Ice Cream in Spain

A helpful, soothing, interesting and ice creamy article to help you enjoy these hot summer days. Learn about what the various types of ice cream, flavors and toppings are called, and how to get fluent in Spanish ice cream talk. Come join us on this tasty, delightful and sweet adventure.

Before we get into the delicious side of things, here is some information about the Spanish ice cream market.

Market Size and Trends

According to Research and Markets, the Spanish ice cream market was valued at circa USD 1,610 million or about 1,435 million Euro. It reached a total volume of almost 150 million kilograms. That’s around 3.2 kilograms per Spaniard (not including international tourists/visitors etc.) Later in the article we will also show you the top ten ice cream selling companies in Spain and their brand names.

According to Intersicop, new trends include vegan ice creams as well as products that have been developed with an organic, eco or bio seal including organic yogurt ice creams. Depending on your culinary leanings, maybe they are worth a try as well?

_{Note: The ice cream market consists of artisanal ice cream (both dairy and water-based), impulse ice cream (includes single-serve ice cream tubs, packaged cones, ice cream sandwiches, and chocolate-coated ice creams) and take-home ice cream (includes multiple-serving ice cream tubs and, ice-cream cakes).}

---

So, to the delicious side of things. We found a wonderful article on The Spanish Academy website that describes more or less all you need to know to get exactly the ice cream you want. You can find the full article here: The Yummiest Vocabulary Guide on Ice Cream in Spanish. The Spanish Academy is based in Latin America, so you may find some local language flavoring in the article also. But, you will for sure make yourself understood at the “heladería”.

Firstly, where to go and who to look for

An ice cream shop is called a heladería or a tienda de helados. To get the attention of the person selling the ice cream you can look for a name tag and use their names or call on the:

Secondly, what type of ice cream to order

Helado: Helado is your typical ice cream and covers most types of the product. But, is not specific as to which type you would like to have.

Helado suave o Cremoso: These are terms for the soft serve ice cream squeezed from a machine into a cone or cup.

Helado de yogur: From the above types you have probably figured that this must be ice cream from yogurt also called frozen yogurt.

Nieve/sorbete: Nieve is Spanish for sorbet.

Paleta/polo: Paleta/polo is ice cream on a stick, or a popsicle if you like.

Granizada: A Granizada is a snow cone.

---

Thirdly, how would you like your ice cream to be served?

And for flavor

And now for toppings

The word for topping has been adapted into Spanish and can be used many places. Or you can ask for cobertura (meaning coverage) or ingredientes extra.

How to order

Now that we got all that covered, here are some ways to order these delicious products:

Manufacturers, top ten

If you are sitting down enjoying your ice cream (or not), here is some information about the Spanish ice cream market’s largest suppliers in 2019 according to Intersicop/Ifema, Research and Markets and Statista.

Intersicop arranges events in the food and beverage industries for trade professionals. Events are held at Ifema in Madrid. Research and Markets offers insights into more than 800 industries worldwide. Statista gathers/collects information in many businesses and industries.

Unilever España: International giant. You probably know their brands.

Froneri Oberia: 50% owned by international giant Nestlé and PAI Partners (French private equity firm). You probably know of their brands as well.

Ice Cream Factory Co Maker is a Spanish ice cream maker with brands that include iChoc and PICÓ headquartered in Alzira (Valencia). The company started out under the name Avidesa in the 1960s which was later acquired by the Ice Cream Company in 2003.

Grupo Farga now Farggi La Menorquina is Spanish and headquartered in Barcelona (Catalonia). It manufactures under brands like Farggi, La Menorquina and Frigécrème.

Aiadhesa is a Spanish company based in San Vicente del Raspeig (Alicante) which brands its products as Helados Alacant, Helados antiuXixona and 4U Free From.

Helados Estiu is a Spanish company headquartered in Ribarroja del Turia (Valencia) and sells ice cream under the brand names Wao Mochi, Estiu and Vawaii.

Grupo Kalise is Spanish and headquartered in Las Palmas (Canary Islands). It produces 170 different ice creams mostly under the brand name Kalise.

Crestas La Galeta, a Spanish manufacturer headquartered in Alcobendas (Madrid) and sells its products under the brand names Somosierra and Ronye.

Casty is a Spanish ice cream maker is based in Toledo (Castile La-Mancha) and sells various products under its brand name Casty.

Industrias Jijonencas: NA

---

Enjoy your ice cream today!

---

_{Featured image by Jan Vašek from Pixabay}.

---

We at Find Your Spain publish in-house written articles and provide links to content from other sources which we hope you will find useful, interesting, and informative. Got a tip for us? Drop us a line, comment on a post.

If you enjoyed this article please like us on Facebook or subscribe at FindYourSpain.com. It’s free. And, share our sites with friends and family.