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or matcha ice (抹茶アイス ''Matcha aisu'') is an
ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...
flavor popular in
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...
and other parts of
East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both geographical and ethno-cultural terms. The modern states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. China, North Korea, South Korea ...
. Green tea ice cream is also sold in ''
monaka is a Japanese sweet made of azuki bean paste sandwiched between two thin crisp wafers made from mochi. The wafers can have the shape of a square, a triangle, or may be shaped like cherry blossoms, chrysanthemums, and so on. The azuki bean paste ...
'' form. It has been available in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
since the late-1970s, primarily in Japanese restaurants and markets, but is currently moving into mainstream availability.


Background

There is a clear indication that
Mount Fuji , or Fugaku, located on the island of Honshū, is the highest mountain in Japan, with a summit elevation of . It is the second-highest volcano located on an island in Asia (after Mount Kerinci on the island of Sumatra), and seventh-highest ...
-shaped green tea ice cream was an item on the menu at the royal dinner party during the
Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
(1868–1912). The true origin of green tea ice cream, however, is unknown. Although
green tea Green tea is a type of tea that is made from '' Camellia sinensis'' leaves and buds that have not undergone the same withering and oxidation process which is used to make oolong teas and black teas. Green tea originated in China, and since th ...
itself seems to have existed as local handmade ice cream at some districts in Japan, none of the Japanese flavored ice creams were merchandised until the 1990s because the major Japanese ice cream manufacturers were producing
vanilla Vanilla is a spice derived from orchids of the genus '' Vanilla'', primarily obtained from pods of the Mexican species, flat-leaved vanilla ('' V. planifolia''). Pollination is required to make the plants produce the fruit from whic ...
,
strawberry The garden strawberry (or simply strawberry; ''Fragaria × ananassa'') is a widely grown hybrid species of the genus '' Fragaria'', collectively known as the strawberries, which are cultivated worldwide for their fruit. The fruit is widely ap ...
and
chocolate Chocolate is a food made from roasted and ground cacao seed kernels that is available as a liquid, solid, or paste, either on its own or as a flavoring agent in other foods. Cacao has been consumed in some form since at least the Olmec ci ...
. However, green tea shaved ice has been well known and popular in Japan long before green tea ice cream. The amount of imported ice cream increased in the Japanese market after the import liberalization act of ice cream in 1990. Sales of green tea ice cream in Japan began with the importation of green tea ice cream from Maeda-en USA in
California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
with the catchphrase "Pure Japanese style made from California". It has been produced since April 1995, using fresh California
milk Milk is a white liquid food produced by the mammary glands of mammals. It is the primary source of nutrition for young mammals (including breastfed human infants) before they are able to digest solid food. Immune factors and immune-modulat ...
made in United States The same product was soon imported and distributed to
convenience stores A convenience store, convenience shop, corner store or corner shop is a small retail business that stocks a range of everyday items such as coffee, groceries, snack foods, confectionery, soft drinks, ice creams, tobacco products, lottery ticke ...
and
supermarkets A supermarket is a self-service shop offering a wide variety of food, beverages and household products, organized into sections. This kind of store is larger and has a wider selection than earlier grocery stores, but is smaller and more l ...
in Japan as well and it was introduced in some Japanese
newspapers A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, spor ...
. During a certain period of the 1980s in Japan,
Meiji Dairies is a Japanese food company. It was renamed into the , on March 31, 2011. It was a major dairy industry company established in 1917. Apart from dairy products like milk, ice cream, and cheese, their lineup includes sports drinks, pizza, choco ...
started selling its green tea ice cream with Lady Borden Brand but eventually discontinued selling the product.
Häagen-Dazs Häagen-Dazs ( , ) is an American ice cream brand, established by Reuben and Rose Mattus in The Bronx, New York, in 1960. Starting with only three flavors: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee, the company opened its first retail store in Brooklyn, N ...
Japan started producing green tea ice cream in 1996. The product is now sold in Japanese grocery markets and has become one of the company's most popular flavours. Statistics from the Japanese Ice Cream Association show that green tea ice cream was ranked third in the "Favourite Ice Cream Flavour" study.日本アイスクリーム白書2016
(日本アイスクリーム協会) In order to prevent a change in color to green tea ice cream (
catechin Catechin is a flavan-3-ol, a type of secondary metabolite providing antioxidant roles in plants. It belongs to the subgroup of polyphenols called flavonoids. The name of the catechin chemical family derives from ''catechu'', which is the tanni ...
) from
sunlight Sunlight is a portion of the electromagnetic radiation given off by the Sun, in particular infrared, visible, and ultraviolet light. On Earth, sunlight is scattered and filtered through Earth's atmosphere, and is obvious as daylight when ...
, some containers have lids with an opaque underside. Some green tea ice cream is artificially-colored, and others have natural green coloring from the catechin present in green tea.


Popularity

Green tea ice cream has been available in the United States, the country with the largest ice cream consumption, since the late 1970s, primarily in Japanese restaurants and markets. It is becoming mainstream and can also be made at home. The U.S. saw rapid growth in
Japanese cuisine Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan ( Japanese: ) is based on rice with miso soup and oth ...
and
sushi is a Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is "sushi rice," also ...
popularity in the mid-1990s, which resulted in a big expansion of the Japanese restaurant business in the U.S. This development gradually helped people learn about green tea, resulting in green tea ice cream becoming a typical dessert.


With other dishes

Green tea ice cream could easily be integrated into various decorations and arrangements with other ice cream flavors. It could be served with other Japanese sweets such as , , and . File:Green tea ice cream.JPG, Azuki and Green Tea Ice Cream File:GreenTeaMochiIceCream.jpg, Green Tea Mochi Ice Cream File:Korean shaved ice-Green tea bingsu-07.jpg, Green Tea shaved ice


See also

* List of Japanese teas *
List of ice cream flavors This is a list of notable ice cream flavors. Ice cream is a frozen dessert usually made from dairy products, such as milk and cream, and often combined with fruits or other ingredients and flavors. Most varieties contain sugar, although some are ...


References


External links

{{Ice cream Flavors of ice cream
ice cream Ice cream is a sweetened frozen food typically eaten as a snack or dessert. It may be made from milk or cream and is flavoured with a sweetener, either sugar or an alternative, and a spice, such as cocoa or vanilla, or with fruit such as ...
Japanese desserts and sweets