“Phish Food” and “Coconut Seven Layer Bar” are just some of the flavors that Eric Fredette, one of Ben & Jerry’s six in-house “flavor gurus” – his actual job title – has helped add to the ice cream maker’s collection. Now in his 18th year with the Vermont-based company, Fredette remains equally as passionate about the culinary arts as for creating eclectic, delicious flavors with layers and depth. His team call Fredette “the angry chef”, because he speaks directly on what he does and doesn’t like. “My filter is broken and I don’t hold a lot inside – that’s a good thing,” he says. “Everybody always knows my thoughts on the situation.”
Fredette adores food and cares about the overall experience for customers. Take the “Salted Caramel” flavor for instance. “With every bite, you can choose a little bit of caramel and a lot of ice cream, or a little bit of ice cream and a lot of caramel. Each bite is customized to be perfect for you,” Fredette says. He also feels strongly on why certain flavors – such as “Boston Cream Pie”, which launched in 2010 as a tribute to the Massachusetts state dessert – don’t belong in his new Cores line. “To make ‘Boston Cream Pie’ work as a Cores ice cream, we’d have to make the custard filling chewy, which wouldn’t work. This would deliver on taste, but not on the overall custard experience.”
Inspiration in odd places
The desire to get the flavor right comes partly from Ben & Jerry’s fans – Fredette and his teammates, Peter Lind, Chris Rivard and Kristin Schimoler, receive over 13,000 flavor suggestions annually. They also receive reviews – both positive and negative. “Our fans are good, they know their favorite flavor, and if we change something as simple as the vanilla supplier and it’s not a perfect match, we hear about it and then fix it,” Fredette says.
Making new ice creams isn’t easy. Ice cream is an emulsion combining liquids – at Ben & Jerry’s the liquids are cane syrup, skim milk and heavy cream – which typically don’t mix well together, according to the American Chemical Society. Rivard says developing new ice cream flavors typically take 12 months from concept to getting the flavor on store shelves. Schimoler adds that while much of the work requires ice cream tasting, paperwork on specifications, manufacturing regulations, and securing consistency and food safety, the job also requires creative brainstorming in coming up with interesting flavors.
Fredette and his team gain inspiration for new flavors everywhere – from magazines, social media, even the Vermont landscape. “Sometimes it’s a color, a cool name, or most likely, a cool ingredient or combo on a menu,” Fredette says. “Packaging, oddly enough, like a shampoo bottle or stick of deodorant, can inspire a cool new twist.”
To keep abreast with flavor trends, the “flavor gurus” often travel to different cities to explore food culture. “We eat a lot of things in a very short period of time, then we pitch our ideas to the marketing team, order the products, the ingredients and start making it,” says Fredette, who doubts he could find a better job.
“I like playing with food, and they pay me. It’s awesome.”
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