The Complete Guide to ICEE – The Frozen Summer Drink We All Love

Last Updated on May 18, 2022 by Jim Edwards

When the intense summer heat strikes, a cup of Icee is what we turn to for a refreshing and cooling experience. Icee, stylized as ICEE, is a frozen carbonated drink and the flagship product of the Icee Company – an American beverage company situated in Tennessee. Join us as we take a deeper dive into Icee in this complete guide to Icee beverages.

History of Icee

The popular frozen drink was accidentally invented by Omar Knedlik, a Dairy Queen owner from Kansas, and the founder of the Icee company in 1958. The beverage was discovered as a result of malfunctioning equipment in Knedlik’s Dairy Queen. When his soda machine broke, he began freezing bottles of soda to keep them cool.

Knedlik began selling bottles of the frozen soda, which once opened, instantly turned into slush. The unique taste and mouth-feel of the frozen Coke quickly garnered them massive popularity and fame among the customers.

A local artist by the name of Ruth E. Taylor, who also happened to be a friend of Knedlik’s, came up with the name Icee as well as the original logo for the company. She came up with the name “Icee” as well as the icicles hanging from the block letters in the emblem, which has stayed unchanged to date.

In 1960, Knedlik received a patent for the design of a machine which he had developed in collaboration with the John E Mitchell Company in Dallas. Knedlik’s design soon turned into the iconic Icee Machine after five years.

The Icee Company was purchased by J & J Snack Foods in 1987. The company relocated its headquarters from Ontario, California to La Vergne, Tennessee in December 2019.

How Popular are Icee Beverages?

There are more than 75,000 Icee machines across the United States, serving more than 300 million Icee beverages annually. Even massive fast-food chains such as Subway and McDonald’s sell Icees from their joints situated in Walmart stores. Icees and Icee Floats are also sold at Burger King and Sam’s Club locations in the United States. Icees are also sold inside Target and Wawa locations.

Icee is also immensely popular in Mexico. You can commonly find Icee beverages at department shops like Sears and Walmart, as well as movies in theaters and convenience stores. Wawa and Quick Chek, two convenience store brands in the US’s Mid-Atlantic region, both sell Icee as their primary frozen beverage.

Icee made its first venture into the United Kingdom in 2019 when it teamed up with Vimto, a UK-based worldwide soft drinks manufacturer and distributor. Following that, a contract to supply Icees across throughout the chain of Cineworld cinemas across Europe was signed. Another European-wide contract to supply Showcase Cinemas was signed in late 2019 or early 2020, significantly expanding the brand across Europe.

Complete List of Icee Flavors

Icee’s Taste Great, but Do They Have Variety?

The immense popularity of the frozen beverage serves as a testament to how great the taste is. However, sugar fans love to change the flavor up a bit and treat their taste buds to something new every now and then.

You’ll be glad to learn that Icees have no shortage of options when it comes to flavors. Since the inception of ICEE, the company has invented more than 150 flavors over the course of time. While all the 150+ flavors have never been offered at the same time, the company does proudly offer more than 30 flavors at any given time.

Currently, there are 42 unique Icee flavors you can choose from. The flavors are as follows:

1. Banana
2. Blood Orange
3. Blue Lemonade
4. Blue Raspberry
5. Blue Strawberry
6. Blue Vanilla
7. Boysenberry
8. Cherry (the original)
9. Bubble Gum
10. Cherry Lime
11. Cola
12. Cotton Candy
13. Grape
14. Frosted Lemonade
15. Green Apple
16. Lemon Lime
17. Mango
18. Mango, Pineapple, Orange
19. Mango Strawberry
20. Melon Berry Bliss
21. Melon Cream
22. Mermaid
23. Mixed Berry
24. Orange
25. Orange Cream
26. Peach
27. Pina Colada
28. Cotton Candy
29. Pink Watermelon
30. Raspberry Lemonade
31. Sour Apple
32. Sour Grape
33. Sour Green Apple Watermelon
34. Strawberry
35. Strawberry kiwi
36. Strawberry Lemonade
37. Strawberry Shortcake
38. Sugar Plum
39. Tropical Fusion
40. Watermelon
41. White Cherry
42. Watermelon Lemonade

With so many different and unusual flavors, it’s safe to say that you’ll never get bored of slurping Icees!

Is the Taste Worth the Hype?

If you’ve ever had a slurpee from 7-11 before, an Icee will make you feel right at home. The unique combo of sugary and icy goodness blesses your internals with a blast of freshness and serves as the perfect way to shake off the intense summer heat.

Having a large variety of unprecedented flavors at your disposal only adds a cherry on the top. Speaking of flavors, it’s a rather subjective matter, and it would come as no surprise if two people do not share the same flavor preferences. Nevertheless, however unusual your taste preferences may be, there is a right flavor for everyone in the large selection of flavors that you get to choose from.

Regardless of which flavor you go for, the taste of the flavorings is strong, punchy, and does not get watered down by the ice as one would think. Some eccentric flavors even leave your tongue with a matching color, sort of like a parting gift.

What Are the Main Ingredients That Go into These Wonderful Beverages?

With there being an abundance of flavors, it would be quite challenging to list the ingredients of each and every flavor. Fortunately, there are a few certain ingredients that have been used across the board in all of the flavors Icee beverages have to offer.

These ingredients include Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Artificial, and Natural Flavors, Yucca and Quillaja Extracts, Sodium Benzoate (preservative), and Citric Acid. The natural and artificial flavors used, as well as the synthetic food dyes used in all the flavors, will, of course, differ.

Additionally, all ingredients featured in all the flavors of ices have been approved and authorized for use by the Food and Drug Administration or are listed on the Flavor and Extract Manufacturers List as being generally regarded as safe.

Nutritional Facts

Due to a large number of flavors, it is impossible to list each flavor’s nutritional values. However, most of the flavors do share the same nutritional values, which are given in the table below:

Serving Size	12 fl oz
Calories	95
Total Carbohydrates	24 g
Sodium	5 mg
Total Sugars	24 g
Added Sugar	24 g
Potassium	5 mg
Protein	0 g
Calcium	0 mg
Vitamin D	0 mg
Iron	0 mg

 

Make an ICEE || Family Fun Pack Cooking

Today, Michael is the host of Family Fun Pack Cooking and he is going to be making a yummy cherry Icee!

Summary

Icees are excellent beverages that offer an affordable, easy, and delicious way of fighting off the summer heat. In addition, the large range of flavors brings unusual flavor combos along with the age-old classic flavors such as cola so that you can bless your taste buds with a new taste all through the summer. If you haven’t tried it, we highly recommend that you do!

Icee – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

How Many Calories in an Icee?

Most flavors of ice have around 95 calories. However, there are some exceptional flavors that do pack more calories, such as Blue Vanilla and Bubble Gum.

What’s the Difference Between a Slurpee and an Icee?

There is actually no difference between the two. Slurpee is just another licensed name for Icees coined by the convenience store industry.

Is Icee a Coca Cola Product?

No! Icee beverages are made by the Icee company. However, the Icee company and Coca Cola have worked as partners to create the cola-flavored Icee.

Which came first, ICEE or Slurpee?

Icees were developed first in 1958. Slurpees came later in 1965 after 7-Eleven licensed the Icee technology for its chain of convenience stores.

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Image Credits – “Icee” by burakiewicz is marked with CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

“ICEE” by K. Buckingham is marked with CC BY-NC 2.0.

“Icee – Week #7 of ’52 for 2014′” by Au Kirk is marked with CC BY 2.0.