| Neapolitan ice cream | |
| Country: | Prussia |
| Main Ingredient: | Vanilla, chocolate, strawberry ice cream |
| Variations: | Historically, colours were of the Italian flag: green (pistachio or almond), white (vanilla), and red (cherry, actually pink).[1] |
| Serving Size: | 100 g |
Neapolitan ice cream, also sometimes referred to as Harlequin ice cream,[2] is an ice cream composed of three separate flavors (typically vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry) arranged side by side in the same container, usually without any barrier between them.
Neapolitan ice cream was the first ice cream recipe to combine three flavors.[3] The first recorded recipe was created by head chef of the royal Prussian household Louis Ferdinand Jungius in 1839, who dedicated the recipe to the nobleman, Fürst Pückler.[4] The German name for Neapolitan ice cream is German: Fürst-Pückler-Eis.
Its English-language name of Neapolitan arose in the late 19th century due to confusion about its origin given Italy's reputation for ice cream[5] or because its colors—originally green (pistachio), white (vanilla) and red (cherry)—matched those of the Italian flag. Early recipes featured a variety of flavors, but the combination of chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry became the standard, likely because these were the most popular flavors in the United States at the time of its introduction.[6]
In Australia, there is a popular cake known as Neapolitan cake or marble cake, made with the same three colours of Neapolitan ice cream swirled through in a marble pattern, usually topped with pink icing.[7]