Saturday, August 21, 2021

FROZEN NEAPOLITAN DELIGHT: Retro Ad with Recipe for National Neapolitan Ice Cream Day!

I love Retro Ads & Recipes. Here's one for Reynolds Wrap. I've stuck with many brands from my youth, and I still buy Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil. We cal it Silver Foil. There are so many uses, including costumes. One year in Sunday school, I went as a Dime. I divided the dime into all the charitable ways it could be used, and I decorated my dime costume with Aluminum Foil. So you see why this Retro Ad, probably from my childhood, touched me.

Frozen Asset: The Triple-dividend dessert. Elegant...luscious.. and easy!

Frozen Neapolitan Delight:
This recipe calls for 1 pint Neapolitan brick ice cream. Do you remember Neapolitan Ice Cream? Neapolitan ice cream is made up of blocks of vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry ice cream. The history of Neapolitan ice cream actually goes much farther back.

From Foodtimeline.org

Although Italian ice and granita trace their roots to ancient times, Neapolitan ice cream seems to be a 19th century phenomenon. Recipes for the fancy molds (bombes) or bricks of vanilla, chocolate and strawberry (sometimes pistachio) were often included in 19th century European and American cook books. This was a function of technology (refrigeration advancements) and collective gastronomy (preference for complicated presentations). Why "Neapolitan?" The peoples of Napoli are credited for introducing their famous ice creams to the world in the 19th century. At that time, pressed blocks composed of special flavors were trendy. The best ones were made with "Neapolitan-style" ice creams.

A survey of historic cookbooks confirms the term "Neapolitan," as it relates to ice cream, denotes both a recipe (for ice cream) and method (combining several flavors in a mold). It also reveals there is no "official" triumvirate of flavors. Most often cited are vanilla, chocolate, strawberry and pistachio. It is not unusual to include a sherbet or fruit-flavored ice as well. 

And here's the recipe for Frozen Neapolitan Delight from the Reynolds Wrap Aluminum Foil Retro Ad:


1 comment:

Jane R said...

My mother made this "fancy" dessert a lot when I was growing up. She often put strawberry, vanilla, and chocolate ice cream in separate layers instead of using Neapolitan ice cream in just one layer. Covered with whipped cream and then frozen, it was the best dessert! Thank you taking me on this walk down memory lane!