Helado De Coco Keeps Its Sunset Park Roots

When Helado de Coco at LuVums Tropical Ices (7th Avenue between 47th and 48 Streets) in Sunset Park opened its doors in 2014, loyal customers spread the word that their neighborhood ices have returned to its Brooklyn roots.

“It was an introduction to let everyone know helado de coco was back,” said Hector Gonzalez, who makes the shop’s decadent ices from scratch and with fresh fruit.

LuVums opens in March and closes in late October as it continues to carry the helado de coco torch for four generations, Gonzalez says.

LuVums was inspired by Gonzalez’s godfather Fabio Fernández, who owned Fabio’s Coco Helado and Tropical Ices on Fourth Avenue (between 47th and 48th Streets). Fernandez bought the shop in the late 1970s from a friend who at the time offered eight ice cream flavors, according to Gonzalez.

Fernandez moved his business a couple of times, on Fifth Avenue and 46th Street, 57th Street and Fourth Avenue, but with gentrification rising in the Sunset Park, the shop was priced out and moved to 49th and Fourth Avenue.

In 2011, Fernandez closed his Brooklyn shop to open two in Florida, one in Fort Lauderdale and one in Tampa where Gonzalez helped out. But business in Florida didn’t receive the same volume it had in Sunset Park.

“Business is better in Sunset than it was in Tampa and Fort Lauderdale,” Gonzalez said.

Fernandez retired and moved to Allentown, Pennsylvania, and made sure to pass down the recipes to LuVums. The shop added its spin for customers by offering adult flavors such a strawberry daiquiri, which runs out quick, and piña colada, which has a spike to it. The coquito rum flavor remains an adult favorite.

But of course coconut is the best seller, Gonzalez says. And with making all these flavors comes a jammed packed schedule.

Gonzalez wakes up at 7:30 a.m. most days and by 8:00 a.m. he starts setting up to prepare ices. “We do our products in two days from morning to night,” he said. “We shop for ingredients the week before. It’s an all day process of making ices.”

Gonzalez said Fernandez had a different schedule when making ices. “He did seven times more volume than we do, so he used to wake up at 4:00 a.m., and work all through the day and night for the first three days of the week,” Gonzalez said.

Some of the classic flavors are vanilla, chocolate, strawberry, and morir soñando — a flavor with Dominican roots and in Spanish means “to die dreaming.”

To make LuVum’s parcha (passion fruit) and pineapple flavors, Gonzalez travels to the Dominican Republic for fresh fruit where farmers would puree the fruit and freeze it for him to pick up.

“We have enough for the season,” Gonzalez said. “We take the frozen fruit, and we layer it in batches we’re going to use. Then we preserve the rest.”

Gonzalez says the main ingredients are fruit, sugar, and water, and uses less than 10 percent cream to give texture and to accommodate lactose intolerant customers. But for Gonzalez, love, and dedication are the most important components to making ices.

As Gonzalez showed us the different flavors, we simply couldn’t resist but to try LuVum’s signature helado de coco. It’s made with real coconut, not too creamy or watery, but the right balance of both. We even tasted the coconut shavings within every bite. Delicioso!

In addition to trying coconut, we also quenched our palate with flavors such as pancake, which is Gonzalez’s favorite and a kid friendly item on the menu. He uses real maple syrup, milk, and sugar to create the breakfast staple in sorbet form.

If you’re a coffee lover, then LuVum’s coffee flavor is the one for you. With every spoonful, you can taste the rich coffee bean. Strawberry is a classic and made with fresh strawberries. It’s not too sweet or creamy, just right. Bubble tea — trust us when we say it tastes like bubble tea and it has tapioca balls just like the popular drink.

Lastly, we tried LuVum’s creative Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup flavor. It’s also a kid favorite and tastes exactly like a recess pieces candy made with recess pieces chunks, milk, butter, peanuts, and chocolate.

Location: 4716 7th Ave., between 47th and 48th Streets
Hours: Mondays to Thursdays, 1:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m., Fridays to Saturdays, Noon-9:30 p.m., Sundays, Noon-8:30 p.m.
What to get: Helado de coco, of course!
Contact: (347) 987-3958
More info: luvums.com