The Geraldine Cheese Company serves ice cream from its shop at 76 Talbot Street in Geraldine, a township in South Canterbury's Timaru district, and holds a 4.5 rating from 358 Google reviewers. Good ice cream announces itself by texture before flavour: a dense, low-air scoop that melts slowly, leaves no icy grain and tastes of cream and real ingredients rather than sugar alone. In dairy country like this, ice cream churned close to the milk carries a richness you notice on the first spoonful. Cold numbs the palate, so let a scoop soften for a minute before judging it. And try the plainest flavour first: vanilla tells you more about a maker's craft than the flashiest tub in the cabinet. On Talbot Street in the middle of Geraldine, it makes a natural stop on a drive through South Canterbury.