Recently I went to Hamburg, PA to visit my family. We had a free day where my sister was off work but the kids were in school… So of course we decided to have a day of eating our favorite foods.  When passing the Kwik Shoppe Drive-In on the way to lunch, I saw the sign in the window saying they had Cho-Chos! We had to explain to my Dad what they were.  A Cho-Cho is a malted ice cream served in a Dixie cup with a wooden stick handle.  You roll the cup between your hands then pull on the stick to get the ice cream out.  I remember getting them in school and apparently they have been popular in the Reading area for over 60 years.

I didn’t realize until I started researching them that they were a regional thing. I thought everyone up north had them! The Muhlenberg Dairy used to deliver them via horse and wagon and continued to sell them at the dairy and locally until the dairy closed in the 80’s. I have only found two makers of them currently: Julie’s Old Tyme Cho-Cho’s and Schell’s Dairy Swirl.

We were driving back home through Shoemakersville and decided we had to stop.  We have already had a whole day of eating; why not have Cho-Chos too? We pulled into the iconic Kwik Shoppe Drive-In and, in sticking with the theme of indulgence, we decided to get a bag of 10 instead of just buying one. These popular pops come in one flavor, chocolate malt and sell for $1.40 each or in packs of 10 for $10.

We ran excitedly to the car, warmed up the Cho-Chos in our hands. I slid the ice cream out of the cup and was delighted to try the chocolate malted taste I remember from childhood. It is kind of like a malted fudgsicle, delicious! My Florida hands were confused and angry by the fact that I was purposely holding cold ice cream and eating it when it was freezing outside. (Totally worth it though!)

The Kwik Shoppe has been family owned and operated for over 40 years. They had lots of other choices too: huge pieces of cake, homemade ice cream sandwiches and my nephew says their burgers are the bomb. If you are in the area, I definitely recommend stopping and trying a Cho-Cho and getting a photo in front of the awesome sign they have out front. Let me know in the comments if you have ever had or even hear of these.

Check out Julie’s Old Tyme Cho-Chos for other locations where they are sold.

Kwik Shoppe Drive-In Routes 61 & 662 | Shoemakersville

Melissa P.

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