30 Scoops in 30 Days: Rite Aid (Day 9)

By Elina Shatkin Mon., Jun. 13 2011 at 3:28 PM

Aside from Sun Chips and soda, Rite Aid's most noteworthy gastronomic feature (read: its only noteworthy gastronomic feature) is its ice cream bar. In specific, the Chocolate Malted Krunch (alternate spelling: Chocolate Malted Crunch), a flavor found nowhere else on earth, as far as we know.

It was Thrifty or Payless when we were wee bairns, and the "hideous square scoops," as we fondly called them, cost less than $1. A few corporate mergers later, the name has changed and the prices have risen, but the best thing about the drugstore has not.

We can't vouch for Rite Aid's other ice cream flavors, standard supermarket derivatives that are perfectly acceptable but average. (The best of them is Medieval Madness, which is neither as maddening nor as exciting as its name suggests, but does blend ribbons of chocolate and vanilla into a nice balance.) We can, however, definitively say that when we come to Rite Aid, especially on a hot summer day, we make a beeline for one flavor: Chocolate Malted Krunch.

Almost always, we are dark chocolate fanatics. We don't generally suffer the indignities of milk chocolate, especially the mass-produced kind -- except with Rite Aid's Chocolate Malted Krunch. It has the perfect creamy, milky, slightly tart flavor, as though someone dumped packets of Swiss Miss cocoa mix and malt powder into the ice cream base. It's flecked with soft shavings of dark chocolate that melt on your tongue and a wealth of crisp, round pebbles that explode under your teeth like malted mini-bombs.

You're standing at a grimy drugstore counter. You've waited at least 5 minutes for a clerk to notice you. You fork over $1.69 and end up staring at a strangely uniform, cylindrical scoop. Yet what you hold in your hand is perfect, a harmonious marvel of texture, flavor and affordability: the humble, mass-produced American ice cream cone, at its finest.

Previously on 30 Scoops in 30 Days...

Tags:

Chocolate Malted Krunch, Cylindrical Scoops, Drugstore, Elina Shatkin, Ice Cream, Payless, Rite Aid, Thrifty

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JustAPlayer

Or when "scoops" were 5 cents in the early 1970s. I was part of a Catholic youth choir that would sing Christmas hymns at local senior centers. One nice lady gave the nun who lead us $5 to get us a treat. Well, the mothers knew and took the whole group to Thrifty's near the school. Each of us got a double scoop ice cream as did the mothers and the Sister. There was change left.

Oh by the way, they use to make a terrific nectarine sherbet. Oh, the days.

Jason Levin

Thrifty Mint Chip. Till death do us part.

Jeanne Hart

Their rainbow sherbet is the BEST.

mimi

Not only is the hand scooped ice cream delicious and an excellent bargain,if you go to their freezer section you will find the same flavors packaged in pints and quarts at unbelievably low prices. The other day they were offering a quart container for $2.50. The pecan praline is my favorite.

Reddy Kilowatt

I haven't had this kind of ice cream since Mose came down the mountain, but you've got the rest of the Rite Aid scene wrong. For one thing, there's no finger-tapping while waiting for service. The staff at my local Rite Aid are truly helpful -- from aisle-clerk to cashier.

For another, ice cream is not their only good food. At least two of their nut mixes are excellent. My favorites are the pecan mix (with cashews and pistachios) and the pistachio mix (with cashews and almonds). Both are great as a solo nibble or with ice cream or oatmeal.

I'll try their ice cream on your recommendation, but don't overlook the hidden gems at Rite Aid!