Mint chocolate chip
 Mint chocolate chip ice cream | |
| Type | Ice cream |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | Mint ice cream, chocolate chips |
Mint chocolate chip is an ice cream flavor composed of mint ice cream with small chocolate chips. In some cases the liqueur crème de menthe is used to provide the mint flavor, but in most cases peppermint or spearmint flavoring is used. Food coloring is usually added to make it green, but it may be beige or white in "all natural" or "organic" varieties.
According to the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), 3% of all ice cream sold in 2000 was mint chocolate chip, making it the 10th-most popular flavor of ice cream.[citation needed] In a July 2017 survey by IDFA, mint chocolate chip was ranked as America's 4th most popular ice cream flavor.[1]
Mint chocolate chip is an acquired taste that people either love or hate. In Korea, "mint chocolate chip" is incredibly popular, often referred to simply as "mint choco," and is considered a widespread food trend with many variations including dedicated "mint chocolate" snacks, drinks, and even fried chicken flavored with mint chocolate.
Because of its popularity, the flavor is used in other foods such as cookies and meringues. Ice cream manufacturer Baskin-Robbins has created a hard candy named "mint chocolate chip" that tastes similar to their ice cream of the same name (which is one of their "permanent flavors").[2]
Some brands name it chocolate (or choco) chip mint, mint 'n chip, or just mint chip.[citation needed]
History
[edit]Baskin Robbins cites Mint Chocolate Chip as being one of the original 31 flavors when they began operations in 1945. Howard Johnson's restaurants were serving the flavor by the early 1950s,[3] which would become a common flavor into the 1960s and 70s. Previously, Howard Johnson's was responsible for inventing chocolate chip ice cream under George R. Pitman.[4]
The domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh's last meal before he was executed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream in the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.[5]
See also
[edit]
References
[edit]- ^ "National Ice Cream Month survey press release". IDFA. July 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-12-22.
- ^ "Baskin Robbins Permanent flavors". Archived from the original on 2011-10-10.
- ^ "VINTAGE HOWARD JOHNSON'S 28 FLAVORS ICE CREAM SHOP & RESTAURANT LOCATION GUIDE". eBay. Archived from the original on 23 February 2022. Retrieved 22 February 2022.
- ^ "Let's Take a Look at Howard Johnson's". Good Housekeeping. Vol. 143, no. 4. October 1956. pp. 61–62. ProQuest 1847831535.
- ^ Janis, Lauren (2001). "At the execution". Columbia Journalism Review. 40 (2): 8–9. Gale A76693164.
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