It’s the time of year when a lot of people gravitate toward ice cream as their dessert of choice. However with so many different types of flavours, brands and ice cream shops, there’s something different for pretty much everyone to enjoy. So what are the most popular types of ice cream this time of year?
Ice cream may well be seen as a fun light hearted treat we have once in a while, but it really is serious big business. Sales of it generated more than £1 billion for the UK economy last year.
In a recent survey with Ask Your Target Audience only 4% of the people questioned said they don't like ice cream, so maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that it pulls in so much dosh.
We haven’t quite gone as far as the US, in having an ‘National Ice Cream Week’, but we do have a day dedicated to it – it was actually last Sunday.
And in a market place where it is becoming harder and harder to keep shops open we are seeing Ice Cream Parlors popping up everywhere.
Whereas traditionally you would find them at the seaside, they are now on farms, and in towns, city centres, and retails parks across the country.
Not only are there more outlets nowadays, but the range of flavours on offer has changed too.
Some parlours are carrying up to 70 different flavours, and even though we as a society on the whole like traditional flavours, there are some very fanciful and savoury flavours coming into the market.
Most of us have a sweet tooth, but also have a savoury side too, and it seems that as people get older and mature there’s a shift to something a bit less sweet and more to savoury.
Some of the more interesting an unusual flavors you might chance across could be bacon & eggs, Marmite, cheese, haggis, or how about Thai green curry, which seems to be on the rise in popularity.
Something that has been evident over the past few years is that if you’d like something to become successful it’s always handy to incorporate something from our past.
Readers of a certain age will remember chewy sweets such as Fruit Salads, Blackjacks, and Refreshers, all of which have been turned into ice cream flavours that have become instant fan favourites.
But what are the actual definitive list of best-selling flavours? Well according to the Ice Cream Alliance the top 20 flavours in the UK for last year were as follows:
1. Vanilla
2. Chocolate
3. Strawberry
4. Mint Choc Chip
5. Choc Chip Cookie Dough
6. Rocky Road
7. Cookies & Cream
8. Butterscotch
9. Coconut
10. Raspberry Ripple
11. Banana
12. Rum & Raisin
13. Coffee
14. Tutti Frutti
15. Pistachio
16. Chocolate Marshmallow
17. Praline Pecan
18. Vanilla Fudge Ripple
19. Mint
20. Fudge Chunk
And just to see how the facts and figures matched up we also asked some members of the Van Mildert office what their opinions were on the subject, and as you can imagine the results were varied.
They ranged from ones that made the list like Vanilla, and Rum & Raisin, & also some that didn’t such as Choc Nut, Rhubarb, Salted Caramel and Peanut Butter.
So this weekend if you’re getting hot under the collar make sure you go out and enjoy a cone, scoop, or bowl, as there’s very few problems in life that can’t be sorted with ice cream.