By Eileen Buckley
Fredonia, NY – A great ice cream flavor usually consists of fruits, nuts, chocolate and vanilla to create a sweet ice cream. But only in Western New York will you find an ice cream shop serving up a batch of "chicken wing" flavor ice cream.
It's no joke. For 21 years, Aldrich Beef and Ice Cream in Fredonia has served up a most unusual concoction on April Fool's Day. Scott Aldrich says his dairy whipped up 35 gallons of chicken wing ice cream.
"We stopped putting in cherries and pecans, and instead mixed in diced chicken, hot sauce, blue cheese and celery, and it turned into chicken wing ice cream," Aldrich said.
Aldrich says it "tastes great," but then again, he created it. Still, Aldrich says a lot of customers showed up at his ice cream shop as early as 7am to order the chicken wing ice cream, and he received no complaints.
"We had a lot of people trying it this morning. Before it was even light out, people were tasting it," Aldrich said. "And I haven't had a negative comment yet."
And Aldrich says he's never gets stuck with gallons of the bizarre frozen mixture. He says always sells out.
Last year's April Fool's flavor was "suffering succotash." A few years ago, it was created in honor of a US president.
"When Bill Clinton was having his problems, we dedicated to him. We created "peach-mint," Aldrich said. "It was a peach ice cream with a mint swirl. We've had some very zany flavors."
... As zanny -- "full-of-baloney" and chocolate spaghetti -- imagine the ingredients.