Parents often find themselves constantly seeking education in what their children should be eating and how this will change as they get older, reaching milestones where their diet will become broader.
We recently read an interesting article on children’s behaviour with food and how they explore the world of food as they get older. Obviously, in our line of work, this has piqued our interest with regards to how it relates to ice cream, and ultimately how we can use this information for the benefit of our ice cream businesses.
Ice cream in young diets
When we think about one of the first things a child consumes when it is born, we think of milk. Luckily enough, ice cream is 70% milk (albeit a very different type of milk, I’ll give you that!), making it a natural progression for the diets of children as they grow.
In fact, studies have shown that one of the first things children tend to enjoy is sweet foods, but not for the reason you may think; it has been found that young children often feel better and even show reduced pain symptoms when experiencing sweet flavours.
Furthermore, it has also been found that one third of children really enjoy slightly sour flavours, as well as fats within their diet – an ingredient that, of course, is included in ice cream.
But when it comes to ice cream for children, we really have to consider their ages, what is an appropriate ice cream to give them and what they’re likely to enjoy at that age…
Ages 1-4
We’ll begin our exploration of ice cream through the ages at age one, as until they reach this age, children should not be consuming ice cream according to experts.
So, when we think about what younger children currently eat and enjoy, they’re often quite partial to the iconic Petit Filous fromage frais yoghurts (quite literally the French word for cream cheese). Therefore, when we want to look at what younger children will enjoy, they aren’t looking for bright colours and strong flavours, they instead enjoy the less intense flavours that focus predominantly on creaminess and sweetness.
Creating our very own fromage frais within our gelato or ice cream recipes will be an ideal option for our young customers aged 1-4. You could achieve this by using a cream cheese paste or even a creamy yoghurt powder, mixed with a low dosage of fruit paste, to produce that lovely creamy (slightly sour) yoghurt flavour that children love.
When it comes to flavour, we know that the three most popular yoghurt flavours for children of this age are strawberry, apricot and raspberry, so why not incorporate these into your ice cream recipes? To ensure a responsible portion size, you could even serve this on a smaller cone.
Ages 4-7
Now when children get that little bit older (around the ages of 4-7), studies have shown that they are more drawn towards single flavours.
We’re sure that many parents would agree that they are more likely to buy a single flavour of a particular product for their children as there is less risk of them disliking it, and the same principle will apply to our ice cream flavours.
So, when we consider what flavours will work for customers at this age, children will be more drawn to milder and natural flavours. And as unusual as it may sound, at this stage we can look at studies on medicines. These studies identify the flavours of medicine that children are most likely to take. Unsurprisingly, in this age group the most popular flavour is strawberry, closely followed by banana and, of course, chocolate.
When we think about using this information within our ice cream flavour profile, we want our strawberry flavour to be light, delicate and milky, with a light pink colour to match. Our banana flavour needs to be creamy, with the banana more complimentary to the base rather than being the dominant flavour. And our chocolate should have no bitterness or too much intensity, it should instead be a silky light chocolate flavour with minimal depth of flavour and colour.
To achieve this, we would recommend dropping down the recommended dosage of your flavourings to 60-70% to make sure your flavour is still there and prevalent, but not overpowering for our young customers; your colour will follow the same reduction.
Ages 8-12
Now when we think of 8–12-year-olds, it has been found that they are more interested in what have been described as ‘fantasy’ flavours. Ice cream is now less about fruit or its ingredients and more about the product itself, introducing stronger flavours and stronger colours.
This was never more proven than by the introduction of the incredibly popular blue bubble gum flavour, where flavour is strong, intense and the colour is eye catching. But what exactly is the flavour of blue bubble gum?
We know that nobody is picking the finest bubble gum from the best bubble gum trees in all the land, instead people are drawn to the fantasy of bubble-gum flavour, and it works for many different ice cream recipes.
Our Technical Manager, Jonny, once worked in a gelateria named Rolando’s, and whilst he was there they created a ‘fantasy’ flavour, aptly named Cinderella, which was a blue gelato decorated with silver stars. Until that point bubble gum had been one of the business’ top sellers, but the Cinderella flavour gave it a run for its money simply because people were interested in the ‘fantasy’ element of the ice cream. And whenever they were asked what flavour the Cinderella was, they would tell them the truth – it was Cinderella flavour.
Finding a strong coloured, well-flavoured product and giving it a more childish name will ultimately provide you with a really great selling point for the 8-12 year old market.
12+
When children turn 12, we often find at that the fantasy flavour is too elementary and too childish; they are looking to grow up. So, with that in mind, children aged 12 and upwards are looking for more ‘adult’ flavours.
But at this age, kids are looking to move away from this childish tag and towards more adult flavours. However, they aren’t simply looking for the standard flavours but those with well-known brands, such as Biscoff, or Rocher for the chocolate lovers.
Adding these flavours to your cabinet
So, when it comes to actually incorporating all of the above into your business, you should first identify the ages of your customers.
Are you nearby a school? If so, you may be a popular stop for parents and their children after school pick-up and could benefit from creating more bespoke flavours to cater for this age group.
Of course, you must also consider that many parents may be looking to make responsible choices in the foods that their children consume so it may also be worth offering some low sugar, higher fruit content sorbet options.
If you have any questions regarding flavour recipes or ideas, please don’t hesitate to contact our team.