like food dyes such as Red No. 3, which is now banned by the FDA? If you head to Let's Chill Homemade Ice Cream in Coral Springs, Florida, you don't have to choose. According to Google reviews (the shop has more than 1,200 ratings and an impressive 4.9-star ranking), Let's Chill offers all of these things, and more. Which is, of course, why it made Chowhound's list of the best ice cream shops in every U.S. state.

Let's Chill is owned by married couple Ricardo and Cristina Braga, both U.S. Army veterans who were novice ice cream makers when they first dreamed up the brand. According to the company's website, their top priorities in launching a frozen dessert business were to reflect the values of "faith, family and the joy of being together," and ice cream seemed like the perfect fit. But along with providing a space where people gather to share sundaes and catch up over cones, the Bragas were determined to produce their own, high-quality ice creams with a focus on the best ingredients and techniques. This translates to sourcing milk from local dairy farmers, using only plant-based food colors, and avoiding artificial flavors.

Despite being made in small batches, Let's Chill has a robust offering of flavors, including both classic and seasonal options. While some, like the vanilla, raspberry fudge, or cookies and cream, may seem fairly standard, others reflect the company's commitment to using plant-based dyes. For example, the cotton candy flavor gets its delicate pink color from red beet juice. Mint chocolate chip is green, as it should be — but in this case, the green color comes from genuine vegetables.

With so many options, how to choose? Several Google reviewers recommend the ice cream flight, which allows you to try four smaller scoops of multiple flavors, lessening the pressure to narrow it down to just one or two. Other popular products include the boozy ice creams for ages 21 and over — rum raisin and Bailey's. If you're eschewing dairy, you won't feel too left out. Let's Chill's list of classic flavors includes a couple of dairy-free options made with pea protein (which packs in more protein than just about any other dairy substitute). And at least one reviewer appreciated that products containing gluten were clearly marked. If you're ready to make the trip, Coral Springs is about 40 minutes from Fort Lauderdale and an hour northwest of Miami.