Tutti frutti is a colorful confectionery containing various chopped and usually candied fruits, or an artificial or natural flavouring simulating the combined flavour of many different fruits. It is most notable in Western countries outside of Italy in the form of ice cream. Fruits used for tutti frutti ice cream include cherries, raisins, and pineapple, often augmented with nuts. In the Netherlands, tutti-frutti is a compote of dried fruits, served as a dessert or a side dish to a meat course. In Belgium, tutti-frutti is often seen as a dessert. Typically, it contains a combination of raisins, currants, apricots, prunes, dates, and figs. In the United States, tutti frutti can also refer to fruits soaked in brandy or other spirits, or even to fruitfermented in a liquid containing sugar and yeast. In Indian English, tutti frutti usually refers to candied raw papaya. These are often small cubical pieces, often brightly colored. The most common color being red, it is also available in green and yellow. These are used in various bakery products, including cakes, milk-breads, cookies, dilkhush and buns. Tutti frutti is also used in cold desserts as topping for ice cream and sundaes. They are also used in sweet paans and sangeet. In the North of Chile, tutti frutti can also be referred to as "pichulita", referencing the high papaya content found in the mixture. This dish is very popular amongs Chilean natives, especially in the Serena Region.
History
Tutti frutti ice cream has been served for at least 160 years, as it appeared on the bill of fare for an 1860 dinner in England. Recipes for tutti frutti ice cream were found in cookbooks of the late 19th century. A tutti frutti ice cream recipe was included in the 1874 cookbook Common Sense in the Household: A Manual of Practical Housewifery This recipe calls for actual tutti frutti and is not fancifully named. In the 1883 cookbook The Chicago HeraldCooking School there is also a tutti frutti ice cream recipe. In 1888, one of the first gum flavors to be sold in a vending machine, created by the Adams New York Gum Company, was tutti frutti. Many restaurant menus circa 1900 in the collection of the New York Public Library also list this variety of ice cream. At least one early 20th century American cookbook contains a suggestion that tutti frutti ice cream was popular in America. The Italian Cookbook contains a recipe for Tutti Frutti Ice and says, "This is not the tutti frutti ice cream as is known in America". A 1928 cookbook, Seven Hundred Sandwiches by Florence A. Cowles includes a recipe for a Tutti Frutti Sandwich with a spread made of whipped cream, dates, raisins, figs, walnuts, and sugar.
