Best Artisanal Vanilla Ice Cream

The “bourbon” in Steve’s Ice Cream Small Batch Bourbon Vanilla doesn’t only refer to the Madecasse Madagascar Bourbon beans that give this ice cream its classic vanilla taste. The rich grass-fed milk and cream used to make the ice cream is infused with Bulleit Kentucky bourbon, then steeped in charred white oak bourbon barrels. $50 for 5 pints, plus shipping; stevesicecream.com

Salt & Straw’s Double Fold Vanilla ice cream is handmade in small batches using organic and sustainable ingredients from farmers and artisans in Oregon and Southern California, as well as imported flavors from small farms from around the world. Their vanilla comes from Singing Dog Vanilla in Eugene, Oregon, which partners with vanilla-growing family farms in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea to not only pay farmers for their vanilla beans but, through a program they call “Fair Trade Plus,” share a percentage of sales with the farmers. $65 for 5-pack of pints, plus shipping; saltandstraw.com

McConnell's can truly claim to make their ice cream completely from scratch: They pasteurize local milk and cream at their downtown Santa Barbara headquarters (a former dairy built in 1934). Their two fantastic vanilla flavors—Vanilla Bean and Golden State Vanilla—are made with beans from Lochhead Vanilla, with whom they’ve had a 55-year partnership. There’s one new thing at McConnell’s: its owners. When husband and wife team Eva Ein and Michael Palmer purchased the company in 2012, they brought their distinctive palates with them—Ein is a chef and Palmer a winemaker (Santa Barbara’s Mail Road Wines). The resulting pints have been fantastic. $10 for 1 pint, plus shipping; mcconnells.com

The milk and cream used to make Greenfield Ice Cream Company’s Vanilla ice cream comes from a local non-profit dairy coop called Hudson Valley Fresh, which is comprised of ten small, family-run dairy farms. The milk travels from from happy, grass-fed cows to the Greenfield kitchen in 36 hours. $8 for 1 pint, plus shipping; greenfieldicecream.com

The Graeter family has used something they call the “French Pot Process” to make their ice cream since 1870. With this method, all ingredients are pasteurized, cooked, and combined in a flavor vat and when ready, frozen into 2½ gallon batches. CEO Richard Graeter has a special place in his heart for their Vanilla ice cream. He remembers using a mortar and pestle-like process to crush each vanilla bean when making ice cream with his grandfather as a child. $60 for 6-pack of pints, plus shipping; graeters.com

Choctal offers 4 varieties of vanilla ice cream, each one is made with particular vanilla from a single region like Papua New Guinea, where the beans are plump and flavorful, with cherry-ish fruit notes. As a member of 1% For The Planet, Choctal has pledged to donate 1% of their annual sales to good causes in the countries in which they do business. They follow this same principle of giving back at home and have hosted ice cream socials at shelters and missions across Southern California. $11 for 1 pint, plus shipping; choctal.com

Three Twins’ Madagascar Vanilla ice cream is made with milk and cream from organic family farms in California, and sugar from the Green Cane Project in Brazil. The vanilla itself comes from a great producer, Nielsen-Massey, which gives the ice cream a super-classic, rounded vanilla flavor. There’s another reason to buy Three Twins: its “Ice Cream for Acres” initiative, which donates money to land preservation efforts around the globe. For every pint you buy, at least six square feet of earth are saved. $60 for 6 pints, plus shipping; threetwinsicecream.com