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'New' Ice Cream Packaging Technology is Not New, at All

By Rain Noe - February 26, 2014

in Food

Is the Huffington Post written and edited by teenagers? I was surprised to see, making the social media rounds, an article touting a "new" packaging technology for ice cream: Ben & Jerry's Cores, which combine several flavors together in the same container, keeping each separate but contiguous. The unattributed writer breathlessly refers to it as "[a] new (mind-blowing/world peace-solving) concept," wonders "What will Ben & Jerry's think of next?" and states "we can't believe no one has thought of this yet."Uh, someone has thought of this, and quite a long time ago. Never mind that those of us raised in 1970s and '80s America routinely saw supermarket aisles stocked with Neapolitan ice cream—which combines strawberry, vanilla and chocolate in vertically aligned strata—people in Naples had been making and eating the stuff for about a century prior. The three-flavor juxtaposition was invented sometime before 1885 by Italians hailing from Naples, the 19th century source of the world's premier frozen dessert confectioners. It was not cooked up in 2014 Vermont.

[Image via Fat Guy Food Blog]

[Image via Fat Guy Food Blog]

So "What will Ben & Jerry's think of next?" I dunno, maybe an ice cream sandwich? That would be crazy.

o

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Adam

10 years ago

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Although I agree with the article that Ben & Jerry's new creation is not "world peace-solving", the new Cores collection of flavors IS a testament to the care and planning that goes into Ben & Jerry's flavors.

The Cores flavors differ from Neapolitan ice cream in that the center cylinder of topping is carefully synthesized to be the proper consistency at the temperature of frozen ice cream. If you were to put "normal" caramel in as a replacement, it would turn into an impossible to eat icicle.

Let's not forget that this company has put out dozens of knock-out flavors, all of which require extensive food engineering to make ingredients come through with the correct freshness, taste, and texture.

In my opinion, design is about the little things. Ben & Jerry's nailed it. Go try some and tell me they didn't.
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Diogo

10 years ago

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If you guys are really talking about multiple flavors in one can, you will be amazed by the "Carioca" flavor of Kibon (Heart brand Unilever Ice cream) there are only 2 flavors in the box. But they are at a 2x3 grid. Wow! Checkers ice cream!
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Craig Damlo

10 years ago

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This is the problem with sponsored journalism. It's like the story on the local news about the great strides Ford has made in making ecological cars economical, immediately followed by a commercial for a Ford.
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Liam

10 years ago

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Its not ice cream in the center though, its some sort of filling. Not totally different, but I hadn't see anyone do it before.

Market Basket (grocery chain in Massachusetts & New Hampshire) had a trio of Orange Sherbet, Vanilla & Coffee ice cream. Sounded ridiculous, tasted delicious.
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DJ

10 years ago

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It wasn't the layers of Ice Cream together that they were excited about, and nobody's forgetting Neopolitans. It was the rasperry jelly "core" with real seeds that got them excited.

Any ice cream eater knows that Drumsticks (ice cream snack) already have caramel, fudge and jelly cores - inside a scoop of ice cream, covered in crispy chocolate, sitting on a sugar cone... BUT! they use crappy bland ice cream, and cheap ingredients, etc.etc..

Regardless of the innovation quotient, is there any doubt that every other ice cream manufacturer is having board meetings this very morning, discussing how to copy it?

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