The Unusual Ice Cream Flavor That Piques Interest In Pennsylvania

I scream you scream, you know the drill. This summer's heat waves are sure to have you reaching for your favorite kind of ice cream. There are a plethora of flavors to suit every palate, from classic vanilla bean to inventive variants like Moose Tracks and Spumoni. However, there's one particular ice cream style that you've likely never tried, unless you come from a very specific part of the world. 

According to Food Network, the most commonly Googled ice cream flavor in Pennsylvania is teaberry. If you've never heard the word, you're in good company. Teaberry ice cream received no internet searches from any state besides Pennsylvania in the past calendar year, per Google Trends.

The teaberry is an evergreen plant with bright red fruit (via Britannica). According to the USDA, the plant grows along the Atlantic coast, predominantly in the northeast states. You won't find it any further west than Minnesota, which helps to explain the flavor's relative obscurity. Pennsylvania is the only region where teaberry ice cream is made, but you can find the flavor in other products, just not by the same name.

The teaberry is also known as American wintergreen, per the USDA. If you've ever tried wintergreen gum before, you already have a sense of how teaberries taste. In fact, according to Atlas Obscura, teaberries were the base for D.L. Clark Company's gum. The brand achieved widespread popularity throughout the eastern states back in the 1960s, when it ran a series of commercials featuring Herb Alpert, a popular musician at the time who wrote them an original jingle (via oldtimecandy.com). While it has long since been overtaken by larger brands, you can still find Clark's Teaberry Gum in some classic candy shops.

When added to ice cream, teaberry imparts a brilliant pink hue. As described in the Morning Call, teaberry ice cream is quite similar in shade to strawberry ice cream, but the flavors could not be more different. The outlet reiterates that powerful wintergreen mint is the dominant flavor, but adds that the ice cream is distinctly sweet and a touch tart as well. 

If this has you craving a taste of teaberry ice cream, we're sorry to say you won't find any outside of Pennsylvania. But don't let that stop you. You can order yourself some teaberry extract and add it to a batch of homemade ice cream.