Seasonal changes influence preferences for the sensory profiles of ice cream

Ice cream is one of the most popular sweet foods in the world. It is primarily consumed during summer, but is available in the market all year. However, the influence of seasons on the desirable food-intrinsic and food-extrinsic sensory attributes of ice cream products to consumers remains elusive. In order to fill this gap, the present study examined how the seasonal context (summer vs. winter) influences consumers' desirable intrinsic (taste, flavour, texture, and temperature) and extrinsic (packaging colour design) sensory attributes of vanilla ice cream. In summer and winter, Japanese participants were asked to imagine eating vanilla ice cream and to evaluate their preferred sensory profile and packaging colour. The results have demonstrated that the Japanese participants preferred different sensory profiles of vanilla ice cream depending on the season. In summer (vs. winter), sensory attributes associated with cooling, particularly coolness and hardness, were preferred, whereas in winter (vs. summer), indulgent qualities, such as richness, smoothness, milkiness, and fattiness, were preferred. Regarding packaging colour preferences, light blue was especially preferred in summer but was significantly avoided in winter. In contrast, warmer tones such as dark red and yellow are preferred in winter. Notably, the cream exhibited consistently high appeal across both seasons. These findings provide converging evidence that the seasonal context dynamically shapes consumers' preferences for both food-intrinsic and extrinsic desirable sensory attributes and provide actionable insights for practitioners.