Neapolitan ice cream (in Ireland and the U.K., sometimes colloquially mispronounced as Napoleon ice cream), also sometimes called Harlequin ice cream, is a type of ice cream composed of three separate flavors (

vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus ''Vanilla (genus), Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla (''Vanilla planifolia, V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the p ...

chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec civ ...

, and

strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...

) arranged side by side in the same container, usually without any packaging in between.

History

Neapolitan ice cream was named in the late 19th century as a reflection of its presumed origins in the cuisine of the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

city of

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

, and the many Neapolitan

immigrant Immigration is the international movement of people to a destination country of which they are not natives or where they do not possess citizenship in order to settle as permanent residents or naturalized citizens. Commuters, tourists, and ...

s who brought their expertise in

frozen desserts Frozen dessert is a dessert made by freezing liquids, semi-solids, and sometimes even solids. They may be based on flavored water (shave ice, ice pops, sorbet, snow cones), on fruit purées (such as sorbet), on milk and cream (most ice creams), o ...

with them to the United States.

Spumone Spumone (from ''spuma'' or "foam"), plural spumoni, is a molded gelato (a lower-fat Italian form of ice cream) made with layers of different colors and flavors, usually containing candied fruits and nuts. Typically, it is of three flavors, wi ...

was introduced to the United States in the 1860s as Neapolitan-style ice cream. Early recipes used a variety of flavors; however, the number of three molded together was a common denominator, to resemble the

Italian flag The national flag of Italy ( it, Bandiera d'Italia, ), often referred to in Italian as ''il Tricolore'' ( en, the Tricolour, ) is a tricolour (flag), tricolour featuring three equally sized vertical Pale (heraldry), pales of green, white and red, ...

(cf. insalata tricolore). More than likely, chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry became the standard because they were the most popular flavors in the United States at the time of introduction. It is the first type of ice cream to combine three flavors. The first recorded recipe was created by head chef of the royal Prussian household Louis Ferdinand Jungius in 1839, who dedicated the recipe to Fürst Pückler.

Quotes from food historians

19th-century descriptions

Cake

In Australia, there is a popular cake known as Neapolitan cake or

marble cake A marble cake (or Marmor) is a cake with a streaked or mottled appearance (like marble) achieved by very lightly blending light and dark Batter (cooking), batter. It can be a mixture of vanilla and chocolate cake, in which case it is mainly vanil ...

, made with the same three colours of Neapolitan ice cream swirled through in a marble pattern, usually topped with pink icing.

References

Sources

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Neapolitan Ice Cream Flavors of ice cream Vanilla ice cream Italian-American cuisine German cuisine Neapolitan cuisine