The Old-School Ice Cream Flavor That You Hardly See Anymore

When at an ice cream shop or a grocery store freezer aisle, you're bound to see the most popular ice cream flavors like chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. However, once upon a time, tutti frutti ranked the charts as an overwhelmingly popular choice. Tutti frutti ice creams vary slightly in flavor and toppings, but most consist of a vanilla-based ice cream mixed with nuts such as pecans and colorful candied fruit pieces. Pineapple, papaya, mango, cherries, strawberries, and various stone fruits have all been featured in tutti frutti, but truly any bright and whimsical-appearing fruit will magnify the fun — some makers actually dye the fruits to fortify their rainbow-like appearance. The Italian phrase for "all fruits," tutti frutti once encapsulated most sweets with a mixed-fruit flavor – such as gum, soda, candy, and ice cream — yet now primarily describes diced, dried fruits soaked and preserved in brandy. Tutti frutti ice cream has been enjoyed all over the world for centuries, dating back to the 1800s.

In American culture alone, tutti frutti has been publicly acclaimed on several occasions. The 1943 film "The Gang's All Here" features a song titled "The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat" sung by the famous Carmen Miranda, and the renowned Little Richard released the song "Tutti Frutti" about a decade later. Both instances highlight the playfulness of the colorful confection in differing ways, which attests to the overall amusement the sweet provides.

Once-popular tutti frutti ice cream brands include the UK's Gino Ginelli, whose memorable jingle secured worldwide brand loyalty between the '80s and '90s. Today, tutti frutti is an old-school ice cream flavor that's hard to find. Some shops like Bruster's still sell tutti frutti in stores, while other brands like Leopold's ship tutti frutti nationwide, but otherwise, the flavor has all but vanished from the mainstream.

According to Instacart, the most ordered ice cream flavors in 2025 were vanilla, chocolate, and cookies and cream. This is especially noteworthy because, as brands and shops shift toward artisanal methods and flavors in ice cream production, it showcases that the classics are here to stay. Despite growing trends in exotic ice cream flavors like lavender, yuzu, and olive oil, the quirky flavors of yesteryear just aren't cutting it anymore.

Tutti frutti's disappearance from shelves and stores is in part due to its synthetic nature. Because of several recipes' artificial coloring and flavoring, critics claim its unnatural taste does not meld well with our present, health-conscious era. A perhaps more significant reason for its expiry is the limited availability of one of its classic ingredients: angelica. An aromatic herb, angelica belongs to the parsley family and has stems suitable for candying. In a traditional tutti frutti, many makers used angelica for the green fruit specks. Today, however, the herb is difficult to find and often pretty expensive.

Tutti frutti isn't the only once-popular flavor to have fallen from grace. Another retired ice cream flavor is the first-ever recorded ice cream flavor, camphor, due to newfound discoveries of camphor oil's toxicity when consumed. Other quirky retired flavors include oyster and ambergris, which is derived from sperm whales. Still, not all forgotten ice cream flavors were obscure. I presume some hard-to-find flavors, like teaberry, rum raisin, butter brickle, and black walnut, would still sell well today.