PEAKS Frozen Custard FAQ

What is Frozen Custard and how does it differ from ice cream?

Frozen custard is a special type of ice cream created around 1902 when Arthur Abbott began perfecting his ice cream recipe. He experimented with adding egg to his mix and found that led to a much smoother and creamier ice cream. He peddled his frozen custard ice cream all along the east coast travelling with carnivals. By the 1930s this frozen custard had made it's way to the Midwest which became the largest frozen custard producing area in the world.To understand how frozen custard and ice cream relate we can look to the FDA which says that "ice cream" is any frozen dessert made from a base of milk, containing at least 10% butterfat. Therefore, frozen custard is an ice cream. The FDA additionally states that frozen custard is an ice cream containing at least 1.4% egg yolk. Other types of ice cream have egg yolk (French vanilla for example) but only frozen custard contains at least 1.4%. That's not the main difference, though. There are many differences between typical ice cream production and traditionalfrozen custard preparation methods used by Peaks and all of the iconic Midwest custard producers:

Specialized (expensive!) machines freeze the custard quickly to avoid large ice crystal formation and thus that "icy" taste that often comes with ice cream.
These machines churn slowly to minimize air introduction or "overrun". For example, if starting with 1qt of base yields 1.5qt of ice cream, then the overrun would be 50%. This means that 33% (.5qt/1.5qt) is air. Typical ice creams have high overrun of 50 - 100% (1/2 air!), "super premium" ice creams have 25 - 40% overrun, while specialized custard machines result in an overrun of 14 - 20% (ours is 14%). This results in custard being much richer and denser than typical ice cream. We don't charge for air!
Serving the custard at 18ºF compared to 10ºF for other ice creams. This, along with the relatively high concentration of egg yolk, adds to the silky smoothness of frozen custard.
Serving the custard fresh. Frozen custard is made and served fresh at least every two hours or packed while still fresh. Other ice creams are made in batch freezers and served out of buckets many hours or days after they were made. Fresh is better!
Using more than the minimum butterfat and egg yolk. Places like Kopp/s Frozen Custard in the Midwest use more than the minimum (10%)butterfat and egg yolk in their base and so do we. This costs more, but allows us to make the most natural, delicious frozen custard possible.

What flavors are available?

Every day we offer vanilla, chocolate, and a special flavor of the day (here is our flavor forecast ). You can create your own flavor combinations with our baked treats and myriad topping choices. From traditional sundaes with homemade hot fudge and other sauces to fresh fruit or candies; the possibilities are endless! If you have an idea for a flavor or have a favorite you'd like to see on our calendar please let us know! We'd love to hear from you at info@peaksfrozencustard.com.

Why are there only 3 flavors?

Frozen custard is best served fresh. This freshness is one of the advantages of frozen custard as typical ice cream will be premade and served over many hours or days. Since we don't store the custard for extended periods we can't keep many flavors at a time. Most frozen custard shops serve vanilla, chocolate and a flavor of the day as we do. A few, such as Kopp's in Milwaukee have 2 flavors of the day. This is something we have the capacity to do and will probably experiment with in the future. We've heard of some frozen custard shops that serve many flavors of custard by storing them for extended periods. None of the best shops we've visited have done this and we don't believe this would result in the best quality frozen custard for our customers.

Can we take your ice cream home to eat later?

Certainly! All of our pre-packed custard is guaranteed packed while fresh and flash frozen in our special containers to minimize air and ice crystal formation. For optimal enjoyment of our pre-packed custard we recommend allowing the container to sit at room temperature until it is easily scooped (usually about 30 minutes). We can also fresh pack our vanilla, chocolate or flavor of the day for your immediate enjoyment. We also have delicious, frozen pies, and cakes to share with friends, coworkers and families.

What's in your Frozen Custard?

Our custard base includes local, hormone free, cream and non-fat milk, cane sugar and egg yolk. All of this is pasteurized and homogenized so there is no raw egg. For our vanilla custard we use the finest vanilla from Madagascar (the best!). Our chocolate custard is made with a complex blend of cocoa and chocolate liquor infusions imported from Swiss company Callebaut Chocolates. For our other flavors we use homemade, natural, and/or locally sourced ingredients wherever possible.

Is your shop family friendly?

You bet! We have a separate area just for kids with toys, books, games and even a rocking moose!

Do you have free wi-fi?

Yes we do. Bring your laptop and enjoy a latte and some fresh, delicious custard while taking care of business.

Is your ice cream healthy?

Our vanilla and chocolate frozen custard contains only the finest natural, hormone and antibiotic free ingredients. There are no artificial flavors or preservatives that you might find with inferior ice creams or soft-serve products. There is pasteurized egg yolk, but there is a relatively small volume of that and the overall cholesterol and fat content is less than most premium ice cream. The incomparable, creamy gourmet taste is due as much to the meticulous preparation process as it is to the ingredients.

Is Frozen Custard the same as soft serve?

No, it is not. Soft-serve is the term used to describe products such as Dairy Queen's frozen dessert. Soft-serve is typically much lower in butterfat (3% - 6%) than ice cream or frozen custard and has much higher overrun 50%-80% (33%-45% air content) than frozen custard. Soft-serve can be dispensed directly into a cone or dish and can be swirled with other flavors. Frozen custard is too rigid for this and must be scooped. This is sometimes referred to as "soft scoop". There is an alternate form of Frozen Custard that originated about 20 years later than Arthur Abbot's. This ice cream had egg in the mix, but generally had less butterfat than true ice cream, and become known as both soft-serve and Frozen Custard. Although, not nearly as popular as true ice cream Frozen Custard, this form persists in some parts of the East Coast through lower Michigan. Most of these products are not true frozen custard according to the FDA's definition because they do not have enough butterfat to qualify as ice cream. You can see an example of this style here.

Do you have any specials?

Yes, indeed! Buy 9 custard or coffee items (quarts count as 2) and get a free single cone or 12oz latte. Also, save your receipt and get $1 off coffee on any subsequent visit before 10am. We frequently have new promotions and deals. You can sign up to get notification of these deals, or follow us on twitter or facebook. Information on tracking us online is available on our contact us page. We'll also post hot specials and events on our main page in the "What's New" section.

Do you have live music or entertainment?

Yes, and it's free! You can see our past and upcoming shows by going to our event calendar. We're looking for musicians and other performing artists for weekend and possible weekday shows so if you sing, play guitar or have some other talent we'd love to hear from you!

Do you make your own ice cream base?

We'd love to, but it isn't practical in Washington state. Any processing of eggs for something like an ice cream base must be done by a state licensed dairy. It is not practical for a small family run custard business like us to be a licensed dairy.

Are you a chain?

We are a family owned and operated business. This is currently our only shop. For more information see about us

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Where does your ice cream base come from?

We have a partnership with Snoqualmie Gourmet in Maltby, WA. The custard base we've cooperatively designed is 100% hormone free and made with milk from local cows in Western WA. Once we found that we couldn't practically make the base ourselves, we set out to find a local source for the highest quality, freshest base we could find. We rejected opportunities to get cheaper bases in favor of minimizing delivery distance and using local milk. This results in fresher base for us, less pollution for the environment and tastier custard for you the customer. We believe that the freshest, best tasting custard is made from the very best local ingredients. This is also the common thread in iconic Midwestern custard shops. Each business has their own proprietary base with different butterfat and egg yolk concentrations and different combinations of sweeteners and emulsifiers. So, these custards taste different but they are all very good due to their use of local, high quality dairy and other ingredients.

Where will your next shop be?

We have some ideas but we need your help. Let us know where you'd like to see the next Peaks Frozen Custard by emailing us.

Peaks is a great idea, will there be a franchise?

Franchising is a definite possibility in the future. For now, we're focused on our current shop and how best to direct resources for growth and expansion. We welcome inquiries from parties interested in franchising or other opportunities to be involved in Peaks.