When I think about the fiefdoms of the soft serve ice cream industry, the first that comes to mind is the far reaching domain of the queen of all things dairy (a.k.a. Dairy Queen – though if you needed the translation then you may not be from around here. Welcome!)
DQ has carved out a considerable territory in the northeast, but there are other contenders. Frozen yogurt is on the rise, threatening the soft serve empires. Orange Leaf, Pinkberry, and Tutti Frutti have exploded onto the scene over the past decade. Their efforts are admirable, but when the dust clears one staple ice cream shop will always remain. The king of NH and the northern United States – King Kone!
Located at 336 Daniel Webster Hwy in Merrimack, King Kone has withstood the test of time with its rich and flavorful soft serve ice cream. So what is the king’s recipe for success? Well, I probably wouldn’t be permitted to disclose the recipes even if I knew them, but I can tell you there is a bit of genuine science involved.
Upon a recent peruse of King Kone’s Facebook page, I was pleased to discover that their ice cream contains one third the fat of traditional hard ice cream. This is because hard ice cream is frozen at colder temperatures for storage and then thawed to be consumed. In order to maintain a smooth texture when thawed, traditional ice cream requires considerably higher fat content.
Once on the Facebook page I became completely absorbed by their frequent posts ranging from weather updates to sneak peeks of the daily flavors. Each comment contained a myriad of exclamation points, capital letters, and ice cream related jokes that grabbed my attention and held it for a shamefully long time. I didn’t realize I cared so much about the ice cream offerings from two months ago, but somehow I found myself on the edge of my seat reading to find out more. They even responded promptly to individual customer questions as to when certain flavors would be available.
Of course vanilla, chocolate, and twist are always offered, but a handful of other flavors are selected each day from a large pool of options including banana, blackberry, mint, peanut butter, orange, lime, maple, pumpkin, cake batter, strawberry, coffee, coconut, pistachio, peach, and lemon.
If your mind wasn’t already spinning with the possibilities, allow me to add another layer to this proverbial ice cream sandwich. They then twist the various flavors together to make exciting and sometimes intriguing new flavors. Examples include mocha, bananaberry, pancake, PB & J, fruit twist, java berry, and orange creamsicle.
My most recent visit happened to be on a cool, almost autumn-like, Sunday afternoon. Fittingly, the daily flavors list included pumpkin and pumpkin vanilla. I quickly placed an order for the latter and requested the “crunch coat” topping, which I can most eloquently describe as magical ground-up sugar-gravel. I imagine it contains some combination of nuts, (toffee?), and sprinkles, but I’ve decided not to ask for fear of ruining the illusion.
Once again the ice cream exceeded my expectations and was velvety and refreshing. Each bite was bursting with the sweetness of vanilla and the spices of pumpkin. I noticed dark flecks of cinnamon and nutmeg swirled into the pumpkin segment of my dish that reminded me of football, apple picking, and all things fall-related.
I quickly dug to the bottom of the cup despite the huge portions. Even the small sizes at King Kone contain heaps of ice cream, but they also offer even smaller “Pup Cups” for all the furry friends in your life. And if you plan to bring a gang, there are picnic tables below the iconic castle walls with umbrellas to shade you from the hot sun or cover your head while you get your rainy day ice cream fix.
There will always be new shops and chains vying for the loyalty of famished civilians during the sweltering days of summer, but when it comes to soft serve ice cream, I’ve sworn my fealty to King Kone.
As always, please email eatdrinkplay@stayworkplay.org to share your ideas of any New Hampshire related food/drink/venue/organization that you think should be featured in our “Eat Drink Play” blog posts.
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