Kitchen Sink without artificial food dye?

[GusGus77]

I have always wanted to try the Kitchen Sink at a Beaches and Cream. We have gone several trips and have not made it there and we are finally doing a non-park trip in February. But then it dawned on me that my son cannot have artificial food dye (he gets violent and may vomit.) I am guessing that the strawberry and mint chocolate chip ice cream has artificial dye as well as at least half of the toppings. Anyone know if it is possible to get it "custom" made and how I would even begin to find ingredient lists? Thanks!

 

[Micca]

Wow, that's a tough question. I'll bet you're right, how could it have all those ingredients and NOT have some artificial dye? Hope someone here has details, otherwise I'd steer clear. Good luck!

 

[POOHsie]

It might be better to consider a separate ice cream treat for each of you. I've read that the Kitchen Sink has different add-ins (like cake and cookies), that can vary. So it would be hard to pin down ingredient lists. If you visited your local grocery and looked at Edy's ice cream (which is what I think B&C has), read the labels to inform yourself about which flavors list artificial coloring. Then you could custom order the ice cream. In addition, I know maraschino cherries have dye, but other toppings I'm not sure. I never thought about if chocolate sauce or chocolate ice cream are artificially colored. Maybe your local store could give you a clue about those, too.

 

[bumbershoot]

I have assumed that they use Dryers/Edys ice cream. If true, it's easy to find out if there are any without dye.

My son can't have dyes either. But there's more. Have you also looked into corn syrup also being an issue? DS can't have corn syrup, HFCS, or even corn syrup solids (dole whips used to have those...that product and Uncrustables really helped us nail down the corn syrup and dye issues, though dole whips are now basically safe for them...).

Assuming Edys (that's the east coast version of what's called Dryers on the west coast), and assuming the ingredients on the huge tubs of ice cream are the same the normal consumer product), ingredients are easy to find. The Grand Vanilla uses annatto for color (that's an extract from achiote). (but has corn syrup as the second or third ingredient so it's a NO for my son and DH)

Their Grand Real Strawberry uses "beet juice concentrate color". (and corn syrup, sigh)

Grand Mint Chocolate Chip, sigh, "Yellow 5, Blue 1". (and corn syrup)

etc.

But since the containers we can buy might be slightly different than the big ones (they might not use the Grand type) and we might be wrong that it's Edy's, you have to check.

And you have to check with the sauces, etc. And since we can't use canned whip cream (HFCS!) I'm not sure if it has color (manufacturers sometimes use a blue to make things more white, weirdly), so you'd want to check. etc etc etc.

I personally would go to DTD and get something delicious from Haagen Dazs. They have an ingredient book that you can go through to make sure. And you don't need an ADR for it.

(Ghirardellis doesn't make their own ice cream; at DL they use Dreyers so I assume at WDW they use Edys...their fudge topping is divine and safe for my family, but they can't put it on anything sold at Ghirardelli's. sigh)


And I'm going to share this with you because those of us who avoid dyes get crud from some people who refuse to believe the FEA would let us put something in food that could cause such problems...other countries know. This is a bottle of dye for sale in Ireland.

 

[GusGus77]

Thanks! We know overall what has dyes in it, but since we weren't sure what exactly the toppings were and such and if we could customize, I needed to check. In general we have an idea of safer things (chocolate is good, vanilla is risky, no marshmallows without ingredient lists, etc.) and can always do individual. I have just always wanted to try the kitchen sink! Unfortunately three of us cannot eat it while the 5 yr old has his own as that wouldn't be fair. He understands and is good with it since he has not been allowed food dye for almost two years now (minus in popcorn at events because we just discovered two months ago that popcorn SALT has yellow dye. We always checked the orange oil, but never thought of there being something added to salt!!!!) I guess I will have to just suck it up and keep dreaming about it which I thought was going to be the case.

Bumbershoot- we rarely do HFCS anyway as we avoid it when possible (although do not check for it when not at home) so not sure if that is a trigger. He is a little boy (currently still 4) so sometimes it can be hard to determine minor food behavioral reactions since sometimes that is typical 4 yr old boy behavior! (Now the food dye, holy cow. Older sister almost had to be closed in her room for her own safety one time when we allowed a bit to verify a reaction as DH did not believe me and another time when he just turned 3 (like 2 days after) he picked up the heavy center piece at Animator's Palate on the fantasy and tried to throw it at his cousin's head. This was the beginning of our realization of a dye connection!)

We have it been to Disney in over two years, so a bit nervous on figuring out where the dye is (especially hidden in snack items. Dole Whips? Churros? Popcorn?) Bumbershoot- if you have any tips of hidden food dye at Disney (we are also going to Disneyland next month!) please let me know- message or here. Thank you!

 

[wilkeliza]

Just let the staff know. All locations have a book of ingredients that you should be able to go through and they should let you customize the kitchen sink.

The big issue is if cross contamination is a problem. If it is then you get into a whole different ball game that Beaches and Cream may not be able to accommodate for food dyes. Most places can do it for GF and similar issues but food dyes are a little harder.

Same goes for other things. You can ask for ingredients lists for all snacks that aren't prepackaged. If you don't want to get your little guys hopes up I would see if Guest Relations has a master list like the do at the Animal Kingdom kiosks.

 

[eeyore45]

also be careful of that caramel coloring - I couldn't believe how that affected ds!

 

[GaryDis]

I realize B&C is more about the atmosphere, especially with regard to a sundae serving four. And you didn't mention whether you'll have a car or any plans to head over to Universal's CityWalk. But if you do plan on time there, you may have better luck at Ben & Jerry's. While they do use processed ingredients like corn syrup or carrageenan, AFAIK they don't use artificial colors. Check for yourself, since I might be wrong, and I'm basing it just on the ice cream and not the toppings.

 

[Dug720]

I'm pretty sure the kitchen sink is an as-is thing with no customizing - that's how I've always understood it. it is what and how it is.

 

[Mikka]

Actually, they just (semi-recently) added an all chocolate Kitchen Sink, didn't they? The ice cream is chocolate, vanilla and cookies and cream: the vanilla and cookies and cream may have food dye, I don't know. The toppings are for the most part all chocolate (no cherry's, chocolate bars, oreos, more chocolate), but there are the orange gummies (why are they ruining all that chocolate with those, I have no idea).

There's also a version on the menu now that's just chocolate, vanilla and strawberry.

That doesn't mean they've opened things up to customization, though; they've been trying to cut back on them in particular. (Having said that, if it's causing actual behavior problems that he needs to avoid it in his diet, I'd count that as an intolerance and be willing to talk to a chef about it.) Still, there's some variations.

 

[wilkeliza]

I'm pretty sure the kitchen sink is an as-is thing with no customizing - that's how I've always understood it. it is what and how it is.

Interesting. When we got ours they asked what ice cream we wanted in it and if there was anything they shouldn't put in it. Maybe we just had a CM who was being nice that day.

 

[KateP85]

If you treat it as an allergy, the chef should be able to come to the table and find out exactly what the issues are, then go back and find out all ingredients. They might be able to customize it, they might just tell you there are too many ingredients your son can't have, in which case they should be able to tell you what he can have. When you check in, just tell the hostess you have an allergy and exactly what your son can't have.

 

[jolene63]

They have a chocolate lovers kitchen sink now. My son and husband ordered it last month. It's made with chocolate, vanilla, and cookies and cream ice cream. It also has Milky Way candy bars, brownies, Oreos, hot fudge, chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles, and whipped cream.

 

[Dug720]

Interesting. When we got ours they asked what ice cream we wanted in it and if there was anything they shouldn't put in it. Maybe we just had a CM who was being nice that day.

They may have changed the policy. I just know a few years ago my sister and some friends (all of whom were CMs - I was just visiting) went and beforehand I mentioned it, but I have a peanut sensitivity and they all said we couldn't do it because it was "as is".

 

[dcpkiddo]

Mom and I were in the parks in February, and we both have an onion allergy. When booking our ADRs, we always marked having an allergy to "other". Every ADR we had, either the chef would come talk to us himself, or the waiter would let the chef know of our allergies. If there was ever a question as to wether or not our chosen dishes had onion in them, they would bring out a large recipe book that contained the ingredients of each dish (as well as the ingredients of the ingredients)! Disney will always go above and beyond when it comes to food allergies - so long as you let them know ahead of time!