The Most Popular Ice Cream Flavor Might Surprise You

In the past few years, there has been an abundance of unique ice cream flavors popping up in the market. As Bustle reported, boutique shop Salt & Straw is known for innovative flavors like Strawberry Honey Balsamic with Black Pepper, Avocado & Oaxacan Chocolate Fudge, and even Black Olive Brittle & Goat Cheese. 

Maker Davey's also served up babka-infused ice cream to the masses. There's even companies like Tipsy Scoop that infuses ice cream with booze, serving up drinks like Cake Batter Vodka Martini, Dark Chocolate Whiskey Salted Caramel, Raspberry Limoncello Sorbet, and more for those who want to have their drink and eat it, too.

So when Instacart set out to find the most popular flavors of ice cream in every state to celebrate National Ice Cream Day (July 18), they were not taking up an easy task. With so many options available, it soon turned out this wasn't an average test of chocolate vs. vanilla (vanilla was actually disqualified for this competition since it's already the most purchased flavor across the US and the team wanted to "dig deeper"). The 50 favorite flavors were surprising.

Turns out, there's a way to track the most popular flavor across the States ... follow the moose. Instacart went through purchase data of "thousands of different ice cream products to reveal each state's favorite ice cream flavor," and excluding vanilla, Moose Tracks was named the most popular flavor in 12 states, topping the list as America's favorite flavor. Four others vied for a spot at second place with Rocky Road, Green Tea, Coffee, and Birthday Cake coming to an ice cream split for the silver medal.

According to Chowhound, Moose Tracks is a perfect pick because it mixes "everyone's favorite dessert flavors," made of "vanilla ice cream, ribbons of fudge, and peanut butter cups. And according to the Moose Tracks official website — yes the flavor has its own website — it's lauded for its mix of salty and sweet. While Rocky Road, Green Tea, Coffee, and Birthday Cake can all stand up on their own, they don't boast the complete mix of flavors in quite the same way. Other interesting data found by Instacart included the love of Rum Raisin in Florida and Georgia and Montana, Kansas, Texas, and Arkansas really loving Rainbow Sherbet.