A Day at the Delicious Factory

Some people like Ice Cream all of the time.

Some people like Ice Cream some of the time.

All Ice Cream is liked some of the time.

Some Ice Cream is liked all of the time.

Some people don’t like Ice Cream, they have “issues.”

Most people that don’t like Ice Cream are suspicious in character.

All people that don’t like Ice Cream some of the time are doubtfully of sound mind.

All of the people that don’t like Ice Cream all of the time are Aliens (or maybe lactose intolerant, and as such are understandable(?) and therefore probably not Aliens.)

All Ice Cream is not created equal.

Some Ice Cream is generic in Quality.

Some Ice Cream is of a Premium Nature.

Some Ice Cream is Blue Bell brand.

All of Blue Bell Ice Cream is Premium.

None of Blue Bell Ice Cream is bad.

Therefore, Blue Bell Ice Cream is liked all the time by all the people all the time, without Question or Cause, Forever and Ever, Amen.

Can I get a Halleluiah!

There are a few things that are required attributes of True Texans:

                        They must know and recite the Texas Pledge of Allegiance, they must like BBQ (the real stuff), Football is a Religion, and the temples thereof are located locally at all High Schools and on a statewide basis, in College Station for the Aggies of Texas A&M, and in Austin for the Longhorns of the University of Texas. You must not now anywhere that the Blue Bonnets grow in the Spring until that season is finished. You must be able to pull off jeans, boots, shirt, and cowboy hat without looking like a model from a catalog. And at least once in your lifetime you feel the Pull of the Power from Brenham and go on a Pilgrimage to the Center of All Things Rich, Smooth, and Delicious, the Creamery at Blue Bell Ice Cream located here.

                        We have been there several times in order to, in some small way, try and make up for our shortcomings in the previous categories (but mostly to eat Ice Cream!)

                        The latest was yesterday.

                        Going yesterday was a mistake (except that the Reward was Great!). Yesterday was a gorgeous day, a summertime feel was in the air, and schools were on Spring Break (oops!). There was only one parking space left when we arrived, even the lawns lining the road (aptly named Blue Bell Road) were full of obviously hastily jettisoned vehicles that once had transported the Faithful who had since flocked to the interior, standing impatiently in long lines waiting for their turn “up front” in order to procure their $1.00 ‘scoop’ of their desired flavor. (A ‘scoop’ here is a singularly used a term of measurement and has no actual relationship to the instrument used to get the Ice Cream into your sampling container. A snow shovel would be a better descriptor.)

                        So why is Blue Bell so good?

                        To be honest, it is probably not any better (Shhh!) than any other Premium Ice Creams, and yes, there is a difference among all of the ice cream makers around. But it’s here, in Texas, with a true Texas Lineage, and it is still owned and run by the same family since the beginning, way back in ’09 (that’s 19, not 20!) They started as a true dairy co-op just like some other well-respected ventures like Tillamook in Oregon and Cabot’s in Vermont. They do a few things differently than others in the Premium Category, and those alone could make the difference. For instance, the milk used is all local and less than 24-hours old when it starts its Journey to Deliciousness. And when it has reached that level of distinction, it is loaded onto its own trucks and delivered to each and every final location by a uniformed, company-faithful, driver who then proceeds to stock and administer to the needs of their product on the shelves.

To anyone in Retail, you know that while this method is expensive, having a Company Representative in each and every store week in and week out, protecting their product and shelf space from the Incursions of the Unfaithful, can make all of the difference.

                        What else can make the difference?

                        Remember good ol’ Tom Carvel of Carvel Ice Cream fame? He was the first high-ranking/owner of a major company to do commercials for his products (1939) and who can forget his raggedy-voiced tagline….. “We use no air pumps!”

                        I’m afraid that this informative, but alas mostly unknown situation, fell on mostly deaf ears, because no one knew what he was referring to. It was not until my own company, Ritter Food, started carrying ice cream (and we attended the requisite seminars on such) that we learned that it was common practice to introduce “air” into the ice cream as it was being frozen in order to bulk it up! Horrors! Why would someone do such a thing? No where on the label does it say, “Up to 100% air added for Deceptive Selling Tactics” (but it’s true!) Go ahead, next time that you’re in the Holy Aisle, pick up a (at one time it was once a true half-gallon, but that’s another story!) of say the store-branded ice cream and then find a brand like Ben & Jerry’s or other true Premium Ice Cream and put one in each hand (or just read the label, the net weight is what you’re looking for not volume) and compare.

                                    Yikes! That ‘splains a whole lot!

                                    Like “cost”. There’s more ice cream in the same size container because the “less expensive” or dare I say CHEAPER one has more air in it and the last time I checked the Commodities Market, air was still free! All Premium Ice Creams use far less “Overrun”. Yes, they have even come up with that Fancy Marketing Term for jamming free air into a product that is sold by weight and volume! The same goes with some “fresh” meats and poultry where the term is “Pump” in the Industry and Marinated to the rest of us. Check out raw corned beef …. It has a “35% water and spices added for flavor” Hah! Water is a cheap as air!

                 Sorry for the tirade, I’ll get back to Ice Cream now…..

                        The next item used for comparison purposes is probably the most obvious and that is the percentage of butterfat in the ice cream. Here the range is as great as the “air” but goes further to the taste and feel of the Ice Cream. Blue Bell ice cream has a butterfat content of around 13% (Good, but not the highest) making it richer in flavor than some other brands. This higher milk/butter fat content also means more weight in the product itself. For instance, a half-gallon of Blue Bell ice cream weighs around 52 ounces, compared to Breyers, which weighs around 40 ounces. Although Blue Bell’s butterfat content is higher than some of its competitors, it’s not quite as high as others, like Haagen-Dazs. The difference in butterfat helps determine the precise texture and richness of a brand of ice cream.

The ranges are roughly this:

                        Regular, Store Brand, 10% is the legal minimum percentage to be considered as Ice Cream. Believe it or not, some well-known brands actually fall into this one… Breyers is one although their range is closer to 11-12%.

                        Better stuff (Premium), 12-14% here we find the obvious, Ben & Jerry’s and Haagen-Dazs for examples.

                        Super Premium Ice Cream 15-16% and above, some Tillamook flavors, plus Jenni’s, and Van Leeuwen are some others. I’m going to go out on a limb here and acknowledge that there are many, many, “local” creameries that we all love to visit that make their own Ice Cream and I’m sure that that ‘limb’ will support the notion that the vast majority of these Bastions of Creaminess fall into the Super Premium category, and I’ll leave it at that …. you know who they are!                              

                        There is sometimes a fine line between these categories and having the balance between “overrun” (air!) and butterfat being totally subjective and driven by taste and product costs are as endless as the flavors that are available! So, don’t be so concerned as to where your particular brand falls, just own it!

Ultra-Super Premium – these numbers are unavailable as this level of Ice Cream is only available in Heaven. But…. there is just one place on Earth….. it’s in Omaha, Nebraska and it is Ted & Wally’s coming in at a whopping 20%!

This subject is obviously a very touchy one as we all have our ‘favs’ and will defend them to the end because being passionate about Ice Cream is a good thing and all that really matters is that we enjoy the ones that we devour!

There are several things down here in Texas that border on Religious Experiences just because they are, well, here, in Texas….

– Watching the Bluebonnets emerge alongside the roads each Spring,

– Shopping at H.E.B. the totally Texas-sized and home-grown awesome grocery store chain (coming in at #10 in the National Ranking and it’s only located in Texas!)

– Stopping at a Buc-ee’s any chance you get,

– And, of course, swearing allegiance to and eating Blue Bell Ice Cream (and check this out! It’s still sold in full half-gallon containers!)

Can I get another Hallelujah! (and another ‘scoop’!)