Neapolitan ice cream
 A block of Neapolitan ice cream | |
| Place of origin | Prussia |
|---|---|
| Main ingredients | Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry ice cream |
| Variations | Historically, colors were of the Italian flag: green (pistachio or almond), white (vanilla), and red (cherry, actually pink).[1] |
Neapolitan ice cream, also sometimes referred to as Harlequin ice cream,[2] is an ice cream composed of three flavors (typically vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry) arranged side by side. Although Neapolitan is associated with Naples in Italy, it was first recorded in Prussia in 1839.
History
[edit]Neapolitan ice cream was the first ice cream recipe to combine three flavors.[3] As of 2026, the origins of the recipe are unclear.[4]
In 1839, head chef of the royal Prussian household Louis Ferdinand Jungius published a layered fruit-flavored ice cream recipe named after the Bad Muskau nobleman Fürst Pückler, suggesting strawberries, raspberries, Reine Claude greengages, red and black cherries, and apricots, adding that with liqueurs and maraschino it could be incorporated with caramel, rose liqueur and coffee layers[5] In 1862, he suggested apricots, quinces, raspberries and strawberries.[6] In 1903, an illustration shows three layers colored top to bottom white, red and brown,[7] as well as the Kaffee König original recipe in Bad Muskau with respectively coco with maraschino, strawberries and chocolate flavors, all also containing macaroon pieces with maraschino,[8][9] in 1920.[10]
Jenifer Harvey Lang claims Neapolitan ice cream makers were famous in Paris at the start of the 19th century.[11] According to John F. Mariani, confectioners' shops were often run by Italians during the 18th century, leading to people associating them with Italians and calling ice cream "Italian ice creams" or "Neapolitan ice creams".[12] Stuart Berg Flexner claimed it was first discussed in the 1870s. [13]
The English-language name of Neapolitan arose in the late 19th century due to confusion about its origin given Italy's reputation for ice cream[14] or because its colors—originally green (pistachio), white (vanilla) and red (cherry)—matched those of the Italian flag.[15] Early recipes featured a variety of flavors, but the combination of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry became the standard, likely because these were the most popular flavors in the United States at the time of its introduction.[16]
19th century descriptions call for a mold known as a "Neapolitan box"[17] or "Neapolitan ice box" to be used for the recipe.[18] It would be filled with three to four[17] or four to five[18] different kinds of ice cream, left to set in an ice house, then cut into individual slices for serving.[17][18] Lizzie Heritage also calls for the use of a "Neapolitan ice spoon", featuring an ice bowl for filling the mold and a handle for leveling the ice cream in the mold.[18]
Cake
[edit]In Australia, Neapolitan cake or marble cake is made with the same three colours of Neapolitan ice cream swirled through in a marble pattern, usually topped with pink icing.[19]
See also
[edit]
Media related to Neapolitan ice cream at Wikimedia Commons
.svg){kind=small}
- List of ice cream flavors
- Fab, an ice pop using the same three colors
- Spumoni
References
[edit]- ↑ "This is popularly known as a mixture of creams moulded together, as vanilla, strawberry, and pistachio." Ida C Bailey Allen (1929). Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus, Service. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran & Company. p. 691.
- ↑ Kalil, Frederick (17 September 2012). "We all scream for..." Tufts Now. Medford, Massachusetts: Tufts University. Archived from the original on 20 February 2021. Retrieved 2 December 2014.
- ↑ "The Classics: Neapolitan Ice Cream". Frostbite Nitrogen Ice Cream. 2019-05-19. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
- ↑ Schwachenwald, Freya (2020-01-29). "Art, Nature, Ghosts, and Ice Cream: Transcultural Assemblages of Prince Hermann von Pückler-Muskau (1785–1871) and Machbuba/Ajiamé/Bilillee". The Journal of Transcultural Studies. 10 (2). Heidelberg University. doi:10.17885/heiup.jts.2019.2.24044. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ↑ Jungius, Louis Ferdinand (1839). "Gefrorenes von geschlagener Sahne mit Früchten nach Fürst Pückler. Glace de crème fouettée aux fruits.". Vollständige und umfassende theoretisch-praktische Anweisung der gesamten Kochkunst (in German). Vol. 3. Berlin: G. Reimer. p. 163. doi:10.1515/9783111576138. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ↑ Jungius, Louis Ferdinand (1864). "Sahnegefrohrenes mit Confect- und Fruchtmarmeladen". Deutsches Kochbuch für bürgerliche Haushaltungen (in German). Berlin: E. H. Schroeder. p. 292. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ↑ Krackhart, Carl (1903). Neues illustriertes Conditoreibuch: Ein praktisches Lehr- und Handbuch für Conditoren, Fein- und Pastetenbäcker, Lebküchner, Chocolade- und Liqueurfabrikanten, Köche, Gasthofbesitzer, sowie auch für jede Hausfrau (in German). illustrated by Georg Ritzer (7th ed.). Munich: Heinrich Killinger. p. 141.
- ↑ Erler, Michael (2024-08-11). "Fürst Pückler Eis". Unsere köstliche Heimat (in German). MDR Fernsehen. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ↑ "Rezept: Fürst Pückler Eis". Unsere köstliche Heimat (in German). MDR Fernsehen. 2024-08-11. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ↑ "Über uns". Kaffee König (in German). Bad Muskau. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
- ↑ Lang, Jenifer Harvey (1988). Larousse Gastronomique. New York: Crown. p. 718. ISBN 0-517-57032-7.
- ↑ Mariani, John F. (1999). The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink. New York: Lebhar-Friedman. pp. 163. ISBN 0-86730-784-6.
- ↑ Flexner, Stuart Berg (1979). I Hear America Talking. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 191. ISBN 0-671-24994-0.
- ↑ Weir, Caroline; Weir, Robin (2010-12-28). Ice Creams, Sorbets & Gelati: The Definitive Guide. Grub Street Cookery. ISBN 978-1-909808-93-5.
- ↑ "Brooklyn Morals.—Those Wax Figures.", Walt Whitman's Selected Journalism, University of Iowa Press, pp. 86–87, doi:10.2307/j.ctt20p585k.36, retrieved 2022-05-09
- ↑ Jeri Quinzio, Geraldine M. Quinzio (5 May 2009). books.google.ru "Of Sugar and Snow: A History of Ice Cream Making". University of California Press. ISBN 9780520942967. Retrieved 22 June 2015.
- 1 2 3 Marshall, A. B. (1885). The Book of Ices. pp. 18.
- 1 2 3 4 Heritage, Lizzie (1894). Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book. London: Cassell and Company. p. 967.
- ↑ "Neapolitan cake". Queen Fine Foods.
Sources
[edit]- Olver, Lynne (1999). "Food Timeline – history notes: ice cream & ice". The Food Timeline. Retrieved 3 April 2006.