Mint chocolate chip
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Mint chocolate chip or mint choc chip is an ice cream flavor composed of mint ice cream with small chocolate chips. In some cases the liqueur crème de menthe is used to provide the mint flavor, but in most cases peppermint or spearmint flavoring is used. Food coloring is usually added to make it green, but it may be beige or white in "all natural" or "organic" varieties. Some brands name it "chocolate (or choco) chip mint", "mint 'n chip", or just "mint chip".Template:Cn
According to the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA), 3% of all ice cream sold in 2000 was mint chocolate chip, making it the 10th-most popular flavor of ice cream.Template:Cn In a May 2024 survey by IDFA, mint chocolate chip was ranked as America's 7th most popular ice cream flavor.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Mint chocolate chip is an acquired taste that people either love or hate. In Korea, "mint chocolate chip" is incredibly popular, often referred to simply as "mint choco," and is considered a widespread food trend with many variations including dedicated "mint chocolate" snacks, drinks, and even fried chicken flavored with mint chocolate.
Because of its popularity, the flavor is used in other foods such as cookies, meringues, and milkshakes. Ice cream manufacturer Baskin-Robbins has created a hard candy named "mint chocolate chip" that tastes similar to their ice cream of the same name (which is one of their "permanent flavors").<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
HistoryEdit
Baskin Robbins cites Mint Chocolate Chip as being one of the original 31 flavors when they began operations in 1945. Howard Johnson's restaurants were serving the flavor by the early 1950s,<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> which would become a common flavor into the 1960s and 70s. Previously, Howard Johnson's was responsible for inventing chocolate chip ice cream under George R. Pitman.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
The domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh's last meal before he was executed for the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing was two pints of mint chocolate chip ice cream in the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>