Anyone for the last few Choc Ices? Then you’d better move fast. Final deliveries of the ice cream to shops, beloved of Irish people for decades, are being made this month.
The first Choc Ices hit shops in 1960. Born too that summer were Bono, the late Christy Dignam and Phil Hogan. Young lovers were doing Chubby Checker’s The Twist and saving the last dance for the Drifters.
The original Choc Ices were manufactured by HB, an ice cream company established by the Hughes brothers at Hazelbrook Farm, Rathfarnham in 1926. Their plan was to use up surplus cows’ milk and cream in spring and summer. From this family run operation, the ice cream band was born.
Global giant Unilever bought the HB brand, closing the factory in Rathfarnham in 2003.
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The simple vanilla ice cream on a stick, covered with a thin chocolate layer went on to sell for a further 63 summers. It outlasted showier fridge mates from HB launched in the 1980s including Freaky Foot, Fat Frog and the Hiawatha by some decades. More sophisticated and expensive ice creams like the Magnum and King Cone have led to the Choc Ice being frozen out.
Tastes in ice cream have moved on, says HB. “We’re sorry to disappoint Choc Ice lovers with the discontinuation of this ice cream, but we have found that it is no longer as popular as it once was.”
Their loss may disenfranchise some older people who use the Choc Ice name interchangeably to mean any ice cream.
Other vintage ice lollies – Brunch, Iceberger and Loop the Loop – are under no threat, says HB Ice Cream. The company has also reintroduced its chocolate ice cream Feast.
