What is the origination behind the wacky name of "Rocky Road" to describe a chocolate and marshmallow based confectionary?

zbeckabee

With regards to ice cream: The flavour is claimed to have been created in March 1929 by William Dreyer when he cut up almonds and marshmallows with his wife's sewing scissors and added them to his chocolate ice cream during the Great Depression. The company claims it was then so named "to give folks something to smile about in the midst of the Great Depression." Another host says the flavours were created by a Milton Ainbinder, while owning an ice cream toppings factory. Alternately, Fentons Creamery in Oakland, California, claims that William Dreyer based his recipe on a Rocky Road ice cream invented by his friend, Fentons' George Farren, who blended his Rocky Road candy bar into ice cream; however Dreyer substituted almonds for walnuts. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocky_road_ice_cream Jul 13 08, 3:29 PM

McGruff

Apparently the ice cream flavour pre-dates the candy bar by at least 21 years, so I would have to assume if the ingredients are basically the same, the candy bar took its name from the ice cream flavour. Sam Altshuler, a Russian immigrant who arrived in the United States in 1917, founded the Annabelle Candy Company in 1950. He learned the art of candy making, and after years of perfecting his recipe, finally achieved success with his Rocky Road candy bar. He named his business the Annabelle Candy Company after his daughter, and began manufacturing Rocky Road in San Francisco. The product quickly gained popularity throughout the western United States where it has its strongest hold today, and is currently ranked highly among the top best selling chocolate bars on the West Coast. In 1972, the company purchased Golden Nugget Candy Company, of San Francisco, the makers of Big Hunk and Look candy bars, and began manufacturing those products. In 1978, Annabelle acquired of the Cardinet Candy Company which manufactured U-No and Abba Zaba candy bars. What started as a family business continues today as the one of the largest independently owned candy bar manufacturers in the United States, producing some of the most popular and traditional West Coast items available on the market today. In case you are wondering about any connection to the ice cream called Rocky Road, there is none. Rocky Road ice cream was invented in 1929 by the Dreyer's Ice Cream Company. Almost all ice cream made at the time was either vanilla, chocolate or strawberry. The ice cream company picked a flavor name to give folks something to smile about in the face of the Great Depression. Rocky Road became America's first blockbuster flavor and remains one of the best-selling flavors of all time. http://www.oldtimecandy.com/rocky-road.htm Jul 14 08, 10:07 PM