Dippy for Dippin’ Dots!

September 2, 2020 10:15 PM

What is the deal with Dippin’ Dots? Dippin’ Dots ice cream pellets are a staple at amusement parks and stadiums. But what are Dippin’ Dots, really? Now that my favorite public venue is closed due to Coronavirus, how can I satisfy my craving? (Hint: you’d better be ready to eat thirty servings pretty quickly.) What if I want to replace my morning coffee with frozen pellets? Can Dippin’ Dots improve my vegetarian diet? What if I don’t even like my Dippin’ Dots frozen at all?
posted by The Underpants Monster (38 comments total)

I’m going to flout all the rules and not read any of these links and say this is a really great post.
posted by sjswitzer at 10:19 PM on September 2, 2020 [27 favorites]

Dippin' Dots is the last remaining vestige of the old American History Museum before the renovation, specifically the "A Material World" exhibit, since it is a unique state of matter
posted by RobotVoodooPower at 10:40 PM on September 2, 2020

The erstwhile ice cream of the future
posted by aubilenon at 10:44 PM on September 2, 2020 [7 favorites]

I always wanted a throwaway background joke on Star Trek where a character orders ice cream from the replicator and a bowl of Dippin’ Dots appears.
posted by Ian A.T. at 10:58 PM on September 2, 2020 [41 favorites]

Despite having encountered Dippin' Dots stands more times than I can count across my years on this planet, I have never had them. Are they good? If I should see them in the wild, should I try them, and if so, what flavor should I look for?

I'm pretty ice-cream friendly (although also not eating a lot of it these days), but I"d go on that adventure if I had some guidance.
posted by hippybear at 11:02 PM on September 2, 2020 [5 favorites]

I was so confused when Dippin' Dots went bankrupt and then, like, continued to be sold near me. It helped me realize that economics were far more complicated than I'd given them credit for.
posted by one for the books at 11:21 PM on September 2, 2020 [5 favorites]

It helped me realize that economics were far more complicated

I might have just had my mind blown by suddenly considering "economics" as a plural noun and not as a singular subject. I have studied none of it, but I'd have said "realize that economics is far more"....

I feel a bit expanded tonight. I don't know what to do with this, but I'm sure it will blossom. Thank you!
posted by hippybear at 11:26 PM on September 2, 2020 [4 favorites]

This is fascinating. I've made ice cream with liquid nitrogen many tens of times. I've made the paint-equivalent of dipping dots for a friend. Combining the two never occurred to me. Neat!

Next time it seems appropriate to have a real world meetup, I'll bring the savory and alcoholic homemade dipping dots.
posted by eotvos at 11:42 PM on September 2, 2020 [7 favorites]

Are they good? If I should see them in the wild, should I try them, and if so, what flavor should I look for?

I'd argue that Dippin' Dots aren't very good (at least in my opinion), primarily because they are served too cold. The flavors end up being too muted (you can't taste cold things very well), the texture is weird, and you're almost guaranteed to get brainfreeze. I wouldn't go out of my way to get them. I'd say it's worth trying them once to satisfy curiosity, but the experience leaves a lot to be desired compared to regular ice cream, considering the price it's usually sold at. Better to treat yourself to a pint of premium ice cream or something, IMHO.
posted by Aleyn at 11:44 PM on September 2, 2020 [14 favorites]

Aleyn, you took the words out of my mouth (er, keyboard). I tried it a few times but was underwhelmed with the flavor...there's not much there. Pretty bland stuff. Maybe the secret is letting the dots melt until they're just so...but what's the fun of that? Eat your ice cream only within a five-minute window?
posted by zardoz at 12:27 AM on September 3, 2020

Horrendous. I am so glad I can't go to the USA.
posted by Major Tom at 2:13 AM on September 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

Don't forget the main pro-Dippin' Dots argument: Sean Spicer hates them with the fire of a thousand suns...
posted by kleinsteradikaleminderheit at 3:15 AM on September 3, 2020 [7 favorites]

I tried Dippin' Dots once, a long time ago, and was underwhelmed by the experienced, so I've never tried them again. Still, I'm glad the product exists, and continues to be sold in public venues, because it enabled my favorite moment in professional wrestling ever. And it's followup a few weeks later.
posted by Ipsifendus at 5:00 AM on September 3, 2020 [3 favorites]

Dippin’ Dots are real?!
posted by mhoye at 5:16 AM on September 3, 2020

Don't forget the main pro-Dippin' Dots argument: Sean Spicer hates them with the fire of a thousand suns...

That was the first thing to come to mind when I read the post. Did they ever include that weird Dippin Dots detail in one of the Melissa McCarthy SNL sketches? It's a shame if they didn't. Of course, they had so much other material to work with relating to that dipstick.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 5:46 AM on September 3, 2020

Its top competitor today is probably Mini Melts, which markets itself as the more gourmet alternative to other cryogenics. They use a base with a higher butterfat percentage, which results in a creamier and richer taste. "It’s more on the level of Häagen-Dazs, where our closest competitor is more like a Good Humor," says Barry Bass, the South Florida–based distributor of the ice cream.

I'm imagining a Will Ferrell/John C. Reilly joint where they play the CEOs of Dippin' Dots and Mini Melts, respectively. (Yeah, of COURSE Will Ferrell is Dippin' Dots.)

This post aligns with my interests.
posted by nosila at 6:01 AM on September 3, 2020 [5 favorites]

I like them! You don’t want a ton because it melts quickly, but it’s essentially ice cream roe and I’m unironically into it.
posted by showbiz_liz at 6:19 AM on September 3, 2020 [18 favorites]

I've had them once, thought that they were OK as a novelty but lacked something of the essential ice cream experience, and then kept running across the small plastic baseball cap that they came in and kept wondering why I was holding on to the damn thing.
posted by Halloween Jack at 6:21 AM on September 3, 2020

But are they better than Peaches & Cream corn kernels straight from the freezer? Those are my dippin' dots.
posted by scruss at 6:41 AM on September 3, 2020

Ice Cream of the Future!
posted by cooker girl at 7:15 AM on September 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Dippin' Dots just proves that in the future, even ice cream sucks. Perfect for 2020!
posted by briank at 7:42 AM on September 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

I love Dippin Dots, but they do not occupy the "ice cream" slot in my brain -- they are their own thing, and for me it's all about the experience rather than the flavor. (Why yes, I AM a 90s kid.) And while I can eat ice cream pretty much at any time in any place, Dippin Dots are best consumed after several house spent out of doors in the scorching sun.

For those who have never had them, imagine the texture of pearled/Israeli couscous, the flavor of a Wendy's Frostee, and that scene from A Christmas Story where the kid gets his tongue stuck to the flag pole.
posted by natabat at 7:48 AM on September 3, 2020 [23 favorites]

I really liked the improving your vegetarian diet link. It pretty much says the company is really good at freezing things so now they are freezing some other things. Freeze all the things!
posted by medusa at 7:58 AM on September 3, 2020 [5 favorites]

I really liked the improving your vegetarian diet link. It pretty much says the company is really good at freezing things so now they are freezing some other things. Freeze all the things!

Oh my god...

Fischer said it won't be long before revenue in its other cryogenics businesses outpaces sales in frozen treats. "I could see it easily surpassing our ice cream side by 2021, and definitely by 2022," he said.

Still, Fischer said Dippin' Dots, which is synonymous with ice cream, has no plans to drop the popular name that has come to define it for much of its history. The Dippin' Dots brand is popular with parents who grew up with the ice cream and are now passing it on to their children, he said. It's also a valuable tool for the company to quickly grow its cryogenic operations.

"Dippin Dots, one of its most valuable assets is its brand equity, because it is so recognized throughout the United States," he said. "It helps us market that cryogenic process and kind of captures that recognition" with consumers.

The year is 2143. The Earth is in ruins. The wealthy elite have turned their eyes to the stars. But to survive the long journey to Alpha Centauri, they must enter cryogenic suspended animation. Dippin' Dots LLC, keeper of what is simply known as The Technology, has become the most powerful company on the planet. No one remembers where the name first came from. The records of the Old World have long been lost to the flames.
posted by showbiz_liz at 8:13 AM on September 3, 2020 [26 favorites]

showbiz_liz - and the cryogenically frozen founder/CEO Will Ferrell rises from the dry ice to bring back joy and humanity to this cold dead world?!? PLEASE???
posted by nosila at 8:25 AM on September 3, 2020 [3 favorites]

Holy cow. I want that 40 Below Joe so bad. But I bet it's awful.
posted by uncleozzy at 8:27 AM on September 3, 2020

My guess about Dippin Dots was always that, since they're tiny spheres, you can store them at temperatures where regular ice cream would turn into an impossible brick but still stir them with a spoon. While you're eating them, the cold air between the spheres in the cup acts like an insulator, so they stay frozen longer than an equivalent mass of ordinary ice cream in hot weather. But in your mouth there's no insulating cold air, so they melt quickly. That's why they make sense at the amusement park in the summer, but not really in your kitchen.

And reading the articles: I nailed it. I'm like an ice cream genius.
posted by fantabulous timewaster at 8:56 AM on September 3, 2020 [10 favorites]

Don't forget the main pro-Dippin' Dots argument: Sean Spicer hates them with the fire of a thousand suns...

The linked article is from 23 January 2017, three days post-inauguration, when the biggest scandals were (1) Spicer was under orders to like about the size of the inauguration crowds, (2) the president* had misused funds to buy a life-sized portrait of himself for his golf club, and (3) the press secretary had a feud with a novelty frozen dessert company. We were all so innocent then.

I have never had Dippin’ Dots, and know them principally from David Foster Wallace’s description of them in his Harper’s piece on the Illinois State Fair. I think I learned of the soft drink Mr. Pibb via the same article, but I have had that. It’s okay.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:09 AM on September 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

Welp, I'm pretty sure the convenience store on my route home has Dippin Dots, so I guess that's tonight's dessert (or maybe dinner) taken care of.
posted by soundguy99 at 10:09 AM on September 3, 2020 [1 favorite]

A friend of a friend proposed by putting the ring at the bottom of a cup of Dippin' Dots. The marriage didn't last. I'm not saying that the Dippin' Dots were at fault, but I'm not saying they weren't either.
posted by mikesch at 11:02 AM on September 3, 2020 [5 favorites]

I have never had Dippin’ Dots, and know them principally from David Foster Wallace’s description of them in his Harper’s piece on the Illinois State Fair. I think I learned of the soft drink Mr. Pibb via the same article, but I have had that. It’s okay.

Dippin' Dots: state fair
Mr. Pibb: cruise ship
posted by Daily Alice at 12:27 PM on September 3, 2020 [4 favorites]

The best of the Dippin' Dots is the Mint Chocolate Chip flavor, where the coolness of the mint goes with the dry frozen-ness. They're also not always all spherical, there's a lot of buttons too, like candy buttons off the paper roll. And frozen.
posted by ApathyGirl at 1:32 PM on September 3, 2020 [3 favorites]

The weird thing about Dippin' Dots is the dryness of them. They're so cold that they don't start melting right away.

I have a distinct fondness for them, but as was mentioned above, they're not exactly ice cream. I will still happily eat them on a hot day though, although besides the brain freeze, they do funky things to your tongue. (I also only get the mint chip flavor, so I have no idea what other flavors are like.)

I feel like I had them at a museum or amusement park or something. I know it wasn't the Boston Museum of Science, which had those weird Friendly's ice cream cups with candy in the ice cream, but it feels like a science museum treat.
posted by Hactar at 2:45 PM on September 3, 2020 [2 favorites]

I’ve never had Dippin’ Dots, and only today did I learn that they are supercooled ice cream. Somehow someone in my past mischaracterized the product to me as ice cream beads that stayed pelletized at room temperature because of like gelatin or carrageenan or wax or some other chemical stabilizer, and possibly also freeze-drying. As a consequence, I never had any desire to try them, because “room temperature ice cream beads” sounds kinda revolting.
I wish I could remember who lied to me; I’d give them a sad phone call.
posted by Mister Moofoo at 3:05 PM on September 3, 2020 [3 favorites]

There's a good How I Built This with the creator of Dippin Dots
posted by mikemacman at 6:11 AM on September 4, 2020

40 Below Joe feels firmly in “who are the ad wizards who came up with this one” territory. I love coffee and am hard-pressed to see that as anything more than a one-time novelty.

Dippin’ Dots on the other hand? Fantastic.
posted by hijinx at 3:54 PM on September 4, 2020 [1 favorite]

I’ve had the 40 below coffee and it is pretty bad. Like a bunch of tiny ice cubes of instant coffee that is somehow both bland and overly bitter. Then a handful of tiny milk or cream ice cubes mixed in, but because of the nature of dipping-dots-style food the cream and coffee flavors don’t end up blending together at all.

They were also marketed not as a thing for coffee people, but as a low-calorie alternative to ice cream. Which kind of makes sense because a cup has the same calories of a cup of coffee, but it tries to trick you into thinking you are eating solid food.
posted by pugg at 12:19 PM on September 5, 2020 [2 favorites]

I lived near a Dippin' Dots store in Tuscaloosa, and having never tried them, was eager to get my Dots on. A friend and I each got a dish of Dots (and they weren't cheap--close to $5) and eagerly dug in. The worst! They taste like cheap candy-flavored dirt. It was a huge disappointment, because I love ice cream and was expecting something great.
posted by Sassenach at 2:09 PM on September 6, 2020 [1 favorite]