Frappes vs. Milkshakes

[Lynn Bodoni]

Originally Posted by elfkin477

No, they're made with chocolate ice cream and vanilla milk. You use Eclipse vanilla syrup to make milk vanilla. I can't believe how much that site is asking for it, because a bottle goes for less than $5 around here.

You yankees is all weird. All of y'all. I plead a failing memory...last time I was up in New England was (counting on fingers, counting on toes, TWICE) not quite 40 years ago. My father never mentioned vanilla milk. However, he was from a small town near Boston, not New York.

[CalMeacham]

Unless it's been spread elsewhere by ice cream companies, "frappe" is unique to New England. I certainly never heard it until I moved up to Boston the first time. In the rest of the country, "milkshake" does mean what "frappe" used to in New England.

With the spread of chains like McDonald's, Burger King, and Johnny Rockets, New Englanders now know that a "milkshake" need not be what the OP defined it as.


And just to muddy the ice cream, the chain Friendly's calls it a Fribble, thus avoiding all controversy.

[Acsenray]

Originally Posted by Ukulele Ike

An Egg Cream can be found ONLY in the five boroughs of New York City. Or maybe only Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. I don't think I've ever seen one in Queens or Staten Island.

There are scattered diners, ice cream parlours, delis, and suchlike around the country that have "egg cream" on the menu. I recently saw it in Alexandria, Virginia. But it's not ubiquitous.

[Quercus]

Still called 'frappes' around Boston. I suppose most spa* & ice-cream place owners think that explaining "No, you don't really want a milkshake, you want a frappe" is some charming tradition, because that's the only reason for keeping 'milkshake' on the menu.

And of course, in Springfield, they're called "Krusty Partially Gelatinated Non-Dairy Gum-Based Beverages".


*"Spa" being a corner drugstore/soda counter in New England (again mostly centered around Boston where stores have existed for more than one generation). So named because a soda or ice cream was a refreshing, relaxing treat, just like going to a hot-springs/massage type place.

[CalMeacham]

Originally Posted by Quercus

Still called 'frappes' around Boston. I suppose most spa* & ice-cream place owners think that explaining "No, you don't really want a milkshake, you want a frappe" is some charming tradition, because that's the only reason for keeping 'milkshake' on the menu.

And of course, in Springfield, they're called "Krusty Partially Gelatinated Non-Dairy Gum-Based Beverages".


*"Spa" being a corner drugstore/soda counter in New England (again mostly centered around Boston where stores have existed for more than one generation). So named because a soda or ice cream was a refreshing, relaxing treat, just like going to a hot-springs/massage type place.

Try and find a place called a "spa" anymore. I know of one for certain in Southbridge, and I think I've seen another in a northern Boston suburb. Aside fro,m a few old dinosaurs like these (there are undoubtedly others in the Boston area, but not all that many), the "Spa" of Old Boston is pretty much gone, and I'll bet most Boston kids have no idea what the term means.

A quick search turns up Sam's Spa in Everett, Winship Spa in Brighton, Montrose Spa in Cambridge, Hodgkins in Somerville, and Hillside/Cardoza Brothers near the MGH. I can't find any others near Boston.

[HawksPath]

When I was living in Rhode Island in the mid-90's, I learned of the New England Frappe/Milk Shake quirk. It looks like a big RI place only has frappes on the menu: Newport Creamery.