Wendy's Frosty Isn't Technically Real Ice Cream. So, What's It Made Of?

When it comes to frozen, sweet, creamy treats in the United States, many people consider them all to be some sort of ice cream. But in reality, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has some specific rules and regulations on what exactly constitutes "ice cream." If a product that is sold to consumers doesn't meet these regulations, it cannot technically be labeled as such. Take Wendy's iconic Frosty, for example. It certainly looks and tastes like ice cream. However, the shady thing about a Wendy's Frosty is that it isn't ice cream, though it does contain milk, sugar, and cream. Wendy's explains that its Frosty is neither milkshake nor ice cream; it simply calls the treat a frozen dessert.

According to the USDA, ice cream must contain at least 10% milkfat and 25% milk solids. There is also a weight requirement: 4.5 pounds per gallon. This standard has to do with the overrun, which is the amount of air incorporated into ice cream as it's churned. For example, premium ice creams — like Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs — are dense, thick, heavy, and firm because of the low overrun. 

However, light and soft frozen desserts that look like ice cream but don't specifically say so on the packaging probably don't fit the requirements. They will instead be labeled "frozen dairy dessert" or "frozen dessert." Soft serve, which isn't just melted ice cream, also falls into this non-ice cream dessert category. In order, Wendy's Frostys contain milk, sugar, corn syrup, cream, whey, nonfat dry milk, cocoa, guar gum, mono and diglycerides, cellulose gum, natural flavor, carrageenan, calcium sulfate, sodium citrate, dextrose, and vitamin A palmitate.

While we don't know the exact ratio of milkfat in Wendy's Frostys, we do know it's lower than 10%. Otherwise it would likely be described as an "ice cream treat" or something to that effect. And, as far as those hard-to-pronounce, chemistry-class ingredients, many of them are emulsifiers (which help the ingredients blend together) and stabilizers (which keep that blend from separating). From a nutritional standpoint, Frostys don't contain the most wholesome of ingredients, especially when compared to real, homemade ice cream, which is generally made with just cream, milk, sugar, sometimes eggs, and flavorings.

But, unlike homemade ice cream, which is made on a very small scale for a minimal number of people, every one of the millions of Wendy's Frostys that are sold each year must be consistent, whether they're made in California or Maine. This is where all those chemicals and additives come in handy. Regardless of what they are made with, Frostys are incredibly popular, whether you eat them with a straw, spoon, or salty french fries. 

Incredibly, Wendy's only sold chocolate Frostys from the 1960s to 2006, when it added the vanilla flavor to the menu. Since then, the fast food giant has been delighting its customer base with seasonal flavors like strawberry, peppermint, orange, and pineapple-mango, the latter of which was part of the popular Wendy's Krabby Patty Kollab.