Americans sure love their ice-cream – the average American consumes almost 22lbs of ice-cream each year. Yet consumers prefer the plainer, more predictable flavors. A 2013 survey by the International Ice Cream Association (IICA), a trade group, found vanilla was the most favored flavor in the US, followed by chocolate and butter pecan.
However, that knowledge doesn’t stop Vermont-based ice-cream maker, Ben & Jerry’s, from cranking out weird (and wonderful) flavors. Our article lists the top 10 weirdest (and most ambitious) Ben & Jerry’s ever created.
10. Peanuts! Popcorn!
Ben & Jerry’s intended to bring the theater to the pint through its Peanuts! Popcorn! limited edition ice cream. Ben & Jerry’s recall this year 2000 release – a fatal mixture of caramel ice-cream with white-fudge-covered caramel popcorn and toffee-coated peanuts in a caramel swirl – hit the cutting room floor after a year. It turns out that the delicate structure of popcorn doesn’t play well with the creamy moisture of ice-cream.
9. Peanut Butter and Jelly
Few iconic American snacks satisfy and comfort like a good old peanut butter and jelly sandwich. The yearning for this staple makes sense – Americans have consumed cheap and protein-rich peanuts for more than 250 years, according to the National Peanut Board, a group representing American peanut farmers. Today, about 94% of American homes consume peanut butter and many have done since peanut butter was first introduced in 1904 at the St. Louis World Fair. Meat shortages brought on by the two world wars further popularized the product and the board reports the US army popularized the P&J sandwich for sustenance during maneuvers in the second world war. Recreating this sandwich combo into ice cream form, however, was neither simple nor satisfying. This flavor lasted from 1989 to 1990 before flopping. Ben & Jerry’s concluded that some sandwiches simply aren’t meant for the pint.
8. Boston Cream Pie
The Boston Cream Pie ice-cream dreams it is another desert – this ice-cream flavor combines yellow cake pieces and pastry cream, all in one pint. The goal is to pay tribute to the Boston cream pie, which is actually a cake (and the Massachusetts state dessert). This weird flavor has remained on the market since its launch in 2010.
7. Wavy Gravy
Wavy Gravy delivered an odd but evocative combo of cashew Brazil nut ice cream with a chocolate hazelnut fudge swirl and roasted almonds for eight long years (1993 to 2001).
6. Chubby Hubby
When two office pranksters convinced a Ben & Jerry’s-obsessed co-worker that this flavor existed, they allayed their guilt by whipping up an actual batch of Chubby Hubby. When they sent a letter to the ice-cream maker sharing their story, Ben & Jerry’s clearly had to make their prank a reality. With vanilla malt ice-cream, peanutty fudge-covered pretzels and fudge and peanut buttery swirls, this one has been a fan favorite ever since.
5. Urban Jumble
Some folks hear total chaos in the city, others hear a symphony. Where does Urban Jumble’s bizarre amalgamation of coconut almond fudge chip and New York super fudge chunk fall between these two polar opposites? This mixed-up flavor lasted just one year.
4. Oh Pear
Pears offer consumers a boost of fiber, vitamin C and potassium according to USA Pears, a nonprofit marketing organization for pear growers. And the IICA survey confirmed consumers like pairing fruit with ice cream: 86% of member companies cited strawberry, and then cherry, as their most popular fruit toppings. Yet some fruits, no matter how wholesome, shouldn’t dominate a flavor. Adding almond and light fudge swirl took this one over the top and after less than a year, Oh Pear went, ahem, pear-shaped.
3. Dastardly Mash
Dastardly Mash was one of Ben & Jerry’s greater ideas. The company’s two founders (and Ben & Jerry’s followers online) still hotly debate the demise of this 12-year-old flavor. As the only flavor ever to feature raisins, it had its fair share of raisin-loving fans and raisin-opposed detractors.
2. Miz Jelena’s Sweet Potato Pie
Miz Jelena’s Sweet Potato Pie was Ben & Jerry’s attempt to recreate a treasured southern side dish – a noble cause – sweet potato pie is the southern cousin to pumpkin pie. And sweet potatoes’ uses now exceed the produce section and wind up as sweet potato fries, purees for baking and even spirits. But sweet potatoes and ice-cream likely reached too far; after its 1992 launch, this ginger ice-cream with a fudge swirl didn’t stick with consumers longer than a year.
1. Schweddy Balls
Ben & Jerry’s flavors even incorporate popular culture. Alec Baldwin’s Saturday Night Live turn as Christmas treat maker Pete Schweddy was unbelievable fodder for a highly successful 2011 seasonal flavor. The vanilla ice-cream with rum, loaded with fudge-covered rum and malt balls probably did it. Or, probably just that, as Pete said: “No one can resist my Schweddy balls.”
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