Vintage 1950s ice cream flavors: Sweet old-fashioned treats
While ice cream parlors were the place to be, grocery stores also offered an impressive array of ice cream flavors. Brands like Sealtest, Borden, and Carnation brought delicious options right to your freezer. Popular flavors included staples like vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, but adventurous choices like butter brickle, black raspberry and maple nut also graced the shelves.
The 1950s saw the rise of pre-packaged ice cream, making it easier than ever to enjoy a scoop (or two) at home. Innovations in packaging and distribution allowed for a wider variety of flavors to be available in grocery stores. Families could now try new and exciting flavors without leaving the comfort of their homes, making ice cream a regular part of their weekly shopping list.
We’ve gathered a collection of vintage ads that showcase these fantastic flavors and the fun ways they were marketed. Below, you’ll find some of the coolest vintage ice cream flavors (and a few sherbets) introduced during the 1950s.
Many of these old-fashioned ice cream flavors are long gone, and it was clear that fruit — especially cherry and pineapple — were especially popular.
1. Lorraine Cherry ice cream (Lady Borden – 1955)
2. Western Almond ice cream (Sealtest – 1958)
3. Banana Strawberry Split ice cream (Sealtest – 1959)
4. Chocolate Almond ice cream (Lady Borden – 1950)
5. Gay 90s Toffee Fudge ice cream (Sealtest – 1956)
Gay 90s Toffee Fudge
6. Praline Pecan vintage ice cream (Lady Borden – 1953)
7. Plum Nuts ice cream (Sealtest – 1958)
8. Tropic Isle Pineapple ice cream (1954)
9. 50s Devil Mint ice cream (Sealtest – 1954)
10. Vintage Peach Melba ice cream (Sealtest – 1955)
11. Cherry-Coconut ice cream (Borden’s – 1951)
It’s the creamiest of ice creams… and just filled with juicy red cherries and snow-white coconut aplenty. Wait till you taste it!
12. Burgundy Cherry vintage ice cream flavor (Borden’s – 1951)
Invite delight tonight! Serve this beautiful-looking, luscious-tasting dessert. Big, juicy Burgundy cherries peeking out of smoother-than-smooth Lady Borden ice cream.
13. Strawberry ice cream (Meadow Gold – 1951)
14. Black raspberry vintage ice cream (Sealtest – 1952)
15. Coronation Vanilla ice cream (Meadow Gold – 1953)
To a queen’s taste… and yours: Coronation vanilla
We want you to try this special June delight — that’s practically a sundae in itself! Red and green chunks of Hawaiian pineapple — sun-ripened sweet and juicy. Rich, golden country cream. Pure vanilla from the Spice Islands. All smooth-frozen the Meadow Gold way…
16. Hawaiian ice cream (Meadow Gold – 1955)
New treat! Pink pineapple sherbet loaded with bright, tropic-ripened fruit!
Taste what happens when we take the tangy juice of ripe Hawaiian pineapples, bits of the same good fruit, and smooth-freeze them into pink, frosty sherbet. Even thinking about it makes you feel cooler, doesn’t it?
17. Holiday bisque tortoni old-fashioned ice cream (Lady Borden – 1955)
It’s here. The gayest ice cream of the season. Bright idea for a holiday get-together. Lady Borden Holiday Bisque Tortoni, confetti-ed with luscious red and green pineapple.
18. Candied apple vintage ice cream flavor (Sealtest – 1956)
An old-fashioned taste treat in a brand-new ice cream – All the tantalizing goodness of old-time candied apples… completely recaptured in this brand new Sealtest taste treat.
19. Black Sweet Cherry vintage ice cream (Party Pride – 1956)
20. Banana-Strawberry classic ice cream (Sealtest – 1957)
21. Triple Treat ice cream (Sealtest – 1957)
Dig this crazy mixed-up ice cream! Triple treat – It’s raspberry, vanilla and orange-pineapple. (Man, it’s real cool!)
22. Cherry-Pineapple vintage ice cream flavor (Sealtest – 1957)
You just never tasted anything so deliciously cool!
23. Marshmallow Mint old-fashioned ice cream (Meadow Gold – 1957)
Chocolate ice cream with a bright surprise in every bite!
For our special flavor this month, we’ve taken creamy, colorful mint-flavored marshmallow sauce, and marbled it all through chocolate ice cream.
24. Coconut-Pineapple old-fashioned ice cream (Foremost – 1957)
Shades of the South Pacific! Here’s an exotic ice cream just bursting with fresh sun-sweetened pineapple and crisp snow-white coconut. Set sail for your favorite store, and discover the happiest treat from here to Hawaii.
25. Cherry Nugget vintage ice cream (Sealtest – 1957)
A masterpiece! The all-time favorite! One taste tells why.
26. Lemon drop sherbet (Sealtest – 1957)
Double your pleasure! Luscious lemon sherbet accented with tasty bits of lemon candy.
27. Butterscotch-Pecan vintage ice cream (Borden’s – 1957)
This best-of-butterscotch ice creams has crunchy pieces of pecan in every delicious bite.
28. Coconut fudge vintage ice cream (Sealtest – 1957)
The flavor you’d most like to be marooned with
29. Choco-o-Nut classic ice cream (Sealtest – 1958)
Select buttered almonds in luscious milk chocolate
30. Mint chocolate chip flavor vintage ice cream (Lady Borden – 1958)
Minty cool… fresh as spring! Full of delicious nuggets of dark chocolate. Lady Borden Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream is so pastel pretty, so rich with real cream, that it makes any dessert time party time.
31. Old-fashioned ice cream: Big Dip ice milk (Sealtest – 1958)
32. Vintage rainbow ice cream from the 50s (Sealtest – 1953)
33. Vintage strawberry macaroon ice cream (Sealtest – 1957)
34. Apple la Mode (Borden – 1956)
Vintage 50s apple ice cream — “tastes just like apple pie ‘n ice cream.”
35. Plantation Peach old-fashioned ice cream (Lady Borden – 1953)
9 Responses
Ah, the feelings of nostalgia…I remember the Sealtest line of ice cream (particularly orange ice) from seventy years ago in Chicago…we moved to Texas in 1949, and Sealtest was lost forever…sad realization for the little kid that I was.
Thanks for the memories!
I remember delivering sealtest ice cream with my dad when I was 14.
He had hangover on Saturday an I would pull customers order from truck until moon. Would fell fine then.
I would get $2.00 a day plus lunch.
Some of my greatest memories with my dad.
George Lewis, Bill white, Harvey celburn. His best friends..
What a time .loved it.
I am looking for rainbow ice cream from the 60’s. It was pink, green and yellow. I have found rainbow ice cream but the colours are not the same. I have found it with blue and orange but it not the same.
Just shared this article with my mom and she loved it to every bit! Keep sharing such good stuff fellas!
Does anyone know where you can buy black walnut ice cream that taste the way it did back in the 1950s and 1960s?
These days they have ruined the flavor.
I really enjoyed this article. I had completely forgotten about the Meadow Gold brand.
💖😊
Not rich cream .taste. thesedays. I miss raspberry sherbert
Sealtest ice cream used to be everywhere when I was growing up, but I haven’t seen it in years. I wonder if it’s still around in places…