Building the perfect Neapolitan cone

At some point every summer, I buy a big tub of neapolitan ice cream and some cones. That time has come.

To build the perfect neapolitan cone is a delicate operation. It is an exercise in precision to balance each flavor at the appropriate time throughout the cone.

For me, the strawberry is the best, and therefore I take care to end each cone with strawberry as the last bite. But this means the strawberry has to go IN to the cone FIRST.

My least favorite is the chocolate part of the neapolitan threesome. In fact, I'm about ready for them to invent just a vanilla and strawberry combo, leaving out the chocolate all together.

They could call it just Neapol.

It's not that I hate the chocolate, it's just out of all three flavors, it's my least favorite. So, I start every neapolitan cone with chocolate. This means the chocolate has to go in LAST. At the top.

The vanilla then becomes the transition flavor. It's the buffer between the chocolate that is not my favorite, to the strawberry that I've been looking forward to all day.

It has taken much time and many trials and errors to figure out this combination and system for the perfect neapolitan cone. Fortunately, I'm working with ice cream. So it's pretty much win-win no matter what.

C.T.