Why Grape Ice Cream Is Impossible to Make

Frozen dessert lovers might have noticed that it’s nearly impossible to find grape-flavored ice cream. It turns out that the reason is the high water content in these berries. Ben & Jerry’s PR lead, Sean Greenwood, gave an interview and lifted the curtain of secrecy on the subject.

Bright Side is ready to explain all the difficulties and tell you where you can actually try some grape ice cream.

Grapes contain too much water.

Grapes are among those fruits that have too much water — at almost 81%. When frozen, it becomes ice. This leads to ice cream that is covered with chunks. They crunch between the teeth and spoil the structure. The taste also changes and becomes less creamy and more watery.

When making ice cream at home, it is possible to use grapes because it is easier to turn them into a puree-like mass. On a large scale, it is very challenging and sometimes the result is not worth trying. For instance, the company behind Air Heads tried to do it, but the ice cream turned out to be beige with green swirls, which looked really uninviting.

Grape ice cream will never be popular.

There are lots of other fruits and berries that are watery, but we still see them as part of ice cream flavors. Cherries contain 82% liquid, but people love Cherry Garcia by Ben & Jerry, which is listed among their classic flavors.

Grape doesn’t easily come to mind when we think about ice cream. It sounds weird and unusual. So it’s commercially risky to make it. We hardly ever want something if we have never tried it before. The result will likely be not worth the difficulties. Cherries on the contrary are something people grew up on, as Greenwood said in his interview.

Grape popsicles and sorbet are a better option.

The point of popsicles is for them to be icy and sorbet is made of sugared fruit-flavored water. So the high amount of liquid is not a big deal here. That is why it is easier to find grape when talking about these things. NYC based shop Il Laboratorio del Gelato has 4 different grape sorbets. So if you are interested in this flavor, it’s better to opt for these variants of frozen dessert.

Would you like to give grape ice cream a chance or do you prefer the classics?