"The endless involution in the freezer: After guava and potatoes, 'hot spicy chicken ramen' has also been frozen into ice cream"

This article is from Consumer Reports by Liao Yuting.

Nowadays, it’s hard to find a simple green bean popsicle in convenience store freezers.

Let’s go back to 2019—when the first double-yolk egg ice cream appeared, it truly shocked consumers used to small puddings. This was the first time people really felt what a “viral” ice cream could be: turns out, ice cream can look like this.

Since then, brands seem to have collectively “woken up,” racing along the path of “creative innovation.” In the first quarter of this year, new products include salty, spicy, and even potato-shaped ice creams. You can never guess what flavor or shape the next ice cream will be. As temperatures just barely climbed above 25°C, the 2026 ice cream “creative battle” has already started early.

1. Abstract Ice Cream: Only your imagination is the limit for what brands can freeze

This year’s abstract ice cream competition started earlier and was more intense than previous years.

In January, Lawson launched Yangtze River Pulala Ice Cream’s “Bala Guava Ice Cream.” The chocolate crispy shell mimics the texture of real guava skin, filled with guava pulp, strawberry jam, and cookie crumbs, looking very realistic with rich layers of flavor. On social media, early testers quickly shared feedback—some joked, “The green skin looks so real I almost got fooled,” others said, “It’s quite sweet-friendly,” and some lamented, “The most suitable ice cream for couples has arrived—buy two and assemble a whole guava.”

Besides fruits, vegetables have also become inspiration for ice cream brands. In January, Nami launched a “Whole Carrot Ice Cream” (butter and milk flavor), with a shell that replicates the surface texture of a real carrot, topped with a faux-shaped stick, filled with butter-milk flavored ice cream, coated with chocolate shell and waffle cookie shell, and at the bottom, chocolate cookie crumbs. The carrot shape is so realistic that “rabbits would stay silent,” and some netizens commented, “The chocolate on the shell makes it look like just pulled out of the ground.”

Even more bizarre than guava and carrots is potato. In February, FamilyMart released Yangtze River Pulala’s “Potato Cheese Vanilla Ice Cream,” with vanilla ice cream filling containing cheese and potato string sauce, a wafer cone coated with chocolate sauce, and rolled in soybean powder and cocoa powder, shaped like a real potato. The packaging even includes a warm reminder: “Do not plant, recommended to eat immediately.” Because it looks so much like a potato, netizens couldn’t hold back: “Did you just dig it out of the ground?” “What’s the difference from biting into a raw, muddy potato?” “No, is this right? It really tastes like potato.”

Brands’ creativity knows no bounds. In March, Yili Qixuan launched a Turkey Noodle flavor ice cream—just hearing the name is enough to make your pupils shake. Made with raw milk and pure cocoa butter Belgian chocolate, layered with soft chocolate, ice cream, and cake for a triple texture. It features a cake base flavored like Turkey noodles and replicates the noodle’s classic texture. The brand describes the flavor as “cold and spicy.” It is now available at FamilyMart stores in East China, priced at 11.9 yuan per box.

Though highly bizarre, comments from netizens suggest that brave tasters should prepare themselves mentally: “Like eating a block of frozen hotpot base,” “It tastes like a rotating lantern,” “After eating, life feels dull,” “Best recommended for enemies.” Suddenly, the question “How bad does it taste?” became its most attractive selling point.

Mengniu took a warmer, more playful approach. To celebrate the Year of the Horse, Mengniu prepared a limited surprise in January—“Hey Horse Milk Flavor Ice Cream.” Made with 60% raw milk, offering a rich, smooth taste. But its biggest highlight isn’t just the flavor—it’s turned into a “blind box”: each piece hides a randomly dropped 2.5D three-dimensional small horse shape.

Why are more and more novelty-shaped ice creams appearing now?

First, advances in mold manufacturing enable “freeform” shapes. Previously limited by technology, ice cream molds were mostly simple geometric shapes; now, with high-precision CNC machining and 3D printing, manufacturers can create highly complex, realistic three-dimensional molds. Second, filling techniques solve the challenge of detail restoration. Past molds with sharp corners often couldn’t be filled completely, causing air pockets or missing parts. Modern processes pre-set tiny vent holes at mold tips, allowing air to escape during filling, ensuring every detail is perfect. Lastly, packaging technology has also improved. For intricate 3D shapes, manufacturers design custom “arc-shaped lid” packaging with internal grooves that precisely fit the product’s outline, preventing damage and guiding condensation away, so consumers see a perfect product upon opening.

2. Now, you can really eat fruit in your ice cream

At the start of this year, fruit flavors became a major trend in new ice cream products, and they are getting more “real” than ever. From freshly pureed fruit to large fruit chunks, from direct sourcing to multi-berry blends, today’s ice creams are no longer just “fruit-flavored” but actually incorporate real fruit.

In January, Renyang Youniu first “delivered” a product: Guava Coconut Fresh Milk Ice Cream, made with A2 beta-casein fresh milk as the base, with ≥34% added, containing red guava, coconut milk, and coconut chips. The most special feature is the ice crystal core, with a diameter controlled at 3mm, allowing a delicate granita-like texture and real fruit pulp to be felt clearly.

Similarly, Yili Zhenxi launched a “Lemon Explosion” with four layers of lemon-flavored core: made with 100% raw milk (≥36%), whole lemon with peel, layered with lemon-flavored ice cream, lemon white chocolate crisp, lemon jam, and large lemon pulp pieces. Each bite offers a mix of sour, sweet, crunchy, and soft, exploding with lemon aroma—an ultimate treat for lemon lovers.

If you dislike sourness, try pineapple. In January, Yili Pasture released Butter Pineapple flavor ice cream, following a “sweet and salty perpetual motion” route: salted butter milk base with pineapple chunks and jam—over 50% from Xuwen Bali Pineapple, directly sourced from the origin. The surface is sprinkled with cookie crumbs, offering a slight salty butter aroma first, then the refreshing sweet and sour pineapple flavor, layered for maximum taste.

There’s also a health-oriented line. In January, Yili Pasture launched Blueberry Mulberry Black Goji Berry flavor ice cream, containing real fruit jam and pulp, with four types of berries from Changbai Mountain: blueberries, mulberries, black goji berries, and blackberries. The highlight is the addition of lutein ester—yes, the popular eye-protection ingredient. Eating ice cream while protecting your eyes—this move is a form of “modern youth self-comfort.” As for the actual effect… well, try it and see.

Of course, mixing fruit with classic flavors also has new twists. In March, Yili Qiaolezi partnered with Harry Potter to launch sea salt lychee and jasmine lemon cone ice creams. The dual structure of ice cream and snow pudding, with crispy cones, combines the dense lychee with sea salt and the refreshing jasmine lemon, creating a fresh flavor perfect for the spring-summer season when you just want a cold treat without worrying about what to wear.

3. Ice cream is ice cream, gelato is gelato

In January, Yili launched two new “milk skin yogurt” flavors: Milk Skin Yogurt Ice Cream and Milk Skin Yogurt Gelato. Many consumers initially thought, “Aren’t these the same thing?”

No, they are not. The Milk Skin Yogurt Ice Cream contains ≥45% raw milk, with a butter-based shell and a filling of yogurt and cookie crumbs, with 2g protein per 100g, according to GB/T 31119-2014. The Milk Skin Yogurt Gelato contains ≥27% raw milk, with a blueberry jam from Changbai Mountain at the bottom, topped with a thick milk skin layer, and has 2.3g protein per 100g, according to GB/T 31114-2014.

In fact, according to national standards, “ice cream” and “gelato” are two different categories. Based on the standards “Frozen Confection - Gelato” (GB/T 31114-2014) and “Frozen Confection - Ice Cream” (GB/T 31119-2014), they are distinguished by protein content, fat content, and processing methods.

The most straightforward indicator is protein. Gelato requires higher protein levels, usually ≥2.5g/100g (full-fat, clear-type gelato), while snow ice cream has a more relaxed standard, generally ≥0.8g/100g. For example, Yili’s gelato (2.3g/100g) has higher protein than the snow ice cream (2.0g/100g).

Looking at fat and processing, gelato also demands higher fat content, typically ≥8g/100g, and must undergo “overrun”—air is incorporated during freezing to create a denser, smoother texture. This is why gelato is softer, lighter, and melts faster. Snow ice cream can be overrun or not, resulting in a firmer, more “biteable” texture similar to a popsicle.

Another often overlooked difference is classification. Snow ice cream is mainly categorized by appearance—if a product is purely ice, like a block of milk or a traditional popsicle, it’s “clear type.” If it’s coated with a shell, cone, or contains jam or chocolate filling, it’s “composite type,” typical of crispy or cone-shaped products.

In contrast, gelato classification is more complex, based first on internal fat content (full-fat, semi-fat, or vegetable fat) and then on external shape. Both full-fat and semi-fat gelato can be made into clear or composite types.

Returning to Yili’s two products, although both are branded as “milk skin yogurt,” one is a firm snow ice cream suitable for biting on the go, and the other is a dense gelato meant for leisurely eating.