The History of Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream

Chocolate Mint was one of the 31 original flavors offered when Baskin-Robbins first opened its doors in California in 1945 and the ice cream flavor quickly became popular in the United States. However, it didn’t reach peak popularity until the early 1970s. In 1973, a culinary student named Marilyn Ricketts was attending South Devon College in England and decided to enter a competition to design a dessert for the royal wedding between Princess Anne and Captain Mark Phillips. She won with her recipe for Mint Royale, which was essentially Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream. Since it was served at such a high-profile event, the flavor quickly caught on and became popular throughout the world (although it already had a stronghold in the U.S. by that time, thanks to Baskin-Robbins and other ice cream chains). Today, Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream remains a fan favorite in the United States and in many other parts of the world. The flavor profile is also popular in other sweet treats such as Thin Mints Girl Scout cookies and York Peppermint Patties, which were introduced around the same time as Baskin-Robbins’ Chocolate Mint ice cream.