The Inventor of Rocky Road Released an Entire Collection of Ice Creams Inspired by the Original Flavor

Invented in 1929 by Edy's Ice Cream, Rocky Road was one of the first ice creams to feature stuff—in this case, marshmallows and nuts. That innovative choice of not only offering different flavors but also mixing in other bits and pieces inspired countless other ice creams over the years—and now, after nearly a century, Rocky Road is finally getting an entire "collection" of flavors to honor that history.

Edy's—known as Dreyer's west of the Rocky Mountains and in Texas—has launched the "Rocky Road Collection," folding five other options in with the Original Rocky Road to create a six flavor portfolio the brand believes is worthy of the larger Rocky Road legacy.

"In 1928, Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream was founded by ice cream maker William Dreyer and candy maker Joseph Edy," Julianne Feder, the company's senior associate brand manager, told me. "The following year, the Great Depression hit, and Dreyer and Edy knew they had to create something special for their customers. Dreyer took big fluffy marshmallows from Edy and cut them up into perfect bite size pieces with his wife's pinking shears, crushed some toasted nuts and mixed them both into his rich chocolate ice cream: Rocky Road was born. Rocky Road was one of the first ever ice creams with mix-ins and its invention changed the ice cream landscape. In a time when the main flavors where vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, Rocky Road was revolutionary."

For this first-ever Collection, Edy's whipped up three new flavors in the spirit (and naming convention) of Rocky Road. Salted Caramel Pretzel Path is salted caramel ice cream featuring swirls of fudge, pockets of chocolate-covered toffee, and chocolate-covered salted pretzels. Brownie Brick Road features brownie pieces, crispy brownie edges, and a brownie batter swirl. And Cookie Cobblestone is billed as a "twist on S'mores … made with chocolate sandwich cookies, gooey swirls of marshmallows, chunks of glorious cookie dough, all surrounded by rich chocolate ice cream."

Then, to finish things off, Edy's folded in three existing flavors to the lineup—including you-know-who. "The Rocky Road Collection is inspired by classic comfort flavors and your favorite nostalgic childhood recipes, amped up for today's families with a new twist of indulgence," Feder continued. "In crafting the collection, we realized our brand already had several indulgent, mix-in rich flavors that had the spirit of Rocky Road and resonated with consumers: our Mocha Almond Avenue, with its rich coffee ice cream, crunchy almonds and fudge as well as our Chocolate Peanut Butter Park, featuring decadent chocolate ice cream, chocolate peanut butter cups and swirls of creamy peanut butter. And of course, we couldn't launch the Rocky Road Collection without its namesake flavor: The Original Rocky Road."

All six flavors are rolling out nationwide in new packaging this month under both the Edy's and Dreyer's brand names. Added Feder, "We know they will send you on a journey of textures and flavors—just the way we imagine Rocky Road did for folks almost 100 years ago."