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Grape-nut ice cream

Vanilla ice cream studded with crunchy wheat-and-barley cereal nuggets that soften into malty, chewy bites as it sits.

Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs. What the badge means

Grape-nut ice cream is vanilla ice cream with crunchy wheat-and-barley cereal nuggets stirred through it. It has a mild, malty taste and a long history in New England.

It is hard to find, so making it at home is often the easiest way to get a scoop. This page covers its taste, where it comes from, how to make it, what to serve with it, how common it is and nutrition.

What grape-nut ice cream tastes like

Grape-nut ice cream starts with a vanilla ice cream, often built on a brown sugar or maple base. Through it run toasted wheat-and-barley cereal nuggets. Straight from the churn they are crunchy. As they sit in the ice cream, they soften a little and turn chewy, which is a big part of the appeal. The taste is mild and malty, with the cereal's toasted grain flavor against the sweet, creamy base. The color is the pale cream of vanilla, flecked with small brown nuggets, a little darker if you use a brown sugar or maple base. It is a quiet flavor, closer to a bowl of sweetened cereal and milk than to anything bold.

Where grape-nut ice cream comes from

The story goes that grape-nut ice cream was invented in 1919 by Hannah Young in Nova Scotia. Yankee Magazine repeats that account and calls the flavor a New England classic.

Atlas Obscura tells a different story. It says the name comes from a breakfast cereal that the Postum Cereal Company began selling in 1897, and that the company printed an ice cream recipe using the cereal as early as 1916. It also reports that cookbooks before 1916 already put the cereal in ice cream, as a cheaper stand-in for macaroon crumbs in a flavor called bisque.

With those competing accounts, who made grape-nut ice cream first is disputed. What is clear is that it has lasted. Atlas Obscura says it has endured in New England and Nova Scotia and is one of the most popular flavors in Jamaica.

How to make grape-nut ice cream at home

To make grape-nut ice cream at home, start with a plain vanilla base. The style we suggest is French custard, made with egg yolks. Philadelphia style, with no eggs, also works. The Base Builder sets up a French custard base sized to your machine, in grams and cups. It gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.

Stir the cereal nuggets in at the end of churning. If you want them softer and chewier, let them sit in the base for a while first. Factory ice cream works the same way: pieces like nuts and cookies go in as the ice cream leaves the freezer, when it is about as soft as soft serve. That is why home cooks add mix-ins at the end.

If you already have a grape-nut recipe, the Recipe Scaler resizes it to your machine and converts cups to grams.

Base formula

Open the Base Builder: French custard (egg yolks)

Other styles that suit it: Philadelphia (no eggs)

The Base Builder gives a base formula built on standard food-science ranges, not a tested recipe.

What to serve with grape-nut ice cream

Maple syrup is a natural topping, since it echoes a maple base and suits the malty cereal. Raisins add chewy sweetness, much like a bowl of cereal with fruit. Coffee works well too: serve a scoop next to a cup of coffee, or pour a little over the top for a simple affogato-style dessert. For a group, set out maple syrup and raisins and let people build their own bowls.

  • maple syrup
  • raisins
  • coffee

How common grape-nut ice cream is

Our badge for grape-nut ice cream is a waxing crescent, 2 of 5, labeled Hard to find. Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs. The badge says how easy the flavor is to find, not how much people like it. No survey we use lists grape-nut ice cream by name, so the badge is our judgement alone. Regional notes help fill in the picture. Yankee Magazine calls it a New England classic. Atlas Obscura says it has endured in New England and Nova Scotia and is one of the most popular flavors in Jamaica. Outside those places, making it at home may be the simplest way to try it.

No survey we use lists this flavor by name, so its badge is our own judgement of how easy it is to find.

  1. Rare Rare enough that you would most likely make it at home.
  2. Hard to find Look for it in specialty shops and seasonal runs.
  3. Sometimes found Found in some shops and some grocery freezers.
  4. Easy to find Common in most grocery freezers.
  5. Classic A classic you can buy almost anywhere.

Nutrition, roughly

FoodData Central has no record for grape-nut ice cream itself, so these figures are for a plain vanilla base, not for this flavor. Regular vanilla ice cream has 207 kcal per 100 grams, with 11 g fat and 21.2 g sugars. A 1/2 cup (66 g) portion has about 137 kcal. Rich vanilla has 249 kcal per 100 grams. The cereal nuggets and sweeteners change the 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 grape-nut ice cream itself: these are the figures for a plain vanilla base, regular to rich. Mix-ins and sweeteners change them.

Questions people ask

What does grape-nut ice cream taste like?

It tastes mild and malty. It is vanilla ice cream with toasted wheat-and-barley cereal nuggets that start crunchy, then soften a little and turn chewy as they sit, often in a brown sugar or maple base.

How do you make grape-nut ice cream at home?

Start with a plain vanilla base, ideally French custard style, which the Base Builder sets up as a base formula. Stir the cereal nuggets in at the end of churning, or let them sit in the base first for softer, chewier pieces.

Who invented grape-nut ice cream?

Who made it first is disputed. Yankee Magazine says it is said to date from 1919 in Nova Scotia, but Atlas Obscura reports a cereal company recipe from as early as 1916.

Regional and international ice cream flavors ยท All flavors

Plan and make it with these

Sources

  1. The Mysterious Endurance of Grape-Nuts Ice Cream Atlas Obscura
  2. 7 Old-School New England Ice Cream Favorites Yankee Magazine
  3. Ice Cream Technology e-Book: Freezing/Whipping of Ice Cream H. Douglas Goff, University of Guelph
  4. Ice creams, vanilla (FDC 167575) U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service
  5. 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.