When you first think of soft serve, one of those milky vanilla soft swirls of ice cream on a wafer cone usually pops into mind.  What may not pop into mind is a fruity, dairy-free version that is – gasp! – equally as delicious.  Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit Co. makes this dream a reality.  Just visit.

Background Info

Located in Union Square, Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit Co. is the flagship store for the brand Chloe’s Fruit, found in some Kings and ShopRite supermarkets.  I discovered the store and Chloe’s story when I purchased Chloe’s delicious chocolate pops (which are only 60 calories by the way!).

According to her website, Chloe started this company to satiate her frozen treat cravings without the artificial and unnecessary ingredients.  I think we’re all familiar with the tongue-staining and vividly dyed pops that leave you thinking, “Is there any actual fruit in that?”  That’s usually a question that doesn’t have the best answer.

Chloe’s frozen treats honor real fruit by only adding some water and a touch of organic cane sugar to the mix.

The Shop

Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit Co. is alive with music and health-conscious New Yorkers coming back from their cycling class.  But don’t be dissuaded by its trendiness, as the product is more than worth it.  Decorated in white subway tiles and turquoise-white checkered floors, the shop’s brightness certainly parallels the burst of flavor of their soft serve.

The shop’s set up similar to that of a frozen yogurt store.  It has four base soft serve flavors: banana, dark chocolate,  mango, and strawberry.   You can have a soft serve fruit sundae ($6) like “Crunchy Salty,” which has banana and dark chocolate soft serve fruit, sliced bananas, crushed pretzels, dark chocolate chips, warm peanut butter, and dark chocolate.  Chloe’s has breakfast-inspired dishes ($5-7) that are served all day, like açaï bowls and house-made vegan waffles which come in original, blueberry, dark chocolate, and matcha chia flavors.  I’m planning on trying this next time I’m in NYC 🙂

If you want to be creative, you can have the soft serve and pair it with toppings ranging from cacao nibs to blueberries and raw honey ($4-5.50 + toppings).

In the mood for something lighter?  Chloe’s offers soft serve fruit smoothies ($6.25-7.25)  like “Green Scene,” which has mango and banana soft serve, pineapple, spinach, kale, and almond milk.  The pops, which come in strawberry, mango, dark chocolate, pineapple, and banana, are sold at the store as well.  You can also dip these guys into either warm dark chocolate or warm peanut butter, and sprinkle them with toppings like gluten-free chocolate chip cookies.

Note: The additional soft-serve flavors online are pineapple, blueberry, plum, tangerine, apple, pumpkin, craberry and pear.  The additional pop flavors sold online are raspberry, tangerine, and pomegranate.

The Verdict

After heavy debate, I chose the banana and chocolate soft serve with cacao nibs and warm natural peanut butter.  It was refreshing, satisfying, and simple.  The soft serve is also fun to eat, something that is often times not experienced in the dairy-free frozen treat corner 🙂 I’ve never been a fan of soft serve ice cream, so this definitely exceeded my expectations – and that of my picky brother too!

It’s not icy and maintains a sorbet-like texture throughout consumption.  Unlike a typical soft serve, this doesn’t leave you with a sugary aftertaste.  Chloe’s does not skimp on quality ingredients – you can taste the real banana and it’s not tinged with neon yellow dye (yay!).

Just for comparison, a Dairy Queen Kids’ size vanilla soft serve (92g) has 170 calories, 40g of fat, and 18g sugar.

INGREDIENTS: Artificially Flavored Vanilla Reduced Fat Ice Cream: Milkfat And Nonfat Milk, Sugar, Corn Syrup, Whey, Mono And Diglycerides, Artificial Flavor, Guar Gum, Polysorbate 80, Carrageenan, Vitamin A Palmitate, Cake Cones, Medium General Ingredient Declaration.

Chloe’s banana soft serve (92g) on the other hand, has 80 calories, 0g of fat, and 18g sugar, which comes mostly from the fructose of the banana.

INGREDIENTS: Water, Banana Puree, Organic Cane Sugar.

That’s quite the difference!

On your next visit to NYC, Chloe’s Soft Serve Fruit Co. is the place to go for a delectable, crowd-pleasing frozen treat!