Where Culver's Sources The Cream For Its Iconic Frozen Custard

Midwestern fast food chain Culver's got its start in Sauk City, Wisconsin, in 1984 with a focus on two signature items: the unique ButterBurgers made with a blend of three cuts of beef, and its iconic fresh frozen custard. Co-founders Craig and Lea Culver and Craig's parents, George and Ruth, decided on the dessert because their family was big fans of it themselves and would often travel to get it in Milwaukee, dubbed the frozen custard capital of the world. Naturally, they wanted theirs to be good, which is in line with the chain emphasizing quality, and that starts with sourcing farm-fresh cream and milk to make it.

Culver's gets both ingredients from American family dairy farms, including around 25 local ones in Wisconsin, and has worked with some of them for more than three decades. The restaurants receive a liquid custard base of cream, milk, and pasteurized egg yolks that's been prepared according to Culver's own recipe. The dessert must contain at least 1.4% of the yolks in order to legally be frozen custard instead of ice cream. It also includes sugar, corn syrup, and a few stabilizers and emulsifiers.

The base is slow-churned with added vanilla extract, and each location makes small batches of custard throughout the day, so it's always fresh. A new batch is made every two hours, even if there is some left from the previous one, as quality begins to suffer after that. The custard doesn't have as much air as ice cream, so it's richer and creamier, and it also doesn't actually freeze, so you can taste it better right from the start.

Each Culver's only makes three frozen custards: vanilla, chocolate, and a flavor of the day. The special third option that changes daily comes from a rotating group, and the flavor of the day is different at each Culver's location because it's driven by what each one's customers like. The custard can be enjoyed in a dish or a cake or waffle cone, and with one, two, or three scoops.

The chain makes up for having only three frozen custard flavors with lots of mix-ins. Customers can order a Concrete Mixer, which is a mini- to large-sized vanilla or chocolate cup with their choice of mix-ins. They include chocolate candy, fruit, cake pieces, cookie dough, and marshmallow crème, as well as syrups like hot caramel and fudge. The most popular mix-in was Oreo cookies in 2025, according to Culver's, which also revealed that caramel fudge cookie dough was the year's most popular flavor of the day. There's also a Turtle Sundae with roasted pecans, hot fudge, and caramel, and a Caramel Cashew Sundae with caramel and roasted cashews, as well as shakes, malts, and soda floats.

Customers can also order hand-packed pints of the frozen custard to go. Redditors have been talking up how to get them for less by buying a discounted Party Pack of four.