Paleta Carts

These are high on the local color points. Love the rice/​arroz paleta — it’s rich with light spicy notes like a good horchata, but with the textural aspect of real rice grains, it’s the paleta that eats like a meal!

You know it’s summer in Chicago once you start seeing paleta carts in your neighborhood. These refreshing treats come in many flavors. Some are milk-​based — coconut, chocolate, vanilla, arroz con leche, horchata. Others are water-​based — tamarind, strawberry, lime, jamaica (hibiscus), mango. My favorite is tamarind, sweet and tart!
My family used to buy extra paletas and store them in the freezer. So good, so cheap, and you can find paleta carts everywhere in Chicago (well, *almost* everywhere… I’m pretty sure there weren’t any in Wicker Park when I lived there).
Go ahead, find your inner child and run outside when that paleta bell rings :)