WASHINGTON – An examination of ice cream trends from the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA) showed that, overall, Americans aren’t yet ready to identify some novel flavor as their favorite.

Partnering with Morning Consult, an IDFA survey of more than 2,200 adults found that consumers ranked vanilla as the No. 1 flavor. Vanilla ranked higher than second place chocolate, third place strawberry, fourth place butter pecan and fifth place cookie dough.

Rounding out the top 10 were No. 6 cookie dough, No. 7 mint chocolate chip, No. 8 chocolate chip, No. 9 Rocky Road and No. 10 peanut butter/peanut butter cup.

Among those surveyed, 97% said they love or like ice cream, which IDFA president and chief executive officer Michael Dykes said came as no surprise.

“And America’s favorite frozen treat is more than dessert — it also supports nearly 30,000 jobs and pumps $11.4 billion into our nation’s economy each year according to IDFA’s Dairy Delivers data,” Dykes said. “This July, celebrate National Ice Cream Month with a cone, pint or half-gallon of your favorite flavor and know that you’re also supporting dairy farmers and manufacturers across this great nation.”

The survey also asked consumers a number of other ice cream related questions, including: When weighing ice cream options, what consideration is most important? Overwhelmingly, respondents said ice cream flavor (94%) was a factor, while price (82%) and the size of a cone or container (78%) also ranked high.

Looking to find out how consumers prefer to eat their ice cream, the survey asked them to select just one method, and waffle cones (29%) and bowls (27%) were the top answers. Only 12% chose sugar cone, while 10% selected waffle bowl and 9% said straight from the carton.

When it’s time to add toppings to ice cream, the survey found that 35% of consumers like hot fudge, 29% enjoy whipped cream and 24% are fond of caramel sauce.

In a separate IDFA survey of Capitol Hill staff members, the top five ice cream flavors looked much different than the responses given by consumers. IDFA shared that cookie dough was the top-ranking flavor in Washington, followed by cookies and cream, mint chocolate chip, birthday cake and coffee.

Complete results from both surveys are available online at IDFA’s website.

On June 12, IDFA will celebrate the country's favorite frozen treats with government staffers at the 40th Annual Capitol Hill Ice Cream Party.