Neapolitan Ice Cream - Wikipedia

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• 3 19th century descriptions
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• 6 References
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Appearance move to sidebar hide From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Ice cream composed of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry flavours

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Neapolitan ice cream

A block of Neapolitan ice cream
Place of origin	Prussia
Main ingredients	Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry ice cream
Variations	Historically, colours were of the Italian flag: green (pistachio or almond), white (vanilla), and red (cherry, actually pink).[1]
Media: Neapolitan ice cream

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 2020, 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]

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[11] or because its colors—originally green (pistachio), white (vanilla) and red (cherry)—matched those of the Italian flag.[12] 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.[13]

Quotes from food historians

[edit]

Cosmopolitan slice. A slice of ice-cream cake made with mousse mixture and ordinary ice cream, presented in a small pleated paper case. Neapolitan ice cream consists of three layers, each of a different colour and flavour (chocolate, strawberry, and vanilla), moulded into a block and cut into slices. Neapolitan ice-cream makers were famous in Paris at the beginning of the 19th century, especially Tortoni, creator of numerous ice-cream cakes.

— Jenifer Harvey Lang, Larousse Gastronomique[14]

Eighteenth century [...] confectioners' shops [were] very often run by Italians. Consequently ice creams were often called 'Italian ice creams' or 'Neapolitan ice creams' throughout the nineteenth century, and the purveying of such confections became associated with Italian immigrants.

— John F. Mariani, The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink[15]

Neapolitan ice cream, different flavoured layers frozen together [...] [was] first being talked about in the 1870s.

— Stuart Berg Flexner, I Hear America Talking[16]

...in a dress of pink and white stripes, strongly resembling Neapolitan ice cream.

— A cultural reference from The New York Times, 1887[17]

19th century descriptions

[edit]

You must have a Neapolitan box for this ice and fill it up in three or four layers with different coloured and flavoured ice creams (a water ice may be used with the custards); for instance, lemon, vanilla, chocolate and pistachio. Mould in the patent ice cave for about 1½ to 2 hours, turn it out, cut it in slices, and arrange neatly on the dish, on a napkin or dish-paper.

— "Neapolitan box" (A. B. Marshall, The Book of Ices, 1885)[18]

These are prepared by putting ices of various kinds and colors into a mold known as a Neapolitan ice box, which, when set and turned out, is cut into slices suitable for serving. However small the pieces, the block should be cut so that each person gets some of each kind. They are generally laid on a lace paper on an ice plate. Four or five kinds are usually put in the mold, though three sorts will do. The following will serve as a guide in arranging: First, vanilla cream, then raspberry or cherry or currant water; coffee or chocolate in the middle; the strawberry cream, with lemon or orange or pineapple water to finish. A cream ice flavored with any liqueur, a brown bread cream flavored with brandy, with a couple of bright-colored water ices, form another agreeable mixture. Tea cream may be introduced into almost any combination unless coffee were used. Banana cream, pistachio, or almond cream with cherry water and damson or strawberry water are other options. The Neapolitan Ice Spoon has a double use; ice bowl is for putting the mixture into the mold, and the handle is for leveling it. The boxes may be made of tin, which is less expensive than pewter. They are generally sold small enough to make single ices, but these are much more troublesome to prepare. After filling the molds, if there is no cave, 'bed' the ice in the usual way.

— "Neapolitan Icey Cones" (Lizzie Heritage, Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book, 1894)[19]

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.[20]

See also

[edit]

Media related to Neapolitan ice cream at Wikimedia Commons

• List of ice cream flavors
• Fab ice lolly, using the same three colours
• Spumoni

References

[edit]

1. ^ "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.
2. ^ 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.
3. ^ "The Classics: Neapolitan Ice Cream". Frostbite Nitrogen Ice Cream. 2019-05-19. Retrieved 2024-05-19.
4. ^ 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.
5. ^ 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.
6. ^ 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.
7. ^ 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.
8. ^ Erler, Michael (2024-08-11). "Fürst Pückler Eis". Unsere köstliche Heimat (in German). MDR Fernsehen. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
9. ^ "Rezept: Fürst Pückler Eis". Unsere köstliche Heimat (in German). MDR Fernsehen. 2024-08-11. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
10. ^ "Über uns". Kaffee König (in German). Bad Muskau. Retrieved November 22, 2025.
11. ^ Weir, Caroline; Weir, Robin (2010-12-28). Ice Creams, Sorbets & Gelati: The Definitive Guide. Grub Street Cookery. ISBN 978-1-909808-93-5.
12. ^ "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
13. ^ 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.
14. ^ Lang, Jenifer Harvey (1988). Larousse Gastronomique. New York: Crown. p. 718. ISBN 0-517-57032-7.
15. ^ Mariani, John F. (1999). The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink. New York: Lebhar-Friedman. pp. 163. ISBN 0-86730-784-6.
16. ^ Flexner, Stuart Berg (1979). I Hear America Talking. New York: Simon & Schuster. pp. 191. ISBN 0-671-24994-0.
17. ^ The New York Times; June 27 (1887). "Thespians on a Frolic". The New York Times. p. 8.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
18. ^ Marshall, A. B. (1885). The Book of Ices. pp. 18.
19. ^ Heritage, Lizzie (1894). Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book. London: Cassell and Company. p. 967.
20. ^ "Neapolitan cake". Queen Fine Foods.

Sources

[edit]

• Olver, Lynne (1999). "Food Timeline – history notes: ice cream & ice". The Food Timeline. Retrieved 3 April 2006.

v t e Ice cream
Flavors	Bacon Beer Biscuit Tortoni Black raspberry Blue moon Butter Brickle Butter pecan Caramel Cherry Chocolate Chocolate chip cookie dough Coffee Cookies and cream Crab Garlic Goody Goody Gum Drops Grape Green tea Halvah Hokey pokey Mint chocolate chip Moon mist Moose Tracks Neapolitan Oyster Pistachio Queso Raspberry ripple Rocky road Rum raisin Sili Spumoni Stracciatella Strawberry Superman Teaberry Tiger tail Tramontana Tutti frutti Ube Vanilla
Forms	Bar Bastani Booza Cake Cone Cornish Dondurma Float Freeze-dried Fried Sorbetes Stir-fried
Dishes	99 Flake Affogato Arctic roll Baked Alaska Banana split Bananas Foster Bombe glacée Café liégeois Cherries jubilee Choc ice Choc-top Coffee cabinet Creme de papaya Dame blanche Milkshake Mix-in Mochi ice cream Parfait Peach Melba Peanut ice cream roll Poire belle Hélène Sandwich Sizzling brownie Spaghettieis Splice Sundae Bacon Golden Opulence Knickerbocker glory Knickerbocker Tartufo Zuccotto
Events	Ice Cream for Breakfast Day Ice cream social National Ice Cream Month
Lists	Brands Parlor chains
Related	Carlo Gatti Gelato University Geography of ice cream Ice cream cart Ice cream maker Ice cream parlor Ice cream van Penny lick Squround
Similar desserts	Frozen custard Frozen yogurt Gelato Granita Ice milk Italian ice Kulfi Semifreddo Shave ice Shaved ice Sherbet Slushy Snow cream Soft serve Sorbet

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