From the freezer of Jose Mier:
I just wrote about an obscure delight in black sesame ice cream, which was—at least originally—a delicacy from Japan. However, as I scour the world looking for frozen desserts to celebrate I happened upon something that’s also kind of a regional favorite: Grape Nut (or Brown Bread) ice cream.
As my knowledge of the various flavors of ice cream grows it becomes obvious to me that first, I don’t know half the flavors others have concocted throughout history (probably going back to Marco Polo’s expeditions and Kublai Khan) and two, there are many flavors that are for whatever reason, relatively obscure but very popular in certain geographic areas.
From Canada to Jamaica
Such is the case with Grape Nut ice cream. According to a Wikipedia article, it’s a favorite in the Canadian Maritimes, Shenandoah Valley, New England and Jamaica. I won’t even try to guess how this ice cream made its way to theses different places, some of which are extremely far apart, but apparently, people in these places like it very much. Being from Los Angeles, (Sun Valley, specifically) this was something very new to me and probably for you too unless you live in one of the above regions.
Legend has it a chef in Nova Scotia created it in 1919 when she ran out of ingredients for her ice cream and tossed in some cereal. It became popular and the rest is history.
It does come in a packaged variety and is probably available at a Carribean foods store if one is avaiable in your area. Want to make it yourself? Toss some grape nuts into vanilla ice cream. And yes, there are more detailed recipes which is what I would use unless I were just craving some grape nut ices cream and didn’t have much time. Check out the video below for one man’s recipe. As always, if you like, try or create your own version, let me know. Id love to hear about your breakfast cereal turned frozen dessert!