A Rocky Road Deep Dive

Culinary Cam
1 day ago
4 min read

Here we are at the eighteenth installment of our 2026 Alphabet Challenge that was started by Wendy of A Day in the Life on the Farm. As in years past, we post every two weeks with a recipe inspired by a certain letter. It's like Sesame Street for grown ups! And I love it, so, here we are with the letter 'r'...

R is for...

A Rocky Road Deep Dive by Culinary Cam (you're here)
Ginger Grilled Chicken and Radishes by A Day in the Life on the Farm
Homemade Ricotta Cheese by Sneha’s Recipe
Migliaccio (Italian Ricotta and Semolina Cake) by A Messy Kitchen
Mild Curry Chicken Salad with Diced Red Apple by Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
Mysore Rasam by Mayuri’s Jikoni
Ricotta Basil Rolls by Magical Ingredients
Roasted Stuffed Chicken Parcels by Food Lust People Love
Spicy Slaw with Red Cabbage and Mango by Karen’s Kitchen Stories
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Crumb Topping by Blogghetti

The Disputed Origins of Rocky Road Ice Cream

Just to be clear on what Rocky Road is. It's a chocolate base with marshmallow and nuts mixed in. Different brands use different nuts - almonds versus walnuts - and different forms of marshmallows - chunks versus ribbons. But you get the idea.

Back in May, when we were in Berkeley for D's graduation festivities, he wanted to take us to Fenton's Creamery in Oakland. Five of us shared the biggest ice cream sundae I have ever seen...and learned about the disputed origins of Rocky Road ice cream. It is a given that Rocky Road ice cream was invented in Oakland, California; what is hotly debated is whether it was started by Fenton's Creamery or Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream. Both claim to be the originators!

In this day and age of ice cream made with bone marrow, blue jasmine, and durian, can you even imagine when there was a time when the scoop offerings were limited to chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry?!? But in the early 20th century, Rocky Road changed the ice cream game with mix-ins that included adding nuts and marshmallows to a chocolate base.

Amy Ettinger, a local author and journalist, published Sweet Spot: An Ice Cream Binge Across America (Amazon affiliate link) before her death in 2024. She asserted that California is on the fringe when it comes to flavors. And though she detailed the claims, I do not remember if she made a definitive conclusion about which company could rightfully lay claim to Rocky Road ice cream.

A Rocky Road Deep Dive

Funny story: I do most of my grocery shopping between Whole Foods and Trader Joe's; I get almost all of my produce from local farmers' CSA delivery boxes and farmers' markets which happen six out of seven days of the week here. So, standing in front of the freezer sections at the aforementioned grocery stores, there were no tubs of Rocky Road. None. Zero. Zip. Zilch.

I bemoaned that fact and wondered where I could get Rocky Road. All of my circles said the same thing while they laughed at me: Safeway. Fine!

I headed over there and found more brands of Rocky Road than we could possibly try within one sitting. So I bought a handful and we did an initial tasting. Then R and I went back later and picked up a couple more.

Initially we tasted: Häagen-Dazs, Baskin-Robbins, Safeway's housebrand, Dryer's SlowChurned, and Thrifty. We ranked them on the following criteria and weight: chocolatey-ness (27.27%), Creamy-ness (9.09%), Rocky-ness (27.27%), Marriage (18.18%), and Binge-Worthiness (18.18%). Please don't ask me about the spelling or the mathematical calculations. R is a robotics engineer. I just went with his record keeping.

The second round we revisited Baskin-Robbins and tasted it against Tillamook and Breyers.

I have to admit that I was surprised that Baskin-Robbins was the overall winner - both times! - with Dryers ranking second overall. Thrifty's had a weird (read chemical) vanilla flavor and Häagen-Dazs had what we called 'marshmallow snot' and was also waaaaaaaaaaaaaay too sweet. The Safeway brand was not very chocolatey.

We have heard from friends that we have to give Strauss Creamery's Rocky Road a try. But, to date, we haven't been able to locate a pint.

Previous Taste Tests

We have a long history of doing this kind of food assessment in our household. We have previously sampled and ranked root beers, egg nogs, French fries from fast food restaurants, honey, chocolate, and popcorn toppings or seasonings. I am sure there are more. But these are the ones on which I could readily get my hands on photos!

So there you have my post for the letter 'r', a deep dive into Rocky Road ice cream. And the winner, just to recap: Baskin-Robbins. If you have done a similar assessment or tasting: What brand came out on top for you? Curious minds want to know.