Green tea ice cream

Green tea ice cream(抹茶アイスクリーム,matcha aisu kurīmu)ormatcha ice(抹茶アイスmatcha aisu) isice creamflavored withmatcha, or green tea. It is popular inJapanand other parts ofEast Asia. Matcha ice cream has been available in theUnited Statessince the late-1970s, primarily in Japanese restaurants and markets, and became more mainstream in the late 1990s.
In Asia, green tea ice cream is often served in or with other foods, such asmonaka,mochi, andshaved ice.
Matchais powdered tea made from a special type of green tea calledtencha(碾茶).Tenchais a tea grown in the shade and is one of the most expensive of all green teas, and is used in thetea ceremonyin Japan.
Matcha is sweeter and less bitter, and is used today in a variety of sweets. In Japan, theFood Labeling Lawprohibits the sale of powdered green tea made from any green tea other than Tencha as matcha.Therefore, it is important to note that calling matcha ice cream simply "green tea ice cream" may be misleading.
There is a theory thatToyotomi Hideyoshi(1537 - 1598) ateshaved icewithmatchaand millet sugar added.  In theEdo period(1603-1867). There was also a shaved ice calledUji Kintoki(宇治金時)with matcha andanko(sweet bean paste) added.
Matcha ice cream was served as ice cream withhikicha(挽茶入氷菓子)at court luncheons and banquets in Japan during theMeiji era.Hikicha(挽茶)means ground tea, i.e., matcha.For example, ice cream withhikichawas listed on the menu of a court banquet forPrince Vittorio Emanuele, Count of Turin, a member of the Italian royal family, who visited Japan in 1898.In addition, a 1907 cookbook includes instructions for makingtenchaice cream.Tencha(碾茶)is tea before powdered matcha.
Also in 1926, a proposal by a Japanese American living in Texas to advertise matcha in the U.S. with a newspaper ad for "matcha ice cream" was claimed in a Japanese tea industry report.
WhenCharles Lindberghof the United States flew toKasumigaura,Ibaraki Prefecture, in 1931, he was presented with matcha ice cream by the Japanese tea association and was very pleased. He was the first American to eat matcha ice cream on record.
In 1958, a tea company inWakayama Prefecturedeveloped and sold a soft serve ice cream containing matcha named "Green Soft."A coffee shop menu book published in 1968 listed matcha ice cream, which was already a standard ice cream served in coffee shops at that time.
In 1983, a confectionery store inKyoto Prefecturesold matcha ice cream and soft serve.In 1983,Meiji Dairiessold matcha ice cream under the Lady Borden brand (the Japanese brand name of the AmericanBorden Company).
The amount of imported ice cream increased in the Japanese market after the import liberalization act of ice cream in 1990.In 1995, Maeda-en USA inCaliforniabegan selling green tea ice cream in Japan. The same product was soon imported and distributed toconvenience storesandsupermarketsin Japan as well and it was introduced in some Japanesenewspapers.
Häagen-DazsJapan started producing green tea ice cream in 1996;it became an immediate hit, having twice as many sales as the previous favorite flavor, vanilla.The product is now sold in Japanesegrocery marketsand 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.
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 inJapanese cuisineandsushipopularity 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.
Green tea ice cream often served with other foods, suchazukibeans,dangodumplings,monakawafers,shaved ice,taiyaki, and so forth.
Media related toGreen tea ice creamat Wikimedia Commons