Paletas Ice Cream – Products Made in Berlin

Paletas makes handmade organic ice lollies from whole fruit and freshly pressed juices in a Lichtenberg commercial yard, vegan and without additives. It all began in 2012 with a self-built ice cream cart on Berlin street food markets; today the manufactory supplies cafes and shops and brings a chest or an ice truck to events.

Production in the econopark on Plauener Strasse

Paletas sits at Plauener Strasse 163 to 165 in Alt-Hohenschoenhausen, at the eastern end of the street and therefore in Lichtenberg. The address belongs to the econopark, a commercial yard of thirteen buildings in yellow and red brick that quotes the industrial architecture of the twenties, although the new build was only finished in 1998. Before that the building academy of the GDR stood here, dissolved in 1991; the revival of the site was given the Bauherrenpreis in the year 2000. Around five hundred rental units spread across the grounds, and in the middle lies a courtyard with a green roundel. The area is reached by the tram lines M6, M17, 16 and 27 as well as the 256 and 294 buses. There is no shop at this address, because here things are produced. The manufactory has worked in these rooms since 2020, and for an ice cream maker such a yard is an obvious address, because cooling, delivery and storage come together.

Whole fruit on a stick, vegan and without additives

The idea came about in 2011 on a journey through Australia, where Denise and Torsten found that handmade fruit ice simply tastes best in the heat. Back in Berlin they let friends taste the first creations, in 2012 they founded Paletas, and a friend built the first ice cream cart with which they stood at street food markets. The ice is made from whole fruit and freshly pressed juices, is organic, vegan and gluten free throughout and manages without colourings, flavourings and taste enhancers. Ten varieties exist at the moment, among them raspberry vanilla, mango coconut, cucumber lemon, strawberry lime and chocolate. The electricity comes from a green provider, the machines are cooled through a closed water circuit, and a hundred and fifty-one trees were planted over the past year for the ForTomorrow project. Buying happens online or at partner cafes with a branded freezer; for events there is a tray, a chest, a cart or a truck.