cream,'' says Mrs. Doris Brooks.

According to Mrs. Brooks -- who has been in the ice cream business for nearly 20 years -- the quality, consistency and richness of her ice cream make it special.

Although she follows ice cream recipes, she uses her own judgment in each case and admits to being "a little heavy handed.'' "You always make better ice cream by using your own judgment,'' she says.

Mrs. Brooks finishes off her ice cream with a special touch: She heaps nuts, chocolate chips, oreo cookie chunks -- or whatever the ingredients of the ice cream -- on top "so when the box is opened up you have no trouble seeing what the flavour is.'' The ingredients for Mrs. Brooks' ice cream come from Italian ice cream-making veterans A.F. Panza and Sons of Edison, New Jersey.

Her number one piece of equipment to make ice cream is the "batcher'', which whips the basic dairy-ingredients of ice cream into a firm consistency.

Once whipped and the flavouring added, the ice cream is poured into two-and -a-half-gallon boxes and the other ingredients are folded in. The ice cream is then placed in the ice cream hardener for eight hours and then stored in a walk-in freezer.

Mrs. Brooks said she normally makes about 150 gallons of ice cream in a day, every two or three days depending on demand.

Even with the opening two years ago of Jelatos upstairs of the Annex on Reid Street, and The Double Dip next to Scandal nightclub on Front Street this week, Mrs. Brooks continues to make ice cream for Mr. Twist, where she started out as an ice cream server 18 years ago.

The top-selling ice cream at Jelatos and Mr. Twist, especially with youngsters, is Smurf, a blue-coloured, raspberry-flavoured ice cream packed with mini marshmallows.

"Kids love it! They buy it because of the colour,'' she says.

Also popular is Mrs. Brooks' own creation, the creamsicles, which consist of vanilla ice cream with lime, orange or pineapple sherbet folded in between.

And always popular are the classics: oreo cookie, chocolate chip, fudge ripple and of course strawberry, vanilla and chocolate.

Some of the more unusual flavours you'll find at Jelatos and The Double Dip are bubble gum which is a hot pink colour, coconut almond fudge which speaks for itself, mango, almond mousse, grape nut, Dutch apple and strawberry ripple.

The tourists, she says, love mint chip and coffee.

"Every time summer comes around I know I have to start making coffee and mint chip -- it sells so fasts,'' she notes.

Mrs. Brooks says it is the quality that makes her ice cream special: "It's very rich. I don't count calories -- except in the diet ice creams.'' Of the 40 flavours Mrs. Brooks makes, 30 are regular-flavoured ice cream, 10 are yogurts, three are low calorie, and two or three are non-dairy.

Whenever a flavour "moves too slowly'' it is dropped, Mrs. Brooks says.

But she adds she will try any flavour she hears requested enough times while passing through and working in her two stores.

What is Mrs. Brooks' favourite ice cream flavour? "You won't find ice cream in my freezer,'' she asserts. "Because I am around it so much the last thing I want is ice cream!''