Rocket Science Ice Cream

Fun to watch your ice cream being made right in front of you. But even better is the ice cream itself. Trust me, I know ice cream. It’s better than any ice cream you can get in northern Indiana!

We found Rocket Science when our family in Chicago saw them featured on the Food Network. I was skeptical, as they described it as «liquid nitrogen ice cream», thinking it was something like dip n dots. We were completely wrong. They simply make the cream and mix ins into ice cream by using liquid nitrogen to freeze it, and in the process make some of the best ice cream we’ve ever tasted. We went twice in our one week visiting from out of town, it was so good! Every flavor we tried never failed to impress. Worth going out of your way for, and save extra time to tour the cool old cabinet factory it is housed in, and read all the notes and displays highlighting the turn of the century activity at this factory. The entire place is a real gem.

We are from Florida and hear about this place all the time from local family members. So we were excited to get a chance to try this for ourselves. Amazing experience! The ice cream was the creamiest and best I have ever had. Can’t wait to go back!

Great ice cream, kind to lactose intolerant tummies!

I’m a big ice cream nut, and I’m so upset I live so far away. I think this is a cool experience with ice cream. nitrogen and ice cream? Who knew?! You can choose different flavors or just pick your own toppings. So cool watching your ice cream be made right in front of you. They offer a mini bakery inside also.

I love this ice cream! Tons of flavors to choose from! It’s mesmerizing to watch ice cream made right before your very eyes with the help of liquid nitrogen and little elbow grease. Owned and operated by Amish, tourists might find this ice cream shop particularly interesting. It’s a little pricey but the ice cream is worth it.

Who wouldve thought a place like this existed in Nappanee? Think coldstone creamery, but homemade.
This is a small, amish run ice cream shoppe that makes ice cream on order using fresh cream & a huge tank of nitrogen. It’s not only fascinating to watch, but it tastes great too. It seemed a little expensive for such a small town shoppe up front, but when I saw the portions (I got a regular, which is the small size), I was like «shoot… I should’ve gotten the kid’s cup.»
You can either order from their predetermined combos, or you can customize your own. I got the toffee crunch one, which had coffee ice cream & heath bar crunch pieces in them. SO GOOD. It’s a bit on the sweet side (again, think coldstone), but I definitely can’t complain.
I was in town for the July 4^th weekend, so they had this birthday cake promo going on. It had pieces of cake in the mix, and it looked sooooooo good.
Lots of amish goodies across the shoppe in the big warehouse-​y building. Oh yeah, and they also sell coffee beverages on location as well.
tl;dr freshly made ice cream, huge portions, fascinating to watch. Coffee lovers, get the toffee crunch!

This is my go-​to snack. Luckily for me it is a few blocks from my house. All ice cream made in front of you with whole cream and some liquid magic. All of my kids love this place. The ice cream has no air whipped into it making it very dense. I have tried so many of the flavors, and haven’t had a bad one yet. When you are in Nappanee, you owe it to yourself to stop in!

One word: WOW!
That pretty much sums it up. This place gives a whole new new meaning to homemade ice cream! You pick your ingredients from a rather large list of possibilities, they mix your ingredients of choice with fresh milk, and then they flash freeze it on the spot with liquid nitrogen (I believe). not only is it amazing ice cream, it is quite a spectacle to watch.
I think this place is Amish owned and I am thinking they put their dairy cows to very good use! Everyone is here is very friendly and hospitable and they are very proud of the creations that they serve, as the should be. Have I mentioned that the ice cream is amazing???

What a fun and delicious find in such a small town! You’ll be hard-​pressed to notice this place from the outside of the building full of shops, but it’s worth putting the address into your GPS just to have a great dessert with the added bonus of genuine science!
The way it works is that you pick your flavor (think of the more unusual flavors like the mix-​in ice cream shops), they mix the ingredients together, and then they blast it all with liquid nitrogen! All the kids we saw loved this part!
Apparently, cooling the ingredients with liquid nitrogen makes much smaller ice crystals compared to normal ice cream and that makes this version much smoother. Seriously, this is real science! And it works. I had the Key Lime Pie and my wife had the Mint Oreo & M&Ms and we both really enjoyed our treats.
The next time we’re back in the area, we know where we’ll be getting our dessert!

For my Chicago readers, this place was pretty much the Amish owned version of iCream.
They make ice cream from scratch using real cream or the dairy of your choosing and freeze it with liquid nitrogen. Because it’s made from the raw ingredient, it take a little longer than just slapping a scoop in a dish or on a cone. But the flavor possibilities are endless. Luckily for me they have a few signature creations to take the edge off making a decision. We shared one of their suggested creations, a toffee coffee ice cream. I think it’s the coolest thing to watch it get made. And unlike iCream, it actually tasted freaking amazing, delightfully rich and sinfully smooth. Some of the most wholesome ice cream I have had in a long time. Such an indulgent treat.

Wow, great ice cream which is custom made just in front of you using liquid nitrogen for fast freeze. I looked this up online and could only find couple hits where this method is used, both in the Northern Indiana area. So assume this is not a common type of ice cream shop. This little shop is located in Coppes Common {401 E. Market} which is an old factory building with several small shops near downtown Nappanee. They have a good selection of suggested ice creams, but you can select any number of their ingredients and have your own flavor created. Assuming there is no waiting line, it takes around several minutes for the gentlemen to create your special treat. He puts the ingredients in a stainless steel bowl, and turns on the nitrogen, and mixes it all together with a large metal spoon. This is an Amish area and the man looked Amish… and was very nice. My wife and I shared a medium size {$ 4.50}, Turtle flavor which contained caramel, pecan nuts, crushed candy, cream etc. This was just the right size for two sharing a
was the best ice cream I ever had. There is a nice seating area which had plenty of open seats. The only problem I would forsee is if the shopping area is crowded and a line forms because each order is custom made. We were there on a Thursday afternoon and there was no line. The Coppes Common shopping area is very nice and worth a visit. Probably 3 blocks or so from the center of town. There is a small grocery shop, wood-​working shop, tea shop, Amish bakery {great cookies} and a couple others. Very clean restrooms and nice parking lot.