The Fruity, Old-School Ice Cream Flavor We Don't See People Eat Anymore

"Tutti frutti, which means "all fruits" in Italian, was a popular mixed fruit filling for tarts, pies, and cakes it was an easy way to use up older fruit before it went bad. Eventually, this fruity name was used to describe any candy, gum, soda, or ice cream with a mixed fruit flavor. Most versions of tutti frutti ice cream are a mixture of vanilla ice cream and candied or dried fruits and sometimes nuts."

"As with fruit cake recipes, in the original Tutti Frutti recipe, the fruit was soaked in rum or brandy to create a boozy ice cream treat. Roy Motherhead, who owned an ice cream shop in Kentucky, claimed to have invented the ice cream flavor in the 1950s. However, there are references to tutti frutti ice cream in an 1871 cookbook and 1888 newspaper ad, and tutti frutti recipes were increasingly popular throughout the early 1900s."

Tutti frutti began as a mixed-fruit filling used to preserve older fruit and evolved into a mixed-fruit flavor label for candy, gum, soda, and ice cream. Typical tutti frutti ice cream blends a vanilla base with candied or dried fruits such as cherries, pineapple, and raisins, and sometimes includes nuts. Early recipes often soaked fruit in rum or brandy. Claims of invention vary, with a Kentucky shopowner cited in the 1950s but documented references appearing in an 1871 cookbook and an 1888 newspaper ad. Popularity peaked from the 1970s through the 1990s, and a few regional shops and retailers still sell it.

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