Tiger Tail and Tigers Blood
Tiger Tail ice cream is an orange ice cream with black licorice swirls generally only found in Canada (until this summer when you can get it in Somerville after I make it even though I’m not very good at swirling).
A ribbon of black licorice swirled into an orange-flavored ice cream base gives this tiger its stripes. The old-school flavor sold well in soda parlors from the 1950s to the 1970s, and many Canadians now consider it a childhood classic. As curious as it may seem, kids (and nostalgic adults) are among the biggest fans of the citrus and black licorice combination.
Tigers Blood sorbet is a sorbet with strawberry, coconut, and watermelon, and maybe we’ll make that one, too.
Depending on who you ask, Tiger’s Blood could have originated as early as the 1940s or as late as the 1990s and was invented anywhere from Hawaii to Texas. Regardless of what the true story is, it’s safe to say that its creation was a success as it remains incredibly popular across the country.
Tigers Blood is also the name of the new album by Waxahatchee.
On Tigers Blood, no bond is linear or static. Some of these songs sound ready to run, bursting from the traps; others take their ease with intoxicating beauty. Love boomerangs and comes back. Sisters have an unexpected showdown about their respective heady and cautious approaches to life.
See how it’s all come together now?
Discussion 16 comments
Apparently Canadians love weird ice cream flavor combinations: I visited Nova Scotia a few years ago and every ice cream shop was offering moon mist. I really don't like licorice, but even Tiger Tail sounds better than bubblegum, banana, and grape swirl.
omg
The University of Missouri developed “Tiger Stripe” ice cream in the late 80s which has been a staple of school events ever since:
https://cafnr.missouri.edu/cafnr-services/bucks-ice-cream/
Looks like they wanted an orange and black ice cream, but didn't like the taste of Tiger Tail so they went with dyed vanilla and chocolate?
I experienced Tigers Blood as a Slush Puppy flavor when I lived in Oklahoma for a while as a little kid. No one else in my family remembers that it was a thing. They called me mad! Who's mad now, mother?!
I’ve got a tiger by the tail…
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jBeOddejiGw
Tigers blood was an extremely popular snow cone flavor in Utah in the early 80s...
Can confirm - still my go-to for snow cone/shave ice
Wow an ice cream version of one of my favorite teas? I don't think I can get to Canada fast enough!
https://www.stashtea.com/products/licorice-spice-herbal-tea-bagged
I like this tea a lot, too, lol.
So, in 1968 my dad was a route salesman in Detroit, the year the Tigers won the World Series. He brought home some Tiger, Tiger ice cream which was exactly this: orange sherbet and licorice stripes. We boys hated it, and it lived sadly in our fridge for the summer.
Probably this was imported from Canada.
this unlocked a memory of a sad tub of spumoni ice cream in my college dining hall that nobody ever touched.
No one has commented on your clever linking back to Edith’s Waxahatchee post, Aaron! Here’s me making sure you feel seen for what you did there. Bravo.
Haha. Full disclosure, when I saw the Bluesky post about that previous Waxhatchee post, I texted Jason to see if he wanted to come see her in Boston, then realized it was an Edith post. :)
It's interesting -- I hate licorice (well, black licorice). But when we stayed in Copenhagen, the owners of the house we rented suggested that we go to the local gelato store (Siciliansk Is; I hope they still exist because they were awesome, but this was almost a decade ago) and get a scoop of licorice gelato and a scoop of lemon. And it was amazing -- the licorice tasted more like gingerbread than black licorice.
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