There are a lot of famous foods at Disney theme parks — the Cheeseburger Spring Rolls at the Magic Kingdom’s Adventureland, the Ronto Wraps at Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge — but the treat most eternally popular at several spots in both big U.S. parks for decades? It’s probably Dole Whip, the unlikely partnership between Disney and produce titan Dole dating back to the 1980s.
It’s deceptively simple — just pineapple soft serve in a cup by the look of it, but it somehow expertly threads the needle between supremely creamy and refreshingly tart. Over the years, Disney has added to the original pineapple with new flavors like strawberry, mango and coconut, in a rainbow of captivating cones, floats and even cocktails. I still dream of happening upon a Moana-inspired Kakamora Float one of these days.
Even if you’ve never had it yourself, you’ve probably heard someone wax poetic about it and then sigh mournfully that they can only get it on very special vacations.
Dole is trying to change that, bringing its new single-serve Dole Whip to Costcos and select grocery stores nationwide. It comes in pineapple and mango flavors and retails for $6.99.
Dole’s press release proudly notes that the first ingredient is real fruit puree and that it remains gluten- and dairy-free, just like the original. It also claims it still has that “velvety” texture, and I would bet that has been the hangup in bringing this product to your grocer’s freezer. It’s hard to believe that it’s possible to get that signature mouthfeel out of anything other than a soft-serve machine.
I can’t wait to try it! The little cups are the perfect serving size, and I love the friendly packaging.
Unsurprisingly, the texture is different from what you’ll get in a cup at a Disney park. It is perfectly, mind-bendingly smooth, but it’s more like a sherbet than soft serve. I wish it had the iconic swirl and that dreamy texture, but alas, it’s nearly impossible to get something like that in a grocer’s freezer. I even tried leaving a cup at room temperature for 15 minutes, but it remained almost like an incredibly finely textured sherbet.
The flavor, though? Spot on. It’s lip-smackingly sweet-tart with a nip like the most perfectly ripe, pineapple-iest pineapple or mango-iest mango you’ve ever had, maybe because the first ingredient is fruit puree. If you’ve got a Disney-themed kid’s party planned this summer, this is the easy-peasy dessert to serve. It would also make a spectacular vodka sgroppino if you’re in the market for something more grown-up.
I think Dole has done as well as anyone could for a ready-to-eat treat, and as a dietitian, I really appreciate the allergy-friendly, fruit-forward approach. If you’re hoping for a thoroughly authentic home experience, though, you could try piping one of the many copycat recipes with a star-tipped pastry bag. Many opt for the addition of coconut cream to mimic the texture and keep the recipe dairy-free like the original, or even banana, but those will both change the flavor. It’s also popular to just blend frozen pineapple or pineapple juice with vanilla ice cream, and that gets to the root of why the store-bought version is different from the theme parks’ — it’s more natural!
Disney itself plays the secrets of their recipe close to the chest, noting that their own official ice cream-based recipe for home use is merely “inspired by” Dole Whip and “may vary” from the park experience, but former Disney employees often claim the real thing is made from a soft-serve mix base that is mostly sugar, natural and artificial flavorings, stabilizers and thickeners. In food science terms, that’s similar to what’s in pudding mix; the emulsifiers and starches are what give the original Dole Whip that spellbinding creamy texture.
If you want to get as close as possible while still eating something largely recognizable as food, you could try this recipe from Redditor u/TharinWhite, which uses canned pineapple, plant-based milk and vanilla pudding mix. I’ve tried it both in a heavy-duty blender and the Ninja Creami, and I think it works best with a big spoonful of Greek yogurt instead of protein powder and about half a package of regular instant pudding mix. I shake it to thicken before adding to the container. The flavor isn’t as pleasingly pineapple-y even if you add some lemon juice for tartness — it comes out more like the pineapple-vanilla swirl that’s available at some Disney parks — but it’s close-ish in terms of texture.
You could try to perfect it by using pineapple juice that has been boiled down to concentrate the flavor. Or, you could just order the powdered, almost totally artificial Dole brand soft serve mix online, but shhhhhh … you didn’t hear that from me!
