Robert's Market Report

 July 16: Ice Cream and Crème Glacée

Bassetts Ice Cream has been selling its product in Philadelphia "only" since 1885, but Lewis Debois Bassett first churned his ice cream maker in 1861 in  Salem, New Jersey, which makes this year the 150th anniversary of the enterprise.

So it should not come as a surprise that this year's Ultimate Philadelphia Ice Cream Festival at the Reading Terminal Market will make special observance of the anniversary. The event will be held Saturday, July 16 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. While Bassetts will hold most of the attention, other fine area ice cream makers will participate.

When you're done gorging yourself on ice cream you can head over to Fairmount's Eastern State Penitentiary where Bastille Day will be celebrated and you can taste some alimentaire de la révolution from neighborhood restaurants, including, perhaps, more crème glacée.

Coincidentally, Bassetts produced its ice cream just a block from the penitentiary for much of the 1970s and 1980s.

Learn more about Bassett's history here.