New Zealand and its real fruit ice cream

I don’t have a sweet tooth. But, if there’s one dessert I can get behind, it’d be a scoop of ice cream or soft serve on a hot, sunny day.

Since our New Zealand trip was during summer, I supported many ice cream shops, ice cream buses, roadside stops and cafes.

In New Zealand, they have real fruit ice cream.

Real fruit?

Yes.

Well, OK, the fruit is typically frozen but you pick the fruit(s) you want and then these ice cream shops have a machine where they mix the fruit and vanilla ice cream together. It turns it into a delicious smooth fruit soft serve. I suppose if they used fresh, not frozen fruit, it would probably get too mushy.

The first time I tried real fruit ice cream was only on our second day in New Zealand. We were in Auckland walking around and shortly after we ate breakfast I saw a sign outside of a bakery for coconut strawberry ice cream. (Yes, a bakery!) I was full from our breakfast so we continued on our walking tour. I kept talking about the ice cream. And, yes, you guessed correctly if you thought we returned to this bakery later that same day!

I love coconut. I love strawberries. And, I think I love soft serve more than “real” ice cream. It was delicious!

I quickly ate the entire thing before we had finished walking through nearby Myers Park. I usually order my ice cream in a cup, rather than a cone. In New Zealand, I always got a cone because it’s eco-friendly and New Zealand is very earth-friendly country so I felt pressured!

“I need to start a real fruit ice cream business back home!” I proclaimed on more than one occasion throughout our vacation.

But, seriously, why hasn’t this made it to the United States? Is it because we always ruin a good thing?

I can’t pin point what my favorite real fruit ice cream experience was — they were all great! — but one of the highlights was when we were driving down the highway and saw a honey gift shop on the side of the road. There were no other businesses in sight. It was nestled among fields and pastures. It stood out because of all the yellow and bee images on the building.

As we were driving by it, Bryce asked if I wanted to stop for ice cream.

“Nah, it’s ok,” I replied.

We drove past. We had an itinerary to follow, after all!

Then I had second thoughts.

“Actually …”

Bryce was already signaling to pull into a little side ditch so we could turn the car around. We went back for some real fruit ice cream.

I had berries with honey. He had passion fruit with honey. They were both delicious. We had to eat quickly so that it didn’t melt everywhere. We sat on a bench outside of the shop and watched cars zoom by. A few other drivers also stopped for ice cream.

“We’ll have to remember this place,” I said to Bryce.

We were in the middle of nowhere but I’m certain that Bryce would be able to navigate back here should we ever make it back to New Zealand in the future.

Public restrooms were plentiful in New Zealand, which made for a pleasant road trip. And, so was the real fruit ice cream.

 

If you want to read what actual food I ate in New Zealand and my thoughts on non-ice cream, check out this previous post!