As common as candy and popsicles, you'll rarely find grape ice cream with the natural flavor of the fruit itself.
This might make you wonder why grapes are the only fruit from which it is impossible to make natural ice cream!
1-Why is grape ice cream so hard to find?
In fact, there are two reasons why grape ice cream is so scarcely made and sold — none of which have anything to do with the outlandish rumor that the Food and Drug Administration banned its manufacture to make dogs sick.
The first reason relates to the color of the fruit! Grapes contain a compound called anthocyanin - the source of the purple pigment.
This compound, while a powerful antioxidant, can alter the way grape puree is frozen. The compound degrades, affecting the color and flavor to some extent.
This is why most grape-flavored sweets contain synthetic food dyes and not the natural dye extract.
The second reason has to do with the acidic nature of the grapes, which makes them difficult to turn into ice cream.
The acid in grapes, when mixed with dairy products, causes some chemical reaction (aka spoilage reaction). Therefore the acid from the grape juice must be processed prior to mixing, which, while achievable, is an expensive step that other flavors do not have to go through and implement.
2-The high water content in grapes makes it difficult to turn into a creamy shake
Grapes have a high water content, which is why eating them fights thirst and keeps you hydrated for a long time.
But this does mean that when you freeze it to make ice cream, it will turn into frozen pieces. That's all well and good for a grape sorbet recipe, but not soft ice cream.