Americans Catching on to Real Fruit Ice Cream

In New Zealand, one of summer’s great pleasures is known as real fruit ice cream: a scoop of vanilla blended with fruit in a machine that produces an airy, barely sweet twirl with a buttery texture, New York Times correspondent Priya Krishna writes. The dessert, which likely originated in the country’s berry orchards, has become a national favourite over the last few decades, prized for its freshness and simplicity.

In the United States, it’s just beginning to catch on in cities like Boston, Portland, Oregon and Austin, Texas. But along the way, the no-frills treat has undergone a full-bore makeover, Krishna reports.

At most American shops that sell it, real fruit ice cream can be mixed with graham crackers and Oreos; drizzled with hot fudge, caramel or chamoy; and enjoyed atop a chocolate- and sprinkle-dipped cone.

“The American ice cream experience is just very American,” said Hap Cameron, a New Zealand native who runs Happy Cones Co, a real fruit ice cream shop in Edgewater, Colorado. “It’s bigger, more choice, 20 to 40 flavours of ice cream.”

Original article by Priya Krishna, The New York Times, July 20, 2023.

Photo by Tony Luong.