This Vintage Ice Cream Flavor Used To Be So Popular, So What Happened?

Food trends come and go. Take the current rage, Dubai chocolate — will it last or will it soon fade from relevance? Only time will tell with this popular chocolate bar, but for some once-popular items, the exit from the mainstream has already become a reality. Like tutti frutti ice cream. This rich and creamy, sweet and fruity frozen concoction was once hugely popular. It could be found in mom and pop ice cream parlors, chain ice cream stores, and in frozen aisles of grocery stores across the country.

Tutti frutti, which means 'all fruits' in Italian, isn't just an ice cream flavor. Its roots date as far back as the 1800s and actually refers to several things (and not just the Little Richard song from the '50s, which didn't actually have any ice cream inspiration behind its lyrics). It can be a mix of candied fruit bits that are used in cookies, cakes, and candies, or it can refer to candied bits of unripened papaya used in Indian desserts (you don't even have to know how to pick the perfect papaya to make this version). It also refers to a flavoring designed to replicate the cornucopia of flavors that come from a combination of various fruits like cherries, pineapples, strawberries, and more, depending on who makes it. 

Like all trends, many specialty ice cream flavors have their heyday and then tend to disappear (take artichoke or oyster ice cream as just a few examples, although you may not really want to!), and tutti frutti is no exception. Once a popular flavor that tasted like a sweet and delicious fruit salad, it fell out of favor with connoisseurs and is sadly no longer made by most ice cream manufacturers. Today, it has become nearly impossible to find.

Tutti frutti ice cream is known for its lovely pink color and bright chunks of candied fruit mixed throughout. Although the strong flavor can be overwhelming for some, many who remember it claim tutti frutti tastes like a burst of fruit flavor, with all its different ingredients coming together as one sweet taste. But unfortunately, its main component is sneakily similar to the main component of fruit cake, which boasts an impressively bad reputation. Sadly, despite the rich creaminess of the ice cream and delicious burst of fruit flavor, like many other ice creams that came and went, tutti frutti is mostly a memory. 

While this ice cream has declined drastically in popularity, it's still possible to find it occasionally at specialty ice cream shops, or you can head to India, where it is still a popular confection. If you aren't lucky enough to come across some but still find yourself awash with curiosity, you can try your hand at making it yourself. All you'll need are candied fruit bits (the combination is yours to choose) to mix it into an ice cream of your choice. 

The base flavor of classic tutti frutti ice cream isn't specifically one flavor. The pink color can be deceiving, as it is actually a mixture of fruit flavors like the candied fruit itself, and the fact that you can use any fruits you desire makes pairing it with an ice cream flavor easy. A fruity flavor like strawberry or cherry will give you the classic look, or you can think outside the box and go with a basic vanilla or chocolate to give your fruit flavor a lovely contrast and aesthetic to boot.