Some 60 years ago at Jaxson's Ice Cream Parlor (jaxsonsicecream.com) in Dania Beach, kids licked huge ice-cream cones trying to catch every drip before the Florida heat melted the creamy treat. today those same folks line up at the takeout window as their grandbabies ride the automatic toy carousel. They order chocolate-chip cones for the tots and rum-raisin cups for themselves—but it's not just nostalgia that has them coming back. The ice cream here lacks the artificial air that most mass-produced varieties have, creating a thick, super-smooth texture in a slew of flavors from praline to bubble gum.

Lisa Warren has been making ice cream on South Beach since 1987. Her Frieze Ice Cream Factory (305.538.2028) just off Lincoln Road is loved for its decadent flavors made with real fruit, very high levels of cream and ingredients you'd find in your own cupboard. "We use real coffee in our cappuccino chip. The kind you have at home," she says. "People love our Grape-nuts and raisin ice cream. It has cereal for fiber, which together with the cream and raisins—and the crunch—is delicious, and hey, it's healthy too."

Clad in his signature Hawaiian-print shirt, B.J. Hickey flashes a pearly smile as he dollops two fat scoops of Queenie's Real Homemade Ice Cream at his Great Licks (239.282.2802) shop in Matlacha on the Gulf Coast. First comes a generous portion of coconut chock-full of freshly toasted slivers of fruit, followed by Key-lime ice cream made with juice from a local crop. Indigenous ingredients are Queenie's specialty, luring devotees for fresh seasonal taste like that found in the summer mango made from fruit picked on neighboring Pine Island. "The early variety of mangos makes for a tart ice cream that gets sweeter as the season's harvest goes on," explains Hickey. Credit goes to ice-cream queen Vanessa Viglione, who upon moving to Florida from California couldn't find any satisfying ice cream, so she took a course at Penn State with heavyweights like Ben & Jerry executives. Her small-batch label is also sold at Sanibel's Island Bakery & Coffee House (239.472.7787) and Captiva's Latte Da Café (239.472.0234).

Other ice-cream parlors we love: Strachan's (strachansdesserts.com) in Palm Harbor, where the Cherry Wowza (cherry-vanilla ice cream with chocolate chips, walnuts and chopped cherries) will make you consider enrolling in the store's three-day ice-cream school (for $2,000, you too can learn trade secrets). in Panama City, Gwendolyn's Homemade Ice Cream (850.763.6451) scores with its intense chocolate flavor—double chocolate ice cream, homemade fudge and chocolate chips. Average cone: $3.