Creamy Concoctions

The intricate floor at the gift store's entrance.

It happens without warning. A sudden bump in the road; you lose your job, your boyfriend dumps you, or your cat gets hit by a truck. Life just doesn't seem fair. Who's a girl to turn to? There are only two men that can make all my problems disappear, and they're sitting in the middle of the frozen food aisle; smiling, beckoning me to join them. Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the makers of Vermont's finest ice cream, are my gods. So when given the opportunity to visit the St. Alban's Vermont manufacturing plant, I jumped at the chance.

The view of the factory from the parking lot

Upon arrival at the factory, I walked into what can only be described as heaven. The plant, which actually manufactures the ice cream, gives tours, sells gifts, and ice cream. The plant is visitor friendly, with a scenic view of the mountains available even from your parking spot. Signs proclaim many of the Ben & Jerry's founding principles and explain how things are done at the factory. I walked past all the tempting outdoor activities heading for the inside of the plant. The signs could wait; my ambition to see how the ice cream was made could not.

I bought my tour ticket and then wandered around the gift store. Cows seem to be the predominant theme, with stuffed cows galore and a few moose items thrown in to off set the black and white bonanza. Official Ben & Jerry's ice cream scoops are showcased on one shelf, next to ice cream bowls, pint cozies, and a euphori-lock. Curiously I looked at the lock. It proclaimed that for $5.50 the future of ice cream security was now at my fingertips. The plastic ring locked the top of a Ben & Jerry's pint top down so that no one could break into it. Ingenious, I thought, perfect for keeping thieving PMS-ing roommates out of my stash.

The gift store with it's indoor scoop shop, screaming kids, and cow theme

As I leaned down to examine the pint cozy, a cowbell rang, signifying the start of my tour. Pushing aside some kids with ice cream cones, I spared neither senior nor toddler in my race to be at the front of the tour line. Hey, I heard a rumor that there would be free samples at the end, and no grey haired granny or snot nosed kid was cheating me out of anything that involved free ice cream.

After elbowing one more hapless victim aside, I stood pristinely in front of my new best friend, our tour guide and purveyor of samples, Jerry. "No, not like Jerry as in Ben & Jerry," he joked, "Just plain old tour guide Jerry." Hey Jerry, there's nothing plain about you, you're holding the key to the sample room. He gave us a brief overview of the tour schedule, took our tickets and sent us on our way up a flight of stairs to the Cow Over the Moon Theater, where we would be seeing a quick short film about how the whole Ben & Jerry's operation got started.

The movie was a bit hokey at first, detailing how Ben & Jerry met in a 7th grade gym class, bonding over the fact that neither was ever going to run a seven minute mile. It showed how the boys grew up and decided that they wanted to be ice cream makers. Taking a five dollar correspondence course on making ice cream, the boys set off. After converting an old gas station into an ice cream parlor, word quickly spread about the finest ice cream Vermont had ever seen. Soon Ben and Jerry were delivering their goods to Mom and Pop grocers all over Vermont. Eventually the operation got too big for their corner store, so the boys procured a factory and things grew into the Ben and Jerry's we all know and love today.

The cowmobile. Ice cream used to be delivered around Vermont in a similar vehicle.

Although the film was interesting for some, I was eager to get going. Jerry solemnly told us that picture taking wasn't allowed in the production room because of the chance that a spy might come in and figure out the secrets of Ben and Jerry's. I looked furtively around for a Haagen-Dazs spy. I saw a likely candidate in a 9-year-old girl that kept bouncing about the room. I made sure to keep an eye on her as we walked into the catwalk over the production room.

The catwalk was glassed in and looked down upon the machinery and workers buzzing about like ice cream bees. Everyone scuttled for a window as Jerry began to talk again. He explained how each day only two flavors of ice cream were made. He said that this was to keep the flavors from mixing with each other, which is very important when working with ice cream that contain nuts, due to some people's serious allergies. A crew would work all day, starting at 8 A.M., just making these two specific flavors. Then another crew would come in at night and clean the machines for eight hours.

The flavors of the day were Butter Pecan and Pistachio Pistachio, both of which obviously contain nuts. Jerry looked smugly down at the line producing Pistachio Pistachio. "As you will notice," he said, "our pistachio ice cream isn't that bright green color. That's because that green color in most pistachio ice cream is made by food coloring, and here at Ben & Jerry's we use 100% all natural ingredients." The crowd oohed and ahhed, and I pushed aside a middle-aged man to look at the non-green Pistachio Pistachio.

The main ingredients in Vermont's finest ice cream

Jerry continued to explain the different machinery in the room and then switched to a video on what makes Ben and Jerry's so special. Besides using all natural ingredients, Ben and Jerry's collaborate with local farmers to use cows that are free of the bovine growth hormone rBGH. All Ben and Jerry's ice cream proclaims this on their eco friendly cardboard containers. They are called Eco-pints and made from unbleached brown kraft paper with a non-toxic printable clay coating. This helps the company to reduce their use of paper that is bleached white, which contributes to toxic water pollution. As you can see, Ben & Jerry's are more than just ice cream makers, they are concerned environmentalists using the pull of their company to make the Earth a little cleaner.

Jerry turned the video off and headed to the door. "Now for everyone's favorite part of the tour: The Flavor Room. This is where we will sample two flavors of the day." I started to salivate and crossed my fingers praying the ice cream flavors weren't Cherry Garcia or anything with coffee (yes, I am one of the few people on this Earth who is not a Cherry Garcia fan.) I walked slowly down the stairs, holding up the flow of tour traffic, savoring the smells.

It was everything I imagined and more. The flavors of the day were Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough and Brownie Batter, a new flavor for the year. When Jerry brought out those trays he moved from best friend to deity status. I grabbed my little cups of ice cream, sat down and zoned out to the sweet taste of cookie dough in my mouth. Questions were asked and some big wheel was spun for a prize, but I wasn't paying attention. I had Vermont's finest ice cream in my hands and life didn't get any better.

The tour was over and we filtered out of the Flavor room, mothers holding their children as they walked by me and middle-aged men rubbing their sides from where I had elbowed them away to get my freebie. Unconcerned I wandered around in a haze from my sampling of the two Euphoric flavors.

I wandered outside and up a grassy hill. A playground entertained young children as they slid down slides and crawled through tunnels. I wandered past them to a roped off picket fence that proclaimed flavor graveyard. In the summer, the graveyard contains "tombstones" of flavors that have been put to rest, along with a small ephitat in a humorous poem form. But on this murky April day, the graveyard was closed and empty, waiting for the sunshine.

I took one last look at the sprawling landscape, the incredible factory and the surly tourists giving me glares. I hopped in my car and drove off, my belly full of samples and my heart full of joy.

Been to the factory too? Tell us about your experience!