Once In A Blue Moon

What does Blue Moon mean to you?  The uncommon extra full moon in a calendar year?  The Rodgers and Hart song?  Well, when we hear the phrase we think of the ice cream with the mysterious name and even more mysterious flavor.  It's not that unusual to find Blue Moon in an ice cream shop, but if anybody knows what the flavor is, they're not talking.  We've nosed around on the net in order to discover Blue Moon's secrets, and we've found people who state with complete confidence that it is a tutti-frutti combination of fruit flavors.  Some even say it tastes like Fruit Loops.  Then there are those who sound equally convincing that it is pineapple or melon.  Others, claiming to work in the industry, just know that it is not a fruit flavor at all, but a subtle spice ice cream such as nutmeg.

Our guess?  There is no one flavor called Blue Moon.  You could tint any flavor you want blue and call it Blue Moon, couldn't you?  We tried the Blue Moon pictured above at an ice cream stand near Troy, NY.  They specialized in a variety of vanilla flavors:

Intriguingly, Blue Moon is listed as one of the vanilla flavors.  We asked.  They wouldn't say, except to tell us that nobody has ever guessed the flavor correctly.  To us, this particular Blue Moon was not quite vanilla.  It seemed more like a custardy flavor, maybe with a hint of pineapple or nutmeg...