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Home » Culture and Criticism

Brain freeze

Submitted by on July 22, 2008 – 10:12 AM108 Comments

As the champion-foodstuffs bracket prepares to make its triumphant midsummer return with an ice-cream face-off, Keckler and I find ourselves with a few unanswered questions — starting with whether Rocky Road is the same thing as Heavenly Hash.

Internet research is telling us it’s two names for the same thing — chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, and nuts, although the ‘mallow in the Hash may take ribbon form — but our sense is that it’s not.I feel like the Hash doesn’t have nuts, or like one of them has chocolate chips and the other doesn’t.

Help us out, my people.Same thing?Different things?We have a freezer-case-load of qualifiers for the Sweet 64, so a few of these delectations have gots to go.School us in the comments.

(The bad news: I’m in Vegas as of this writing and my flight back will have me out of commish much of the day, so if your comment doesn’t come through right away, don’t worry — I’ll get to it.The good news: three randomly selected commenters can win a free pint of Ben and Jerry’s for answering, so if you want to qualify, please post your comment with a working email address.)

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108 Comments »

  • Amanda says:

    In my experience~and I’m talking Master’s Thesis in Heavenly Hash, here, Heavenly Hash has the marshmallow in ribbons, and has nuts, but the chunks are small and easily manageble.

    Rocky Road has the ‘mallow chunks, and the pieces of stuff in the ice cream are usually…chunkier? Bigger.

    ALSO a point of difference that may just depend on what brand you get~the chocolate ice cream in Heavenly Hash is a little bit more mil-chocolaty than the balls-to-the-wall chocolate in Rocky Road.

    THAT all said, I much prefer Heavenly Hash, and I am sad that I can’t find it as easily in Ohio as I could growing up in NY.

  • Luna S. says:

    Well, I can’t recall seeing Heavenly Hash anywhere, so I can’t really compare. I wonder if it’s a regional thing (I know you East Coasters have stuff us West Coasters don’t, and vice versa). At the same time, I’ve seen two types of “Rocky Road.” One type is the type you mentioned, and the other has a vanilla ice cream base, with chunks of chocolate, marshmallow, and nuts. (I think. I’m not a Rocky Road fan, so I’m not an expert, either.)

    My husband considers himself a Rocky Road purist, and the “true” Rocky Road is the one with the chocolate ice cream. Now I want to find some Heavenly Hash and put it in front of him. If there’s any difference, he’ll suss it out immediately, and find either a new love or instant hate.

  • Kathryn says:

    I don’t think there’s anything I can add to Amanda’s excellent answer- I completely concur.

  • Nichole says:

    My gut reaction (ha!) is that Heavenly Hash is a nut-free zone.

  • Jill says:

    Agree with Amanda that Heavenly Hash is milker, not as hard and dark chocolately as Rocky Road. And I, too, miss the Hash – I feel like Rocky Road’s taken it over in the ice cream chains, and Rocky Road has always come in second place for me.

  • Suzanne says:

    Ah! Heavenly Hash!
    It’s been years, but if I recall correctly the HH has chocolate covered peanuts and marshmallow ribbon and the RR has almonds and whole marshmallows. However I believe they can crossbreed, with the new traits showing in their marshmallow expression. I’ve seen RR with marshmallow ribbon and HH with mini marshmallows, but I’ve never seen RR with peanuts or HH with almonds.

  • avis says:

    I have always thought of Heavenly Hash as a candy and Rocky Road as an ice cream flavor. Both have chocolate, marshmallows, and nuts. Heavenly Hash is sort of chocolate brownie like with marshmallows on top and then chocolate and nuts over that. Rocky Road is cocolate ice cream with nuts and marshmallows inside and sometimes more chocolate. They are just different forms of the same thing.

  • Pegkitty says:

    I would agree that Heavenly Hash has the ‘mallow in ribbons or swirls; it’s also my impression that HH has MORE mallow than Rocky Road. And HH is, overall…smoother, I guess – the RR being more “Rocky” (but not in the punch-beef-and-eat-raw-egg way).

  • Jess says:

    From what I can tell, Rocky Road is chocolate ice cream, marshmallow swirl, and chocolate covered almonds, while Heavenly Hash is chocolate ice cream, marshmallow swirl, almonds and chocolate chips.

    Breyers Rocky Road
    http://www.breyers.com/#/flavors/

    PET Heavenly Hash
    http://www.petdairy.com/subpage.php?pageId=474

    As far as I’m concerned, it’s all good. :-)

  • Kona says:

    Not having much experience with Heavenly Hash, I would still contend that it is different from Rocky Road, mainly because it has a funnier name.

  • Tisha_ says:

    I’ve never heard of Heavenly Hash, but I can say that Rocky Road is just Chocolate Ice Cream, Nuts (pecans, I think), and mini-marshmallows.

  • Jen M. says:

    I’m going to have to agree with Suzanne – HH has peanuts, not regular nuts, which I’m allergic to, and I recall having had HH back in the day when I was on the west coast. I feel like I don’t see any HH now that I’m on the east coast.

  • Kat says:

    I have no input on the debate, other than to say, I saw “heavenly hash” and all I could think of was the hash that is made from meat, and the idea of it being ice cream made me throw up a little in my mouth.

  • Becka says:

    If there were a Rocky Road bracket, I’d also want Phish Food included. Yeah, no nuts, but..caramel and serious chocolate chunks!

  • cheryl says:

    Heavenly Hash is harder to find around here, but it has almonds, chunks of chocolate with marshmallow swirls.

    Rocky road has chunkier nuts – usually peanuts; chocolate chunks and the marshmallow is more like an actual marshmallow than a swirl.

    Personal opinion, I don’t like the Rocky Road as much. The heavenly hash is smoother – all the pieces are smaller.

  • Nomie says:

    I would say that Rocky Road generally should have tiny marshmallows instead of a swirl. But I haven’t had either in years, so what do I know?

    (Free Ben & Jerry’s? Woo!)

  • Krissa says:

    I have never heard of Heavenly Hash, but I think for the purposes of going head-to-head against other flavors, one or the other needs to be picked. My vote is for Rocky Road only because I’ve heard of it, but since I don’t like crunchy things in my ice cream, I’m likely to vote against it anyway. :)

  • Sandman says:

    I was under the impression that Rocky Road usually (sometimes? Compared to Amanda, I’m only at the Frosh level here) contained a ribbon of chocolate fudge. I seem to remember chocolate chips in Heavenly Hash, too.

  • HielanLass says:

    I agree with the RR=chunkier, HH=milk chocolatier, but I’ve always thought Heavenly Hash had chocolate chips in the mix as well as nuts, which I’ve never found in any Rocky Road I’ve had.

  • CJRW says:

    Where are y’all getting Rocky Road with peanuts or pecans in it?

    Rocky Road = chocolate ice cream, mini-marshmallows, and almonds

    But I’ve never heard of Heavenly Hash or seen it in my H-E-B (in Texas). It sounds… strange.

  • liz says:

    I think heaveenly hash, for whatever reason, is a new york – tri-state area name for rocky road. I’ve never seen it outside of new york, anyways. It’s like how midwesterners call soda “pop” for no particular reason.

  • Val says:

    I support Suzanne’s assessment. They both have marshmallows, and that is sometimes interchangeable (though RR generally has individual mashmallows while in HH its a ribbon). But RR has sometimes different nuts (including sometimes just shards – ew!) while HH has chocolate covered peanuts. I remember this from being a kid because HH seemed so much better due to the extra chocolate.

  • HielanLass says:

    I meant to say I’ve never found any chocolate chips in rocky road, not nuts. D’urr.

  • rayvyn2k says:

    Another agreement with Amanda…HH is milkier with nuts and a marahmallow swirl, and RR is darker with chunks of nuts and mini marshmallows.

    That said, B&J’s New York Super Fudge Chunk beats them both. ;)

  • sarah says:

    I’ve never had Heavenly Hash, but Rocky Road in my experience has been mini-marshmallows, darker chocolate base (more fudge-y) and almonds.

  • Elizabeth says:

    I’ve never even heard of Heavenly Hash! How sad. I do, however, consider myself a Rocky Road connoisseur, and as far as I am concerned, the only real Rocky Road is chocolate ice cream, mini marshmallows, and chocolate covered almonds. The end.

  • YN says:

    Absolutely two different things! Vanilla vs. Chocolate base and the nuts components may be variables, but it’s the ooey, gooey marshmallow that I’ve always seen as the primary differentiator: RR = chunks/mini-marshmallows, HH = ribbons of mallow cream.

    Oddly enough, and likely simply due to the different brands I’ve been exposed to, I think of HH as the Kosher option…perhaps due to an over-exposure to Marshmallow Fluff during childhood Passovers?

  • Marianne says:

    I agree with Amanda, as well. The Heavenly Hash is just smoother and creamier than rocky road. The marshmallow is more of a feature, rather than an afterthought, too.

  • Melissa says:

    It’s all good, I don’t care either way, but wanted to add something to the Ice Cream Bracketology of it all. PLEASE include Ben & Jerry “Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream”! That’s good eatin’!

  • Snarkmeister says:

    I’m with Suzanne on this one. The HH had the horrible chocolate-covered peanuts (ugh, peanuts in my ice cream, no no no!) and RR had the lovely darker chocolate base, with the whole mini–marshmallows and chunks of almond (thankfully not chocolate-coated). I’m not a big fan of either; I’d take the super-cheap Chocolate Malted Crunch any day of the week over either RR or HH. Back in the day I could get a scoop of CMC at Thrifty for TEN CENTS (and I’m only 34, don’t be thinkin I was born in the Great Depression, y’all).

  • Marie says:

    I agree with the posters above who have said that HH is with almonds, the marshmallow has a ribbon or “fluff” consistency, and the chocolate is more towards the milk end of the spectrum. Rocky Road was always darker and had chunks of it’s ingredients.

    And always, always HH for the win. Fluff marshmallow is superior in all ways, except S’more making. There’s even a place nearby where you can get fluff instead of whipped cream on sundaes. Yum!

  • Margaret in CO says:

    Well, Breyers appears to make both a Rocky Road AND a Heavenly Hash, so they MUST be different!

  • FrozenCapybara says:

    They are similar but definitely distinct. The consistent difference that I’ve seen is that HH has ribbons of marshmallow fluff whereas RR has mini-marshmallows. HH has nuts, though they tend to be smaller and more towards the peanut/almond end of the nut spectrum; RR’s nuts are more towards the walnut/pecan end, though almond is acceptable as well.

    Also, I tend to think of Heavenly Hash as a cheap-brand grocery-store ice cream, while you can get Rocky Road everywhere. That may just be me, though.

  • Deirdre says:

    I can’t stand either of them as I hate marshmallows, but I agree on the HH has a ‘mallow ribbon where as RR has mini ‘mallows. I also would have thought HH had no nuts, but I see here I’d be wrong about that.

    (On the “hash” tip, has anyone ever wondered what Who Hash was? We dubbed the horrid poutine in our highschool caf “Who Hash” but I doubt the Whos were serving poutine for Christmas dinner.)

    I’m so pleased about a bracket I can participate in (not a big cheese fan, so I kept out of the last one). Is Americone Dream going to be one of the contestants? I had some when I was in New York last spring and damn, that is good ice cream. I’m so bitter you can’t get it north of the 49th.

  • May says:

    It was my impression that Rocky Road was chunkier, while Heavenly Hash was creamier, except with nuts. I haven’t had either in a really, really long time. I prefer the chunks; I love rocky road, “so have another triple scoop with me!”

  • Kristina says:

    I’m on the Rocky Road train (I like the darker chocolate, which seems to be prevalent in RR as opposed to HH), although this summer, I seem to be addicted in a bad bad way to Edy’s Real Fruit Popsicles, flavor: lemonade. Evil stuff, kids. Don’t do it. Give it to me.

  • Jenn C. says:

    I’m glad I’m not the only one who thinks of Rocky Road as being a vanilla base.

    Beyond that, I’ve not eaten either in years, so I have no recollection of the differences.

  • Christy says:

    I LOVE me some Heavenly Hash and since I moved to the South, it is a rarity in the supermarkets. I’ve never seen HH with peanuts, only almonds, and the mallow is stripey and not just those mini-mallows.

    I agree with Jess above, the difference between the 2 are minor. Except LONG LIVE HEAVENLY HASH!

  • Vanessa says:

    I have no real confirmation of this, and it seems to go against everyone else’s recollections, but I remember RR as being chocolate ice cream, mini marshmallows, and walnut pieces. And Snarkmeister, I am almost 10 years older than you, but I am sure of the prices for Thrifty scoops when I was a kid were five cents for one sccop, ten cents for two, and 15 cents for three scoops. They were that price at least until the early 80’s when I started high school.

  • ferretrick says:

    My mother used to make a dessert she called heavenly hash-not ice cream. It was actual chocolate with marshmallows and big chunks of pecan, just cut into bite size pieces. I have never seen a heavenly hash ice cream, but now I want some.

    Actually, though, it seems like way more people are familiar with Rocky Road, so I’d just leave it at that.

  • Anna says:

    Now THIS is a bracket I can really get into! I wasn’t too partisan when it came to basketball or even cheese, but I have practically enough ice cream experience to get my doctorate in it. Looking forward to that!

    I don’t believe I have ever had Heavenly Hash (does it not exist in Maine?), but Rocky Road seems usually to be small marshmallows and walnut (?) chips in chocolate ice cream… though ribbons of mallow are not unheard of.

  • Amie says:

    My mom used to get Heavenly Hash once in a while and I was annoyed by it because while I LOVE chocolate ice cream, I did not like the nuts in it so I’d always eat around them. I like almonds and all, but something about them in my chocolate REALLY annoys me. I feel like they take up valuable room for more chocolate (in ice cream and candy bars). I feel similarly about peanuts (although I love peanut butter) but I am totally ok with walnuts infiltrating chocolate goodies.

    I also don’t think I’ve ever eaten Rocky Road (probably because I knew it had nuts I’d be annoyed by, as with HH). I can confirm, though, that in my experience HH has a mallow swirl or ribbon and not whole chunks of mallow.

  • ebeth says:

    They definitely had HH in the midwest – not just on the east coast. It was my favorite as a kid and I haven’t thought about it for years! I never liked Rocky Road…too marshmallowy for me.

    Think I may head out for some chocolate malted crunch this afternoon…yum!

  • Jeremy Preacher says:

    I think Margaret’s comment above is to the point – if one manufacturer makes both kinds (and sells them in the same region – it may be a regional variation) then they must be different, no?

  • Keckler says:

    Oh, it’s going to be a throwdoooooown!

    I’m a RR fanatic and will bet my slippery chewy mini marshmallows against the cream stuff any day. In my experience, RR is fairly dark chocolate ice cream, mini marshmallows, and almonds.

  • Rachel says:

    My local ice cream joint has Rocky Road, which is chocolate ice cream, marshmallow chunkies, and peanuts. The Heavenly Hash is also choco ice cream, but has chocolate-covered peanuts (an important improvement), NO marshmallow but they added shredded coconut. This is the one I prefer, even though it may not be true HH, that’s what they call it.

    Adding coconut to anything improves it by a factor of ten, instantly.

    I cannot WAIT for the ice-cream bracket to start!!

  • Margaret in CO says:

    I’m wrong though – I was on the Dreyer’s & Breyer’s websites at the same time & each has one of each. Sorry ’bout that.

    Still looking for proof!

  • Margaret in CO says:

    Ok, I feel redeemed!
    Prairie Farms Dairy makes both flavors!

  • Randy's Girl says:

    Here is your answer!
    Per the Pet Dairy website:

    Heavenly Hash contains crispy roasted almond pieces and yummy chocolate chips in PET chocolate ice cream — then it is generously swirled with creamy marshmallow sauce.

    Per the Dreyer’s website:

    In 1929, after the stock market crash, our founder calmed his Black Thursday jitters by creating The Original Rocky Road. Mixing chunky almonds, mini marshmallows and delicious milk chocolate ice cream, he created a flavor that was a sign of the times, but made people smile!

    The best I can tell, Rocky Road came first with Heavenly Hash being a later entry and HH uses marshmallow creme while mini marshmallows are used in RR.

    Good enough research for a pint of Ben & Jerry’s?

  • Maria says:

    Rocky Road is much more…rocky. Chunkier, more Ben and Jerry-esque than Heavenly Hash, which I think of as more of a grandma ice cream.

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