Black raspberry ice cream
A deep purple, sweet-tart fruit ice cream made with strained black raspberry puree, a darker and seedier berry than red raspberries.
Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers. What the badge means
Black raspberry ice cream is a fruit flavor made from black raspberries, a berry of their own that is darker and seedier than the red kind. It is sometimes found: some shops and some grocery freezers carry it.
This page covers how it tastes, how to make it at home as a base formula, what to serve with it, how common it is and what the nutrition figures show.
What black raspberry tastes like
Black raspberry ice cream is deep purple, sweet-tart and floral. The color comes from the dark fruit puree, so a batch looks deep purple rather than pink. Black raspberries are their own berry, not a kind of red raspberry. They are darker and seedier than red raspberries, which is why the puree is strained before it goes into the base. The flavor comes from one main ingredient: black raspberry puree, sweetened and stirred into a cold, creamy base. Some versions add chocolate chips for a little crunch against the tart fruit. The result is a smooth, fruity scoop with a floral finish.
Where black raspberry comes from
The sources we use do not record who first made black raspberry ice cream or when. What they do record is where it has a following. Yankee Magazine lists black raspberry among seven old-school New England favorites, describes it as deep purple and sweet-tart, and says it was one of Howard Johnson’s original 28 ice cream flavors.
Interest reaches well beyond New England. In Talker Research’s 2025 survey of 5,000 adults, black raspberry topped the list of flavors people most wanted to try, at 27%.
How it is made follows the rules for any fruit ice cream. The Guelph e-Book says fruit juice goes into the mix, while fruit pieces go in after freezing, and that ice cream color should suggest its flavor. For black raspberry, that deep purple tells you what is in the cone before the first bite.
How to make black raspberry at home
To make black raspberry ice cream at home, start with a Philadelphia-style base, which uses no eggs. The Base Builder sets that style up for you and sizes it to your machine. A no-churn base made with condensed milk and whipped cream also works if you do not have a machine.
Puree the black raspberries, strain out the seeds, sweeten the puree and stir it into the cold base. The Guelph e-Book says fruit usually makes up about 15 to 25% of ice cream by weight. If you want chocolate chips, add them in the last minute of churning. Factories add pieces like these as the ice cream leaves the freezer, when it is about as soft as soft serve, which is why home cooks add them at the end.
The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe. If you already have a recipe you like, the Recipe Scaler resizes it to your machine and converts cups to grams.
Base formula
Open the Base Builder: Philadelphia (no eggs)
Other styles that suit it: No-churn (condensed milk and whipped cream)
The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.
What to serve with black raspberry
Black raspberry is a natural match for chocolate chips, which add small bites of chocolate to the tart fruit. It also sits well next to a scoop of vanilla, whose mellow cream softens the berry's tang. For a brighter bowl, pair it with lemon, either a lemon sorbet or a little lemon zest on top. Serve it in a cup or cone so the deep purple color shows.
- chocolate chips
- vanilla
- lemon
How common black raspberry is
Our badge shows a first quarter moon, 3 of 5, labeled Sometimes found: you can find black raspberry in some shops and some grocery freezers. The badge measures how easy the flavor is to find, not how much people like it. No survey we use measures how often it is sold, so the badge is our judgement alone. Interest is a different matter. In Talker Research's 2025 survey of 5,000 Americans (100 per state, June 23-30, 2025), 27% named black raspberry a flavor they most want to try, the top answer. Yankee Magazine counts it among seven old-school New England favorites.
How it ranks in surveys and order data
| Survey | Result |
|---|---|
| Talker Research survey, 20255,000 Americans, 100 per state, June 23-30, 2025 | 27% named it a flavor they most want to try |
- Rare Rare enough that you would most likely make it at home.
- Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs.
- Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers.
- Easy to find Common in most grocery freezers.
- Classic A classic you can buy almost anywhere.
Nutrition, roughly
FoodData Central has no record for black raspberry ice cream, so the figures shown are for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich. Per 100 grams, that is 207 to 249 kcal. Plain vanilla has 11 g fat and 21.2 g sugars per 100 g; a 1/2 cup (66 g) portion is about 137 kcal. The puree, sweeteners and mix-ins you add change these numbers.
Nutrition per 100 grams
| FoodData Central record | Calories | Fat | Saturated fat | Sugars | Protein |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ice creams, vanilla FDC 167575 1/2 cup (66 g): about 137 kcal, 7.3 g fat | 207 kcal | 11 g | 6.79 g | 21.2 g | 3.5 g |
| Ice creams, vanilla, rich FDC 167573 | 249 kcal | 16.2 g | 10.30 g | 20.6 g | 3.5 g |
FoodData Central has no record for black raspberry itself: these are the figures for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich. Mix-ins and sweeteners change them.
Questions people ask
Is black raspberry ice cream the same as raspberry?
No. Black raspberries are their own berry, darker and seedier than red raspberries. That gives black raspberry ice cream its deep purple color and a sweet-tart, floral taste. The seeds are strained out of the puree before it goes into the base.
Do I need eggs to make black raspberry ice cream?
No. A Philadelphia-style base uses no eggs, and the Base Builder sets that style up for you. A no-churn base made with condensed milk and whipped cream also works if you would rather skip the machine.
When should I add chocolate chips to black raspberry ice cream?
Add them in the last minute of churning. At that point the ice cream is about as soft as soft serve, so the chips fold in and stay spread through it.
More flavors to try
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Fruit
Raspberry ice cream
Tart, pink-red fruit ice cream made with strained raspberry puree
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Fruit
Peach ice cream
Sweet, floral ice cream with soft bits of ripe peach
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Fruit
Banana ice cream
Sweet, pale yellow ice cream with the flavor of ripe bananas
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Fruit
Cherry ice cream
Sweet-tart pink ice cream with chopped cherries throughout
Plan and make it with these
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Recipe Scaler and Converter
Ice cream recipe converter: cups to grams
Scale an ice cream recipe by a factor, a batch volume or your machine, and see every line in grams and cups.
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Scoop size chart
Ice cream scoop sizes and the disher number chart
The number stamped on an ice cream scoop tells you how many level scoopfuls fill one quart, so a #8 holds 4 fluid ounces (1/2 cup) and a #16 holds 2.
Sources
- New Mexico, New Jersey are America's top ice cream connoisseurs (5,000 adults, June 23 to 30, 2025) Talker Research
- 7 Old-School New England Ice Cream Favorites Yankee Magazine
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Fruit Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Colour in Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Freezing/Whipping of Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
- Ice creams, vanilla (FDC 167575) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
- Ice creams, vanilla, rich (FDC 167573) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
Every data source the site uses is on the Sources page.