Ice cream is everyone’s favorite treat; there is one famous ice cream brand that always a crowd favorite. On a hot summer day at an amusement park you can always find a stand with a sign saying “Dippin’ Dots” because of their unique shape you always beg your parents for some. There are so many flavors to choose from, the cold round pieces of ice cream, tickle your taste buds leaving your mouth happy, and satisfied. Have you ever wondered where they came from, and how they started?

This liquid nitrogen treat did not intend to be ice cream; its actual goal of its creator was to be used as cow feed.

Yes, you read that correctly. Curtis Jones was a microbiologist who was working with liquid nitrogen for the company he worked for in Kentucky in the late 80s. He was trying to create cow feed out of liquid nitrogen. Curt also had a passion for making ice cream, one hot summer day using the cryogenic encapsulation process, which is just a fancy way of saying he super freezes small beads of ice cream, his below zero freezer created the small pellets of ice cream that we now know them today as Dippin’ Dots. Once he created Dippin’ Dots Curt decided to begin a business with them in which he operated out of his parent’s garage in Illinois. Unfortunately, he was unable to sell them to local grocery stores due to the fact that their freezers were not cold enough to keep the ice cream.

There are many flavors of Dippin’ Dots. The most common is the rainbow flavor, there is also strawberry, cookies n’ cream, banana, chocolate, vanilla, blue raspberry, mint chocolate and many more. On a hot summer day spotting the Dippin’ Dots sign is a joyous moment. When you first see them you wouldn’t consider it to be ice cream considering that they are not your traditional ice cream scoop that you are use to seeing. When you bite into them they are cold, and immediately melt from the warm temperature of your mouth.

Dippin’ Dots are a tasty treat that are hard to find. Very few locations offer this brand of ice cream, by clicking here you fill be able to locate a location near you. Due to the cold temperatures they need to keep their shape they must be kept in special freezers. Since grocery stores are unable to have that special kind of freezer places like Six Flags, water parks and limited gas stations are locations where you can find the ice cream. There are also knock off names of this product, which is sold commonly at Costco and Sam’s.

I was always intrigued as a young child with Dippin’ Dots. It impressed me that ice cream could be kept so cold in tiny round ball shapes. The taste was always satisfying as well. If you have never had Dippin’ Dots I suggest that you should try it the next time you see it around.

Below is the video which inspired this article and where I collected all of my data.