Ohio Certainly on Map as Ice Cream-Loving State

Fact Checked by Pat McLoone

As the weather heats up, so will the sale of ice cream. Whether you prefer soft serve, Mint Chip, or Cherry Garcia, everyone has a favorite.

And if you love ice cream, one of the best states to love it is Ohio, which nearly cracked the Top 10 of our ice cream-loving states chart.

BetOhio.com took a break from covering sports betting in Ohio to evaluate the states that most love ice cream.

To do so, we used Google Trends to determine the search volume for ice cream, as well as popular flavors of ice cream, in each state between April 21, 2022 and April 21, 2023. A point system was created, assigning a rating between 1 and 50 for overall ice cream searches, as well as searches for the top three flavors: chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.

After we added up the numbers, here are some results you won’t find on any Ohio betting apps:

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Most Ice Cream Crazy States

Rank, state Overall search volume Chocolate Vanilla Strawberry Total
1 New Hampshire50463245173
2 Utah            40454726158
3 Delaware38474918152
4 Connecticut47353237151
5 Maine49374220148
6 Massachusetts48412132142
T7 Maryland37283439138
T7 New Jersey43422825138
9 Michigan41362529131
10 South Carolina42251548130
11 Ohio 44401131126
12 Pennsylvania46392015120
13 Indiana35232126105
14 Illinois 392993592
15 Rhode Island451329491
16 New York361881375

 

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Ohio Is Legit as Ice Cream State

You know how some states have distillery trails or golf trails, The Buckeye State actually has an Ohio Ice Cream Trail, which boasts of the state’s 2,200 dairy farms and hundreds of unique ice cream shops. The Ice Cream Trail highlights 20 of them and covers the entire state. (Apologies if any of them were victims of the pandemic. Check for opening day and hours at some locations.) Our survey may look at chocolate, vanilla, strawberry, but let’s get serious. When you have hundreds of flavors to choose from, take a chance.

Greaters, out of Cincinnati and best known for its Raspberry Chocolate Chip, might be the state’s biggest name as its ice creams can be found in supermarkets around the country, but Jeni’s, from Columbus, also has a profile that extends beyond the Buckeye State. So does Handel’s, which has ice cream stores in 11 states.

As for the other spots on our Ohio Ice Cream Adventure, we’re taking them in a more sensible driving order than the Ice Cream Trail map lays out, but you can really start anywhere. We’re starting in Sandusky at Taft’s. Try the farm fresh ice cream after you ride one of Cedar Point’s stomach-dropping roller coasters. You don’t need the ice cream to churn twice.

Head east to Cleveland, and there’s Sweet Moses Soda Fountain, Mason’s Creamery, Mitchell’s Homemade, and the Honey Hut, all offering their own unique flavors and concoctions. In nearby Northfield Center, there’s Rosati’s Frozen Custard, which offers around 150 more soft-serve flavors than your nearby Dairy Queen or Carvel.

Further east in Youngstown, Handel’s Homemade has been scooping creamy, cold treats for 75 years and claims to make its ice cream fresh daily. So, it’s not Baskin-Robbins.

Southwest in Canton, there’s Milk & Honey, which also makes its own chocolate, if you want a really homemade sundae. A bit further southwest in Wooster, there’s the Hartzler Family Dairy and its peanut butter Heifer Trails flavor. Next head south to Utica and Velvet Ice Cream. Instead of on a farm or in a shopping mall, Velvet is in a 200-year-old mill. Cool digs.

Still heading south, there’s Tom’s Ice Cream Bowl in Zanesville. The portions here are mighty so you might want to take a break (or a walk) before heading farther south to Athens and the original Whit’s Frozen Custard. Want to stay closer to Bexley to make the next stop a shorter drive? Whit’s has locations throughout Ohio.

In Bexley, there’s Johnson’s Real Ice Cream, home of the Fudgie Dessert, featuring cake from Resch’s Bakery in Columbus. That’s the next stop, where you can taste the aforementioned Jeni’s Splendid (assuming you didn’t already hit the Cleveland location),

Now we head west to Young’s Jersey Dairy in Yellow Springs, where you can burn some calories in the batting cage or amuse the children with mini-golf or a petting zoo after you stuff your faces.

Now we’re off to Cincinnati in the southwest corner of Ohio for a taste of Greater’s and the exotic flavors of Aglamesis Brothers.

The next leg is the longest drive of the tour, a solid two hours from Cincy to Celina, and the Lake City Creamery. Pear Riesling Sorbet as a palate cleanser before trying the Bananas Foster? Sounds worth the drive.

North to Delphos to The Creamery, a favorite for both soft-serve and traditional scoops. Then we head east for Dietsch Brothers in Findlay, where you can even get your ice cream in slices to go.

Twenty locations, and at least 15,000 calories. Please eat responsibly.

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Ohio Comes in 11th

Even with that impressive Ice Cream Trail, Ohio only came in 11th in our survey.

As with some others states, an aversion to vanilla appears to have dropped the score. That took away from an impressive 44th for overall search volume.

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Author

Howard Gensler

Howard Gensler is a veteran journalist who’s worked at the Philadelphia Daily News, TV Guide and the Philadelphia Inquirer and is a founding editor of bettorsinsider.com.

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