The the best dessert in fast food now comes in a new flavor. Wendy’s iconic Frosty has gone strawberry for the summer.
There is truly no better sweet treat to come out of a drive-thru window than a Frosty. Forget the McFlurry. Chuck the Chick-fil-A shake. Wendy’s chocolatey, malty masterpiece reigns supreme. With a consistency that is thicker than a milkshake but thinner than typical ice cream, some wonder if it requires a straw or a spoon. But no one questions its deliciousness. And you shouldn’t question dipping your fries in it either, it’s a sweet and salty taste sensation.
Frostys first hit the market in 1969 as founder Dave Thomas opened the first Wendy’s, and the Ohio-based chain first deviated from the signature chocolate flavor in 2006 when the vanilla Frosty was launched. The chocolate is timeless, yet it makes sense there would be a vanilla binary.
Could Wendy’s complete the Neapolitan ice cream trifecta with strawberry, which they announced earlier this week? I was suspicious.
Strawberry ice cream, like most fruit flavors, can be very hit or miss — an incredibly low-floor, high-ceiling dessert. If real (preferably fresh) strawberries aren’t used, the dessert runs the risk of tasting painfully artificial. A strawberry shake often tastes more like a vanilla shake with saccharine strawberry syrup.
Though I trust Wendy’s as much as any fast food establishment. Their burgers are incredible, their chicken sandwiches and nuggets elite and the Frosty unmatched. If anybody could pull off a strawberry Frosty, it’s the chain whose logo features the girl with strawberry-hued hair.
But one spoonful of the strawberry Frosty hit me like the first sip of a mediocre milkshake — with a wave of ice-cold disappointment.
It tastes artificial. Too artificial. Like a vanilla Frosty with strawberry syrup stirred in. Which, based on the signage at Wendy’s indicating the vanilla Frosty was temporarily unavailable, led me to believe that’s exactly what it is. Wendy’s has confirmed that not only are Frosty machines only designed to hold two flavors, but the vanilla Frosty is indeed the strawberry’s base.
Despite the fake strawberry taste, I found myself mindlessly taking bite after bite of the Frosty even after I recognized its shortcomings. Why? Because even if it isn’t as good as the strawberry ice cream from Milk Sugar Love in Jersey City, it’s still tasty. Artificial flavor can still be good! It kind of tastes like frozen strawberry milk, and I LOVE strawberry milk. I didn’t hate it; not a terrible treat while its available this summer. It’s just not as good as the vanilla version, and not even close to on par with the OG chocolate Frosty.
I would be tempted to try a mix of the chocolate and strawberry Frosty flavors, and getting all three at once would be an experience (though it seems unlikely they will be available together). I won’t fault Wendy’s for trying something new even if it missed the mark.
Just don’t mess with my chocolate Frosty, Wendy’s.
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Jeremy Schneider may be reached at jschneider@njadvancemedia.com and followed on Twitter at @J_Schneider and on Instagram at @JeremyIsHungryAgain.