Lane Cardwell

The Thrilla in Vanilla

If the hot dog is the All-American food, then ice cream must be the All-American dessert. It is everywhere we go, and yet, it is so familiar that often we don't see it all around us. We have ice cream shops, ice cream trucks, ice cream containers in grocery store freezers, ice cream in milk shakes, ice cream in fast food restaurants that also sell other food, and ice cream as an accompaniment to a dessert that is in a starring role. Digital City just released a pictorial study of ice cream in all of its formats and points of distribution.

Ice cream is the perfect canvas on which to paint flavors. Baskin-Robbins is known for its 31 flavors. That is kid stuff these days. At Udder Delight in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware you can find bacon or Viagra flavored ice cream, among other unusual flavors. I am sure that the Viagra flavor comes with a warning that if the cone doesn’t melt in four hours to contact the store. Craft Steak in Las Vegas features a Red Bull vodka sorbet. The race for the most unusual flavor is still underway.

The founders of Ben & Jerry’s have endorsed Obama, but have not given him a flavor. Cherry Garcia still holds a place of honor within the company. The folks at Baskin-Robbins have been quiet about who they endorse, but have not been quiet about their McCain’s Straight Talk Crunch or the Obama Whirl of Change flavors. Some things are apparently not beyond promotion.

Dairy Queen is the reigning royalty of soft serve ice cream. With 5,700 restaurants and food court stands worldwide they have a dominant presence. Soft serve ice cream may not be sexy, but it accounts for 70% of all ice cream servings in the U.S. Soft serve ice cream, Blizzards, Dilly Bars, banana splits and cones keep investor Warren Buffett happy with this investment.

Italy continues to teach the American’s a thing or two about our favorite dessert. Italian Ice and Gelato are two forms of a frozen treat. Italian Ice is identical to sorbet in production technique, but usually refers to artificial flavors rather than natural flavors. There are a wide range of production techniques for gelato but it almost always refers to a product made with natural ingredients that elevate the product in freshness and richness.

Marble Slab and Cold Stone Creamery are two brands that mix fruits, nuts, candy, and other snacks into ice cream. They weren’t the first, but they are the biggest.

Vegans, and the lactose intolerant, now can have their ice cream without the cream at Wheeler’s Black Label Vegan Ice Cream in Boston. They use no animal products. Their ice "cream" is made from either soy, coconut, rice or almond milk.

Frozen custard goes in the opposite direction with extra cream and fat than regular ice cream. It also uses less air in the production process, making it a richer, denser product.

Ice cream is probably the only food product sold in roving trucks. Good Humor parked its company trucks in 1976, but Mister Softee still drives around neighborhoods with music blaring. Sort of a Pied Piper of frozen treats.

Carvel is known for ice cream, but they are famous for ice cream cakes. Many a children’s birthday party has been held around this delicious form of dessert.

Frozen yogurt has made inroads into the ice cream market in the past few decades. TCBY is among the larger of the chains. Red Mango and Pinkberry have upscaled the facilities, and enriched the product, and are preparing for a nationwide launch. Time will tell whether they are able to “float like a butterfly and sting like a bee.”

Posted by Lane Cardwell on September 22, 2008 | Comments (7)