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Viennetta is an ice cream product made by Unilever and sold under the various Heartbrand brands around the world. Viennetta is sold in many flavours, including chocolate, mint and pistachio.
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History
Viennetta was launched by British ice cream company Wall's in 1982, using a technique devised by Kevin Hillman, development manager at Wall's Gloucester factory.
The original Viennetta was a multi-layered product comprising layers of vanilla ice cream with sprayed-on layers of compound chocolate. The layers of ice cream were extruded, one after another, onto trays sitting on a moving belt. The rate of extrusion was greater than the speed of the belt which caused a "bunching" of the ice cream; each layer was extruded at a different speed from the previous layer. The final effect was akin to a series of waves rippling through the product.
The bunching effect was not an intentional part of the design by Hillman's team.
Availability
Launched originally as a multi-portion dessert product, its success after being launched throughout KFC and Pizza Hut restaurants led to Unilever, owners of Wall's, producing many flavour and size variants. Viennetta is not widely available in the United States, and Unilever no longer produces the brand in Canada. It is sold in Australia, New Zealand, and Japan under the Streets brand.
The Viennetta was previously known as Comtessa in Spain, due to a legal problem. It became Viennetta in the 1990s.