When it comes to ice cream, Luca de Rocco likes to experiment. Coconut with fennel, dandelion flowers, pear-flavoured Parmesan or pine-flavoured parmesan with forest honey are some of the unusual flavors created by the renowned ice cream maker from Schwabach, on the outskirts of Nuremberg. “But it also has to be delicious,” he adds.

But this is not the only example. Many other ice cream parlors in Germany also work wonders in pre-season test kitchens to challenge their customers’ tastes with their own tastes. Often the results are unconventional, as evidenced by ice cream flavored with sausage, sauerkraut, asparagus, as well as ice cream made from … insects. But what flavors could be trending in the ice cream market this year and what do most people really like?

Tiziano ice cream with grape and sparkling wine flavor has been announced by the Berlin-based Union of Italian Ice Cream Makers Uniteis as the 2023 variety of the year. “It’s a popsicle for adults (…) and we can’t say for sure if it will be a pole of attraction in ice cream shops,” says Analisa Carnio spokesperson. It also depends on the weather, as popsicles sell well, especially in hot summers. “It’s lighter and very refreshing,” she says.

Ice cream for every taste

Matthias Munds from Munich, calling himself “Crazy ice cream man”, he sees promise in flavor combinations with alcohol such as raspberry champagne, beer or gin and tonic.

“Beer ice cream is one of the best-selling ice cream flavors, and it’s also delicious,” he says. Munds is not shy about experimenting with sushi, bull testicles or mealworms, sometimes satisfying the tastes of customers, and sometimes not so much. He notes that ice cream flavors such as pizza, sausage, and cheese are very popular. Sauerkraut-flavored ice cream, on the other hand, is meant for more “hard” ice cream eaters. What always sells well are sundaes, herbs or spices and vegan ice creams.

“The vegan trend is very popular,” Carnio says. “More and more varieties are being added because the demand is also growing.” This doesn’t just happen to ice cream shops. According to the Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI), ice cream makers are also expanding their range of products “due to ever-increasing demand” for vegan ice cream. Some of the new flavors include Pistachio Banana and Sea Salt Caramel. Apart from soy, almonds and oats, pea protein is also used as a plant source.

“Sherbet ice cream is especially popular,” notes Luca de Rocco. In 2017, together with his father, he took second place in the international Gelato World Tour competition with grape and caramelized walnut sorbet ice cream. The 33-year-old also creates blends of flowers such as elderberry and dandelion that he picks from the area himself, and for this reason, these ice cream flavors are only available for a short time. But when the summer is cool, ice cream with milk and chocolate is better, says Rocco. However, its most popular product is the classic vanilla ice cream. “It’s always in demand,” he says.

Impressions are won by the classic vanilla flavor

Uniteis doesn’t know how much ice cream is sold each year at the more than 2,000 traditional Italian ice cream parlors in Germany. The Federal Association of the German Confectionery Industry (BDSI) estimates that 84% of ice cream consumed in 2021 in Germany was industrial ice cream, 13.5% was ice cream parlors, and only 2.5% was machine ice cream. German ice cream makers sold almost 538 million liters of ice cream in 2021, according to the data, and data for 2022 is not yet available, the spokesman said.

The most popular type of ice cream in family packs was clearly vanilla, followed by cookies, ice cream flavored with fruits such as lemon and strawberry, chocolate, caramel, and walnut. Perhaps this is due to the fact that there are often children among ice cream lovers. Carnio emphasizes that they don’t experiment too much in ice cream shops. “Children are conservative. They order strawberry, chocolate and mango flavored ice cream.”

Source: Deutsche Welle.