Here's Where To Find The Best Ice Cream In Pennsylvania

PHILADELPHIA, PA – If you're looking for the best ice cream in Pennsylvania, there's apparently only one place to go, according to "Food & Wine" magazine: Bassetts Ice Cream in Philadelphia.

The magazine recently named the best ice cream in every state, and the dairy farm and restaurant took the top spot.

Bassetts is the longest-running operation in the country and has been serving ice cream since the 1861, when they churned the ice cream using mule power.

The fifth-generation family-owned business sells ice cream with 16.5 percent butterfat and a dense texture.

If you don't live in Philadelphia, not to worry – the business has distributors in New York City, Washington, D.C., and Florida.

The shop's fascinating history includes a shipment of 10 quarts of ice cream via freighter in 1935 through the Panama Canal to the American Embassy in Tokyo and the opening of three Bassetts retail locations in China in 2012.

The Food & Wine survey focused not on the newest or the oldest establishments, but instead asked the question "which is the most essential" ice cream shop.

The ice cream industry has a $13.1 billion impact on the U.S. economy, supports 28,800 direct jobs, and generates $1.8 billion in direct wages, according to IDFA's Dairy Delivers®.