The Atlantic Monthly (February 24, 2010) reports that many flavors, such as “ice creamer” Adam Simha’s invention of Burnt Caramel ice cream, are the result of happy accident. Other ice cream makers’ popular new flavors are really just riffs on existing flavors that have been “tweaked.” For example, anything can have chocolate chips included, and the variations are literally endless. Flavors that contain Grape-Nuts are also increasingly popular, as the cereal stands up to being frozen in ice cream. Additionally, once an ice cream guru decided to include Oreo cookies into a new flavor, that opened the floodgates for many other cookie (branded or not) inclusions.
Sometimes, ideas come from world travel. Gus Rancatore, co-founder of Cambridge-based shop Toscanini, says, “Italian flavors, like Nocciola and Gianduia, were the inevitable result of traveling to Italy. We’re still trying to make a rice flavor as good as I once had at Vivoli’s in Florence.”