Blue Moon Ice Cream Recipe

While researching Grape-Nuts ice cream, I came across a host of other regional ice cream flavors I'd never heard of. The most intriguing among them was a magical blue ice cream called Blue Moon.

Popular throughout the Midwest, Blue Moon was reputedly invented in Milwaukee in the 1950s. Nostalgic fans on Chowhound lovingly described it as having a "nuclear turquoise color" and tasting "kinda fruity, but not really." Blue Moon is not blueberry ice cream. It's not really any sort of recognizable fruit. Blue Moon purveyors tend to keep their recipe a closely guarded secret so speculation abounds as to what gives it that unique flavor. Some swear it's just almond extract while others say it's nutmeg. Growing up in New England, I never experienced real Blue Moon ice cream, but it sounded an awful lot like a cherished childhood indulgence: Smurf ice cream.

If you asked seven-year-old me what my favorite ice cream flavor was, I would have said without hesitation: Smurf. Yes, Smurf ice cream, a magical blue, marshmallow-studded concoction that's supposed to be some sort of cotton candy/bubble gum/blue raspberry flavor, but tastes like a sequin top hat-wearing unicorn tap dancing on a Ferris wheel—it's that magical. As a kid in Southern Connecticut, this enchanting flavor could only be found at Sweet Claude's in Cheshire. We didn't often get out to Cheshire, but you can be sure that when we did, I ordered Smurf ice cream. Every. Single. Time.

I'll admit as a child I never really stopped to think about what might be in Smurf ice cream other than blueness, marshmallows, and love. It's been years since I've had Smurf ice cream and I've never enjoyed a proper Blue Moon ice cream, but one bite of this homemade batch brought back a flood of memories of Smurfier days.

There's no consensus on what exactly the flavor is other than sweet and good, and I suspect different creameries throughout the Midwest have their own special formulas. On my hunt for a recipe to cook up a batch of Blue Moon ice cream at home, I discovered one on Food.com involving raspberry flavoring, lemon oil, and instant vanilla pudding that looked very promising and seemed to jive with what I remember Smurf ice cream, a marshmallow studded blue raspberryish concoction, tasted like. This is adapted from that recipe.

I used Boyajian's natural raspberry flavoring and lemon oil which you can find online or at a baking supply store. To get a vivid blue color, I recommend using gel food coloring which provides a more intense color.

A word of caution: My seven-year-old self also lived for Peeps and similar toothache-inducing sweets. Blue Moon ice cream and its Smurf counterpart are sweet, sweet, sweet and bright blue. If either of these things is a turnoff, you might leave this flavor to the kiddos and the young at heart. Anyone left standing grab a spoon and dig in!