Neopolitan ice cream usually is composed of three distinct flavors: chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry. This is true in almost every country but Peru, where Neopolitan ice cream consists of chocolate, vanilla and lúcuma. Lúcuma is a fruit that is native to Peru and has been prized since pre-Inca times as can be seen pottery motifs from that period. It is related to the canistel fruit that grows in South Florida and is widely cultivated in Cuba and the Caribbean. The flavor is hard to pinpoint and is something that brings warm and fuzzy feelings to most Peruvians just like peanut butter with Americans. It is one fruit that, while sweet, has a great deal of umami that made me compare it in flavor to a very astringent tomato. Of course, the idea a tomato-flavored ice cream is one that would be challenging even to the most adventurous eaters. Upon tasting a ripe persimmon for the first time, I realized that the flavor was similar and both it and the lúcuma have an astringent quality to them. Still, it wasn't quite the same. The best description I've seen was first read in a Travel + Leisure article on the new Lima and its vibrant food scene, which described the taste of lúcuma as a cross between maple syrup and sweet potato. Although much more complex than that, this seems to be the most spot-on description for American palates.
Fresh lúcuma, outside of Peru and California, is almost impossible to come by. Frozen lúcuma pulp is available at most Peruvian groceries in South Florida, but costs anywhere from $7 to $15 for a packet. Lúcuma ice cream produced by D'Onofrio is now readily available in most well-stocked Peruvian groceries, but are still about 3 times the price of their American Blue Bunny counterparts. During my last trip to a Peruvian grocery called Mi Tierra in North Miami Beach, I found a sachet of instant lúcuma ice cream mix for a reasonable price made by Universal brand, which also makes other instant ice cream mixes like guanábana (soursop) and maracuyá (passion fruit). The instructions on the back of the packet required the use of an electric hand mixer to beat the powder together with one cup of milk until it becomes foamy and doubles in volume. In effect, it creates a lúcuma mousse. Given the lack of readily-available ice cream makers to the Peruvian middle and working class, the instructions then require you to fill serving cups with the mousse and leave in the freezer until it sets. I decided to make a richer base with a combination of heavy cream and whole milk and froze it in a Cuisinart ice cream maker. The resulting ice cream was rich and dense and tasted just like D'Onofrio lúcuma ice cream. I recommend buying it if you're a fan of lúcuma ice cream or as a sweet finale to a Peruvian dinner.
Mi Tierra
16461 W Dixie Hwy
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