When one walks through a door and hears people saying words like Blizzard and Breeze, it must be a Dairy Queen.
Since 1940, Dairy Queen has been serving up many kinds of soft serve ice cream. Dairy Queen offers more than 30 types of soft serves.
There are more than 5,900 restaurants in the United States, several of them are located near campus. One location is on Olentangy River Road and another is on West Fifth Avenue.
“We can do anything when it comes to ice cream,” said Phillip Smith, owner of the Dairy Queen on Olentangy River Road.
Soft serve ice creams start with regular vanilla and chocolate cones and extend to sundaes with a fudge topping and sugar-free bars.
For those who don’t know the difference between a Blizzard and a Breeze, here is the answer. A Blizzard is a soft ice cream with many kinds of candies blended together. A Breeze is a frozen yogurt version of a “Blizzard.”
“The most popular ice cream is definitely a Blizzard,” Smith said.
Candy toppings for Blizzards and Breezes are Oreo, M&M, Reese’s peanut butter cup, chocolate chip cookie dough, Snickers, German chocolate, Nestles Crunch and many more. Smith said the top-selling Blizzard at his restaurant is Reese’s peanut butter cup, followed by Oreo.
“I don’t know why, but people seem to like peanuts around here,” Smith said.
According to Dairy Queen’s official Web site, the top five Blizzards are Oreo, chocolate chip cookie dough, Reese’s peanut butter cup, Butterfinger and M&M.
“I wanted something different,” said Shoshanna Kozberg, a senior in sociology, on her choice of Reese’s piece Blizzard.
Kozberg and her friend, Stephanie Weinblatt, a senior in English, said Dairy Queen’s soft serves are generic. Weinblatt, who got a Butterfinger Breeze, said she chose it because it is made of fat-free frozen yogurt.
Jamie Ackerman, extension associate of the Department of Human Nutrition, said the calorie and fat content of ice cream vary with the type of milk used and the addition of cream, egg yolk solids or sweeteners. The nutrition content also differs depending on flavors and toppings added.
Ice cream toppings generally have many calories, Ackerman said. On average, most toppings contain about 110 to 125 calories per serving, which is about two tablespoons, but most people consume more than one serving.
According to Dairy Queen’s nutrition fact sheets, a small vanilla cone has 230 calories and contains seven grams of fat while a small chocolate sandwich cookie Blizzard has 520 calories and contains 18 grams of fat.
“A healthier alternative would be to add fresh fruit or nuts instead of high calorie toppings,” Ackerman said.
One of the fresh fruit topping options is the strawberry shortcake, which has whipped cream and strawberry sauce over soft ice cream with an angel food cake base. It has 430 calories and 14 grams of fat while Brownie Earthquake, which has Oreo, brownie, marshmallow, hot fudge and whipped topping over soft ice cream, has 740 calories and 27 grams of fat.
Ackerman said the average calorie intake of college-aged males is approximately 2,000 to 2,200 calories a day, whereas that of females range from 1,600 to 1,800 calories. Considering 30 percent of daily calorie intake should be taken from fat, college-aged males need about 67 to 73 grams of fat and college-aged females need about 53 to 60 grams of fat.
“In moderation, all foods can fit into a healthy diet, even sweets,” Ackerman said. “Balance fat and calorie intake, and increase physical activity to incorporate favorite foods into the diet.”
As a healthier alternative, Smith said, Dairy Queen introduced fat-free frozen yogurt ice cream a couple of decades ago, but it was officially discontinued about two years ago because of a lack of popularity.
Dairy Queen ice cream is produced at each restaurant by blending the plant-made mix in a machine, Smith said.
New Blizzard menus come out each year at Dairy Queen. The Chocolate Xtreme Blizzard was introduced in April and had the biggest sale of all of the ice cream, Smith said.
Smith said his restaurant sells about 200 to 300 soft serves treats a day in the summer. Traditionally, the month of May has the largest sales, but this year June reached the top selling month due to the hot weather, he said.
