Whether it's summer or winter, one thing customers can count on is McDonald’s classic
soft serve cone. But what makes this tasty treat so special to fans of the Golden Arches?
Keep watching to learn the real reason McDonald’s ice cream tastes so good.
While ice cream in fast food establishments can often be overlooked, it can potentially be the
reason for someone's visit. Fast food favorite ice creams like the Chocolate Dipped Cone from Dairy
Queen, the Wicked Strawberry Cone from Rally's, and the Vanilla Waffle Cone from Culver's,
are proof of just how beloved ice cream is. And while McDonald's ice cream may
not get top billing, it certainly is an ice-cold delicacy that many care about.
The McDonald's Vanilla Soft Serve Ice Cream has become a go-to dessert for those on the go,
often used as a key ingredient in the McFlurry, which was created in Canada as a blend of Vanilla
Ice Cream and toppings like Oreo bits and M&M minis. It’s known for its purity of flavor,
with no artificial add-ins for flavor or preservatives. In fact, it’s the most featured
dessert on their dessert menu, which also has baked apple pies and chocolate chip cookies.
But their ice cream is not the same ice cream you might find featured at a Mr. Softee truck.
With the knowledge that their particular take on ice cream is featured so prominently
and ordered so frequently, one has to wonder: Could the recipe be the reason it tastes so good,
or is there some other reason fans flock to the sweet treat?
The story of where the McDonald's soft serve came from is pretty intriguing
and still a slight mystery, but there is a bit of backstory floating around.
They have had some variation of "ice cream" on their menus since the 1940s.
Ice cream sodas, sundaes, and frosted root beer were among the treats rolled out about three years
after they first opened. Then McDonald’s hit their stride serving up items from its limited menu.
The goal was to get orders out to customers in a speedy fashion. Lucky customers back
then could snag a cone for 25 cents each. A steal when you consider today's prices!
Apart from the simple cone,
the soft serve is also used in hacks like creating your own cookie sandwich
or combining a caramel sundae with an apple pie to create a caramel apple sundae. And obviously, they
have expanded since then. The popular McFlurry is a source of both admiration and ridicule for
its respective tasty flavors and consistent lack of availability due to broken machines.
It's important to note that the McDonald's website clearly
states something interesting about their cones:
"Ice cream must contain a minimum of 10% milkfat, whereas ours only contains 5%."
This is fairly commonplace. FDA regulations require that anything wanting to be considered
ice cream must meet two criteria: Ice cream must contain a minimum of 10% dairy milkfat,
and ice cream must have no more than 100% overrun and weigh no less than 4.5 pounds per gallon.
As a result, many ice cream containers refer to their ice cream as "frozen dairy dessert."
Though many shoppers and sales representatives will still use the words ice cream as a frame of
reference for purchase. So while McDonald's soft serve tastes, smells, and looks like ice cream,
according to parameters set forth by the FDA, they are forced to continue calling
it soft serve. But that doesn’t stop many from buying and enjoying the frozen treat.
"Okay, kids, only one thing to do: ice cream for brunch."
"Yay! Free ice cream!" "Yay!"
McDonald's revised their ice cream flavor in 2017 to improve the already popular taste of
its beloved menu item. This was done in response to a call to remove artificial flavors from its
repertoire. The answer to the question of where it gets its irresistible flavor comes from McDonald's
website itself. According to the site, the soft texture of the ice cream is half the solution.
The frozen treat is created from a special combination of ingredients
including powdered milk, sugar, cream, glucose, and emulsifiers.
The website also notes that the replacement of glucose for some sugar gives it a less
cloyingly sweet flavor. And while technically it does not fall into the category of ice cream,
it turns out the flavor actually benefits from breaking the rules.
The revised recipe gives their ice cream an edge in both texture and taste. Whatever the reason,
its fantastic recipe ensures that for some, it is always ice cream season.
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