12 Secrets That The Ben & Jerry's Factory Has Been Hiding From You

by N/A, 10 years ago | 2 min read

There's a lot more to your favorite sweet treats than meets the eye. Here's what you don't know.Â

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1. Ben & Jerry's flavors are rich for a specific reason.

Co-founder Ben Cohen has a condition called anosmia, which means he has a very faint scent of smell, which affects his ability to taste.Â

2. Some flavors take more than a year to create.

The average pints development cycle can last anywhere from 12-14 months.Â

3. The R&D department knows what's up.

There are three food scientists on staff and five staff members with culinary backgrounds.Â

4. Most flavors start with the same base.

A mix of milk, cream, liquid sugar, egg yolks, and water is how all the flavors start. Then the sugar and fat levels are adjusted according to what else is going to be in the flavor.Â

5. The team travels together every year.

They visit a city known for its food like San Francisco or Portland. They spend up to 12 hours a day at tastings in order to refine the flavors they create and notice trends in flavors.Â

6. They get about 13,000 flavor suggestions a year.

Cherry Garcia and Half Baked were both born from these suggestions.Â

7. You can't buy every flavor at the grocery store.

Some flavors are only made to be sold in certain stores. You can only get Nutty Caramel Swirl at 7-11 and Walgreens is the only place you can find Truffle Trifecta.Â

8. Some flavors have been pulled from the shelves.

Those flavors go to what's known as the Flavor Graveyard which is found at the Ben & Jerry's HQ in Waterbury, Vermont.

9. Flavor developers get a lot of job perks.

Flavor developers can take home up to three pints a day. There's a full gym, yoga instructor and massage therapist at the corporate headquarters in South Burlington.

10. Bacon is one of the most requested additions.

But, it'll never happen because it's not kosher.

11. Kale is another flavoring that will never happen.

The flavor developers meet with snack vendors regularly. They meet vendors from all kinds of companies including a kale chip vendor. One of the flavor developers created a test batch, but they ultimately decided not to go with it.Â

12. They've considered a buffalo wing flavor.

Kirsten Schimoler, one of the flavor developers said, â€œEveryone is so tuned to think that ice cream is sweet, creamy, and cold. But it doesnâ€™t have to be. Creamy and cold can be savory too.â€