Walk into any sizable Finnish grocery store and you will find many flavours of Ingman ice cream, including such novelties as champagne, Rocky Road, mudcake and Brussels caramel cookie. At Ingman ice cream stands, however, the three traditional ice cream standards are on offer: vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, alongside long-time Finnish favourites rum-raisin and mango-melon and perhaps one new flavour of the season.
“Finns simply enjoy vanilla, chocolate and strawberry-flavoured ice cream,” says Ingman owner Unilever’s Communications Director Riitta Jantunen.
Jantunen says each ice cream stand chooses their selection individually, but many play it safe when it comes to choosing flavours. Nevertheless, there are always a few who are also willing to experiment with new flavour combinations.
“Last year we added lime-mascarpone ice cream to our line-up, and this year we have introduced vanilla-pear and blueberry,” says Jantunen.
Residents of Finland eat the world’s third largest share of ice cream each year per capita, 60 percent of which is enjoyed in the summer and 40 percent in the winter. Jantunen says ice cream has increasingly replaced several other traditionally Finnish desserts over the years, like the fruit soup kisseli, for example.
“Perhaps the sweeter taste suits this purpose better,” she says.
Aino added to the mix
Ice cream stands with the penguin Pingviini trademark in Finland are owned and operated by Nestlé these days and this year marks the first time they have featured the company’s premium product: the Aino brand ice cream selection. But the number one favourites at the penguin stands are also the same: good old vanilla, chocolate and strawberry.
“It could be that some ice cream stand customers seek out the familiar flavours of their childhood. If we ever took those three basic favours off the menu, I know there would be a tremendous backlash,” says Nestlé Finland’s Communications Director Aino Pajukangas.
Pajukangas says Finland maintains a strong milk product culture, meaning ice cream is widely considered a reasonably healthy treat. Only the USA and Australia beat the Finns when it comes to eating it.
“It is a strange thing if you think about it, because Finland has a short summer and a long winter. What could possibly explain the relatively large consumption? Maybe it is just that the ice cream we make is so good!” she says.
Classics deserve respect
Tero Kankaanperä stopped by the Kuopio ice cream stand on Tuesday for a treat. He feigns shock when he reads the advertisement that says that the recipe for rum-raisin ice cream has been changed.
“But it is a classic! You can’t go messing with that,” he says, only half in jest.
This time around he has settled on two combined ice cream flavours: one scoop of mint-chocolate and a second of pear-vanilla.
“Well, this is what I felt like getting today, but I have to admit that sometimes I am drawn to re-experience the flavours of my youth. At times like that, I crave something simple.”
