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Fancy flavors give new twist to ice cream

Michele Kayal Associated Press

Coming soon to a freezer aisle near you – balsamic vinegar ice cream. Plus, hot sauce ice cream. And maybe even tomato.

“You’re seeing the same kinds of trends in ice cream that you’re seeing in other foods,” said Peggy Armstrong, spokeswoman for the International Dairy Foods Association. “People are willing to experiment.”

Just a generation ago, Americans mostly bought their ice cream at the supermarket in recognizable flavors that occasionally sported chocolate chips or a swirl of some kind. Today, regular old ice cream has been joined by boutique items such as gelato, sorbet and water ice, as well as an army of flavors that seem more at home in an Italian restaurant – opal basil lemon sorbet, anyone? – than in your local freezer aisle.

Americans ate nearly 1.6 billion gallons of ice cream and other frozen dairy desserts in 2012. But traditional ice cream’s share of that market has been shrinking, edged out by specialty items such as frozen yogurt and gelato. In 2012, production of regular ice cream hit its lowest point since 1996, the Dairy Foods Association says, hitting fewer than 900 million gallons.

Boutique scoop shops and artisanal producers have flooded the landscape during the last five to 10 years, introducing audiences to a wider range of flavors and textures. Vanilla remains supreme, but the mass-market producers represented by her organization are branching out. At the association’s annual ice cream technology conference in April, producers showcased flavors such as Mexican-spiced chocolate and hot sauce ice cream. Ice cream flavors such as caramel popcorn, coffee-and-doughnuts, cotton candy and peanut butter s’mores also are destined for supermarket shelves.

Though we are in an intense period of flavor experimentation, the desire to go beyond chocolate, vanilla and strawberry dates to the post-World War II era, said Laura B. Weiss, author of “Ice Cream: A Global History.” That’s when Howard Johnson, known for his roadside restaurants, tried to convince Americans to indulge in his famous 28 flavors. Among them: maple walnut, burgundy cherry and fruit salad.

The next revolution, ice cream watchers say, will be in creating more texturally sophisticated ice creams. Customers are beginning to demand smoother, creamier products that suggest the hand of the artisan.