Columbus' Diamonds showcases Mexican popsicles

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The sun is beating down, the air is humid and the kids are running around outside, relishing the last few days of summer vacation.

On days like these, there’s no better snack than a cool, fruity popsicle. Or, perhaps, its larger and more exotic cousin, the formidable paleta.

Paletas are the treat of choice in any Mexican town. While they may look no different than a regular popsicle, paletas are carefully homemade with real fruit and no artificial ingredients.

Though American popsicles got their commercial start in the 1920s, when popsicle brand founder Frank Epperson patented his invention, Mexico’s beloved ice pops originated from a tiny town called Tocumbo. In the late 1940s, three men from Tocumbo began selling paletas in Mexico City. They were an instant success, and today, it’s hard to find a Mexican town without a paletería – a shop or stand selling paletas.

Their popularity is also growing in the U.S., where paleterías and gourmet ice pop stands are appearing in larger cities such as Charleston, S.C., Atlanta, Nashville and Los Angeles.

The Columbus area is home to a few gourmet ice pop makers, including Rime Time Curiously Crafted Pops and J-Pops. But the one and only place to get an authentic Mexican paleta is Diamonds Ice Cream, located at the intersection of Bethel and Sawmill roads near Dublin.

“Paletas are famous because they are artisanal,” says José Torres, a Guadalajara native who co-founded Diamonds with his cousin Carlos in January 2015.

He holds out a strawberry-kiwi paleta, the top half green and the bottom half red, each adorned in the middle with a slice of fruit. “There’s no art in the American ice pop. There’s art in paletas.”

Take one look at the rows of paletas – some dipped, some striped and all brightly colored – and you’re likely to agree. Torres learned the art of paleta-making from his nephew, Rodrigo, who operates his own paletería in Guadalajara.

Today, Torres co-owns the business with René Flores and Augustine León. The shop serves a variety of Mexican treats, from cool glasses of water flavored with fruit (aguas frescas) to Mexican corn on the cob, slathered with mayonnaise and cheese with a generous sprinkling of chili powder on top. But Diamonds is best known for its homemade ice cream and paletas. Every flavor is made in-house, by hand, with fresh, all-natural ingredients and no artificial sweeteners.

“American popsicles are too sweet,” says León. “We don’t make it too sweet. Natural flavors, that’s what everybody loves.”

Both the ice cream and paletas at Diamonds are made from fresh fruit. The employees peel, cut, crush and juice the fruit themselves. Paletas are made throughout the week in batches of 52 at a time, to ensure they are always sold fresh. Diamonds currently serves 70 distinct flavors of paletas, from chocolate and strawberry to banana Nutella, avocado and pico de gallo. Tropical flavors such as papaya, passionfruit, mamey, sapote and soursop are made from the fruits Torres and his partners enjoyed growing up in Mexico. Leche quemado, or burnt milk, is inspired by one of the flavors sold at the paletería in Oaxaca, Flores’ hometown.

Creating new flavors is a trial-and-error process, and the owners won’t sell a flavor until they’ve perfected it. The most popular flavors are pine nut and any flavor with a little bit of chili powder. Mango con chile and pineapple con chile will satisfy a sweet tooth with a spicy kick at the end. Customers, Torres says, gravitate toward flavors they’ve never tried, or even seen, before.

“When I see one customer order the same flavor over and over, I say, ‘No, no, you’ve got to try this one,’” says Torres.

Katie Ellington is a contributing writer. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscenemediagroup.com.

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