This Discontinued Ice Cream Brand Was Considered One Of The Fanciest You Could Buy

Häagen-Dazs was leading the luxury ice cream market well into the 1970s, but in the early '80s, a new face appeared, giving high-end brands a run for their money. Frusen Glädjé, which is Swedish for "frozen delight," was an all-natural ice cream brand that had everyone in a chokehold. Unlike other brands on the market, there were no stabilizers or emulsifiers in this carefully churned ice cream. The recipe was simple: milk, cream, egg yolks, sugar, and natural flavors with at least 16% butterfat. Ice creams at the time were rather light, whereas Frusen Glädjé was so dense that just one pint could weigh up to one pound. 

Aside from being hand-packed with conscious ingredients, the edge with Frusen Glädjé was the rich taste and mild sweetness. The flavors, starting with chocolate chip swirled chocolate, plain chocolate, and classic vanilla, didn't carry a sugary, artificial taste so typical at the time. No one was complaining about consuming those sugary frozen treats, but Frusen Glädjé was a new and exciting addition to the ice cream aisle. Before Viennetta grew into the fanciest frozen treat of the '90s, there was Frusen Glädjé.

While Swedish-sounding, the ice cream wasn't Scandinavian. The company's president, Erhard Sommer, was a German chef who simply admired the "good, clean, wholesome image" of Sweden, as he explained to The New York Times, which declared Frusen Glädjé as one of the few "Rolls-Royces of ice cream" in 1980. The ice cream was distributed throughout NYC and the surrounding areas, competing with the existing Häagen-Dazs.

The comparable ice cream label, which was just as American, founded in the Bronx, felt threatened enough to push a lawsuit. Häagen-Dazs tried to sue the brand not long after its debut, but was unsuccessful. Artisanal ice cream may have only accounted for 11% of the $2 billion market in the early 1980s, but competition was limited after winning that case, and Frusen Glädjé grabbed the spotlight. 

Sprinkled, rainbow-ed ice cream novelties notoriously feel centered around kids, but Frusen Glädjé felt geared towards adults. As some commercials advertised, the fancy ice cream was "a gourmet experience for those who prefer the very best." The fancy ice cream label passed through many hands, starting with Kraft acquiring the brand in 1985 for an undisclosed amount. Kraft carried on marketing Frusen Glädjé into the late '80s, with iconic commercials celebrating the brand's elitism, but then it suddenly fell off. 

People still reminisce about Frusen Glädjé, even in Sweden. Despite its zero affiliation with the country, Swedish businesses like Örum119 have released ice cream inspired by the 1980s American favorite. Their decadent recipes focus more on sourcing local Scandinavian ingredients like milk from Smedstorp and chocolate from Österlenchoklad — something that the original ice cream didn't even do.  

There's a lot of mystery surrounding the ice cream brand, and that mostly circles back to convoluted business deals in the early 1990s. In 1993, Unilever bought out Kraft's huge ice cream line, but it didn't get its hands on a few of Kraft's best-selling frozen treats, one being Frusen Glädjé. There were even conflicting accounts from officials at both companies years later, with a Kraft spokeswoman confidently affirming Frusen Glädjé was included in that 1993 sale while a fellow Unilever spokesperson disagreed. The mix-up eventually led to the brand's downfall, with the label quietly disappearing not long after the Unilever acquisition. No one had heard a peep from Frusen Glädjé in ages, until 2016, when Country Mile silently purchased the trademark. It's not clear what the future holds for Frusen Glädjé, but ice cream lovers can dream.