This Discontinued Dairy Queen Ice Cream Topping Is A Retro Delicacy That No One Seems To Eat Anymore

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When it comes to ice cream, no topping combinations are too wild. Some folks prefer to go the classic route with hot fudge and sprinkles, while others enjoy the adventurous ice cream parlors that whip up sundaes with brownie bits, cake pieces, and what seems like everything but the kitchen sink. Dairy Queen (DQ), well-known royalty of the frozen dairy dessert world, is no stranger to fun ice cream toppings, but the chain discontinued its once-beloved wet walnuts as a topping option, and customers still haven't forgotten.

Wet walnuts were one of the many sundae options at Dairy Queen stores, but sometime over the last decade or so, wet walnuts vanished from the DQ lineup entirely. Sweetly buttery with a crunchy, yet chewy texture, these unique nuts were not only available to dress up a sundae, but customers were free to add them as a topping on any old ice cream cone or opt to have them blended into a milkshake. For a time, wet walnuts were allegedly available on a store-by-store basis. These days, according to DQ's Food & Nutrition & Allergens webpage, walnuts aren't available at the storefronts in any capacity, wet or not. They're not even an option for secret menu Dairy Queen Blizzards.

Though it may sound make-believe if you're unfamiliar with the topping, wet walnuts are made by soaking walnut halves in a combination of corn syrup, sugar, vanilla, and water. Other recipes skip the extra ingredients and simply soak the nut halves in corn syrup and maple syrup; but either way, the nuts are submerged until they absorb the sweetness of the liquid around them. 

These little buggers were an especially common ice cream topping back in the days of soda fountains and old-school ice cream parlors. However, even by modern standards, we ranked wet nuts as one of the most popular ice cream toppings. "My grandparents always used to get them at the ice cream shop. I haven't seen them in years," said this Reddit user, while a different Redditor went so far as to say, "I love[d] having wet walnuts on my ice cream ... without it, I will never eat Dairy Queen again."

DQ never issued an official explanation as to why the wet nuts were phased out as a topping option, easily making them another discontinued Dairy Queen menu item we wish would come back. Some disgruntled customers speculate that the rising costs of walnuts are what caused DQ to discontinue the topping, while others argue that wet walnuts just weren't popular enough to justify Dairy Queen's purchase. In fact, a decline in demand has even forced brands like Smucker's to say goodbye to its jarred Walnuts in Syrup. The topping is still made by different brands, with options like I.Rice & Company's Wet Walnut Topping available from online retailers like Amazon; you just won't find any of those syrupy-sweet little nuts at DQ.