The Rich Origins Of How Neapolitan Ice Cream Got Its Name

Neapolitan ice cream — that tri-color treat made of the three very popular flavors of vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate — is a dream for those who can't make up their mind. This dessert's history, much like a melted ice cream cone, is a bit messy. Historical evidence points to China as the country that invented ice cream (at least in its earliest form) around 200 B.C., but the Neapolitan flavor is a much newer invention that has gone through many changes.

As you may be able to guess by the name, Neapolitan ice cream has a connection with the people of Naples, Italy. Neapolitan immigrants in the United States were known for the high quality of their ice cream, and they helped popularize the treat by selling it on the street. Some of the many other names for Neapolitan ice cream included hokey pokey, pocchi occhi, and harlequin, among others.

Neapolitan ice cream also has a few likely precursors, including German Fürst Pückler and Italian spumoni. Even its name has changed meanings. In the U.S., the term "Neapolitan" once described ice cream made with eggs and cream, rather than the combination of flavors. It was also one of two main types, the other being Philadelphia-style ice cream, which didn't include eggs. As far back as 1867, "Neapolitan" was beginning to be used in the U.S. to describe ice cream with multiple layers. At the time, Neapolitan ice cream featured different flavor combinations, ranging from lemon to coffee to almond.

Around 1839, chef Louis Ferdinand Jungius of the royal Prussian court created arguably the first three-layered ice cream in the shape of a loaf cake, which he named after a famous 19th-century prince, Hermann von Pückler-Muskau. This treat consisted of three types of ice cream: vanilla (flavored with Kirsch cherry liqueur), strawberry, and chocolate with crushed macaroons. 

A few decades later, spumoni became popular in Italy. Spumoni is a frozen dessert that doesn't require cooking, and it includes a layer of ice cream or gelato, whipped cream with a parfait inside, and a crunchy element of nuts and candied fruit. Spumoni found its way to the United States via the waves of Italian immigrants who settled there in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It's likely that spumoni gave rise to Neapolitan ice cream. Meanwhile, around the same time, street vendors in the U.S. began selling a cheap Neapolitan-adjacent ice cream called hokey pokey.

While "Neapolitan" was mainly used to describe ice cream made using eggs, an 1867 article in The Buffalo Commercial newspaper described a new treat at a local confectionery shop, Martin & Meyer's in Buffalo, New York. This establishment specifically described Neapolitan ice cream as having different layers that came in various colors and flavors. Over the years, vanilla, strawberry, and chocolate, the three most popular flavors, became the standard. While flavors like the vintage cucumber ice cream of the 1800s have fallen out of favor, Neapolitan remains a staple and continues to make life easier for indecisive people.