Tocumbo Ice Cream

Mexican ice creams and paleta popsicles aren’t nearly as well appreciated as they should be, given the wide selection of outstanding flavors that are either uniquely Mexican or more commonly found in Mexican desserts. While the best-known vendors of Mexican ice cream have some form of La Michoacana branding, a single Tocumbo shop in Anaheim (with predecessor locations in San Diego) has its own collection of treats that go beyond most La Michoacanas we’ve visited – enough that we can’t pass by its plaza without stopping in.

Named for the town in Michoacán where Mexican ice creams and paletas were first created, Tocumbo’s menu has a lot in common with a typical La Michoacana Premium, focusing primarily on ice creams, sorbets, popsicles made with chunky ingredients plus either milk or water bases, mangoneada slushies, and savory snacks – tostilocos and similar snack food bags with added nuts, fruits, sauces, and/or cheeses. There are also a variety of frozen chocolate-covered bananas like ones famously sold at Balboa Island, and sweet, fruit-flavored aguas frescas drinks, colorfully displayed in refrigerated buckets near the ice creams.

When we’ve visited Tocumbo, we’ve gravitated to ice creams with flavors such as banana cream, Mazapan peanut candy, Mexican graham crackers, Gansito cookies, and elote sweet corn. Unique sorbets and paletas include a particularly tasty maracuya (passion fruit), soursop, watermelon, and black sapote, which is akin to chocolate pomegranate.