My local grocery store has started stocking a “limited edition” apple pie ice cream (message me for the details, don’t want to be shilling). It’s one of my favorites – not only does it have chunks of real apple and graham cracker crust, but the ice cream itself has a delicious apple flavor. The whole thing tastes like you took a slice of apple pie with vanilla ice cream and blended it chunky style.
I always figured there was some boring food-science reason you couldn’t make a decent apple ice cream, but this shows it’s perfectly possible. So why isn’t it more common? Apple pie is one of the most popular deserts, and you find apple flavoring in plenty of drinks and candies. What gives?
It’s probably not as common because other flavors are significantly more popular. Chocolate, vanilla, and berry flavors are staple flavors. There’s only so much milk, production capacity, and retail shelf space to go around.
I’ve noticed, though, local ice cream shops are usually more willing to take a risk worth novelty flavors.