Mint chocolate chip is an
ice cream
Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...
flavor composed of mint
ice cream
Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...
with small chocolate chips. In some cases the liqueur
crème de menthe
Crème de menthe (, French for "mint cream") is a sweet, mint-flavored alcoholic beverage. It is available commercially in a colorless version (called "white") and a green version (colored by the mint leaves or by added coloring if made from extr ...
is used to provide the mint flavor, but in most cases
peppermint
Peppermint (''Mentha'' × ''piperita'') is a hybrid species of mint, a cross between watermint and spearmint. Indigenous to Europe and the Middle East, the plant is now widely spread and cultivated in many regions of the world.Euro+Med Plantba ...
or
spearmint
Spearmint, also known as garden mint, common mint, lamb mint and mackerel mint, is a species of mint, ''Mentha spicata'' (, native to Europe and southern temperate Asia, extending from Ireland in the west to southern China in the east. It is nat ...
flavoring is used. Food coloring is usually added to make it
green
Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...
, 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. In a July 2017 survey by IDFA, mint chocolate chip was ranked as America's 4th most popular ice cream flavor.
Because of its popularity, the flavor is used in other foods such as
cookies and
meringue
Meringue (, ; ) is a type of dessert or candy, often associated with Swiss, French, Polish and Italian cuisines, traditionally made from whipped egg whites and sugar, and occasionally an acidic ingredient such as lemon, vinegar, or cream o ...
s. Ice cream manufacturer
Baskin-Robbins
Baskin-Robbins is an American multinational chain of ice cream and cake speciality shops owned by Inspire Brands. Based in Canton, Massachusetts, Baskin-Robbins was founded in 1945 by Burt Baskin (1913–1967) and Irv Robbins (1917–2008) in ...
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").
Some brands name it chocolate (or choco) chip mint, mint 'n chip, or just mint chip.
History
Dutch people invented mint ice cream and then Baskin Robbins cites Mint Chocolate Chip as being one of the original 31 flavors when they began operations in 1945.
Howard Johnson's
Howard Johnson's, or Howard Johnson by Wyndham, is an American hotel chain and former restaurant chain. Founded by Howard Deering Johnson in 1925 as a restaurant, it was the largest restaurant chain in the U.S. throughout the 1960s and 1970s, ...
restaurants were serving the flavor by the early 1950s, 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.
The domestic terrorist
Timothy McVeigh
Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was an American domestic terrorist responsible for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing that killed 168 people, 19 of whom were children, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed one-third ...
's last meal before he was executed for the
1995 Oklahoma City bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995. Perpetrated by two anti-government extremists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry N ...
was two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream in the federal penitentiary in
Terre Haute, Indiana.
See also
*
List of ice cream flavors
This is a list of notable ice cream flavors. Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavors. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are ...
*
Mint chocolate
Mint chocolate (or chocolate mint) is a popular type of chocolate, made by adding a mint flavoring, such as peppermint, spearmint, or crème de menthe, to chocolate. Mint chocolate can be found in a wide variety of edible products, such as can ...
*
References
Flavors of ice cream
Chocolate desserts
Frozen desserts
{{Dessert-stub