Scoops of fun

Dairy Foods, March, 1994 by Donna Gorski

"A mild bittersweet chocolate base with raspberry liqueur, truffles and white chocolate pieces" describes the formula for Heaven's Passport. Tropical Typhoon contains pineapple ice cream with crushed pineapple, papaya pieces, strawberry slices, banana chunks and a coconut-cream swirl. Is your mouth watering yet?

How about malted milk balls and chocolate-covered peanut butter filled pretzels in a French vanilla base? Remember bubble-gum ice cream? Well, why not try watermelon-candy speckles?

I apologize for tantalizing your taste buds; unfortunately, these ice cream flavors have not yet been commercialized. They represent just a few of the brainstorming ideas developed by attendees, including myself, at the University of California-Davis ice cream short course last fall.

Attending this course really peaked my curiosity; I had to know more about the creators of these types of flavor combinations. Most likely they are not food scientists, and they're definitely not chemical engineers. These flavors defy all rules of mass production and batch-to-batch consistency. What product developer would be fool enough to present management this formula for Cookie Monster Crunch: vanilla- and peanut-butter-flavored ice cream with Oreo cookies, chocolate chunks and macadamia chips?

High-speed filling lines could never handle this heap of ingredients, and the integrity of any fresh fruit would definitely be destroyed by the automated feeder. Such a formula requires manual labor, a term unheard of in today's large-volume plants.

Art or science?

Realizing that Ben & Jerry's defies the rules of ice cream science, I couldn't resist a brief side-trip during a recent ski trip to Vermont.

At the bottom of the ski slope I found myself in Ben & Jerryville, where I was welcomed by ice cream therapists in tie-dye lab coats and musical rain forest hallways. Wow, now this is R&D!

"If it's not fun, why do it?" This is the motto at Ben & Jerry's, Waterbury, Vt. Success and fun . . . two words seldom found in the same sentence, yet they very effectively describe the philosophy at B&J's.

Three ice cream therapists, not scientists, are responsible for mixing and blending ingredients into ice cream that early ice cream processors would never tolerate.

"We have little 'R' but a lot of 'D'," explains Peter Lind, who holds the title of primal ice cream therapist.

Lind's background includes a bachelor's degree in French and teaching experience at the New England Culinary Institute, Montpelier, Vt. He has been with B&J for six years, and assisted in revolutionizing the ice cream industry with the introduction of cookie dough ice cream.

"We take classic desserts and reinterpret them," says Lind. "And it doesn't happen overnight. We developed over 100 prototypes of cookie dough and almost 500 of Wavy Gravy."

Named after a pig-farmer emcee at Woodstock, Wavy Gravy uses a caramel-cashew, Brazil-nut ice cream base with swirls of chocolate-covered hazelnuts and roasted almonds.

"Ideas for ice cream flavor combinations just happen . . . sometimes from conversations with friends or suppliers, or by keeping a close eye on other food categories," says Greg Hagenson, owner of Da'Kine Gourmet Sorbet, Mountain View, Calif.

Hagenson studied at the San Francisco Culinary School of Arts and lived in Hawaii for seven years where he owned a fresh fruit juice store. His experiences have led him to create ice cream successes such as white chocolate and ginger, and peanut butter/black raspberry ripple. The former was a concept he picked up at the ice cream short course.

When it comes to developing ice cream flavors, creativity is essential and risk-taking mandatory. Put some fun in your scoop, or hangup your lab coat!

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