"IceCream" news and stories

Ben & Jerry's, the peace-lovin' ice cream icon, started out as a couple of ex-hippies serving homemade ice cream from a converted gas station in downtown Burlington, Vermont. Since then they've achieved worldwide fame -- and been bought out by Unilever, the giant international conglomerate of more than 400 brands. All along, the company has assured fans that they're the same as they've always been. But yesterday the company dropped a bombshell: They announced they'll be removing "all-natural" from its labels.

Turns out some of Ben & Jerry's flavors contain ingredients that stretch most people's idea of "natural" -- ingredients like hydrogenated oils, invert sugar, and corn syrup. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), a watchdog group that advocates for sound policy in nutrition and public health, called Ben & Jerry's out last month in a pointed letter, saying that although the company had "cultivated an image of integrity," it's been "making a misleading use of the term 'natural.' "

Ben & Jerry's has been compliant with the FDA all along -- but CSPI sees that as part of the problem. The FDA hasn't come up with an official definition of "natural," so while the public has one idea of what it means, a food purveyor can have quite another. "Apparently your corporation continues to believe that substances like hydrogenated oil and alkalized cocoa powder are 'all natural,' " the CSPI wrote stiffly.

At first, beer and ice cream seems an off-putting combination -- not unlike drinking orange juice after brushing your teeth. And I'll admit, Budweiser mixed with a scoop of Rocky Road sounds nauseating. But when done properly, like carefully pairing a stout's roasty character with chocolate, beer and ice cream create a divine dessert -- the bar by way of the freezer aisle.

During last weekend's Great American Beer Festival, Denver's Sweet Action Ice Cream joined in the boozy fun with the Denver Beer (Ice Cream) Fest: six unique flavors concocted with Colorado beer. So on Thursday, after tippling a couple lunchtime martinis at Le Central, I poked into the pub, er, ice cream shop and sampled the mash-ups.

Don't be fooled by the name; there's more to Clear River Pecan Company than nuts. Sure, owner John Dubea started out selling the rich, buttery bounty of the Texas state tree, but that was twenty-one years ago. Today, his business is a multifaceted dessert emporium, offering ice cream, pastries, fudge and whatever else your sweet tooth aches for, all made fresh daily. But this evolution hasn't altered Clear River's decidedly small town feel. From its 50's soda shoppe decor to its Main Street address, John Dubea has created a delicious sliver of bygone Americana deep in the heart of Texas.

Read on about John Zubea and his time warp treats after the jump.

• If you've bought an ice cream cone recently, you may have experienced a little sticker shock.
• As long as we're on the subject, have you had egg-free ice cream lately?
• L.A. has been taken over by guerillas -- in the form of LudoBites, and they like it.
• California Chardonnays aren't what they once were, and for some people that's a good thing.
• Tamarind Tribeca takes you from Punjab to Madras to Calcutta.

Hot days, white cotton dresses, ice cream, and strawberries are forever laced in my memory of childhood summers, when I'd go with my grandmother to her church's ice-cream social. And when I spotted blogger fakeginger's strawberry-cheesecake ice cream, it got me thinking: Whatever happened to the ice-cream social, that vaguely Victorian ritual of summer? A good place to start is to mix up a batch of this strawberry-cheescake ice cream (get Amanda's recipe here), get funky with it, and make pumpkin, crunchy buttermilk, or taffy-apple flavors. Invite a bunch of people over, and let it flow.

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