Today is the last day of August. Even though summer doesn’t officially end until September 21, doesn’t it always feel like summer ends with August?

September. It’s one of those “ber” months. Followed by October, November and December, which definitely mean colder weather. Oh well. The leaves may change colors, kids may go back to school and the temperature may fall, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop eating ice cream. No, that goes on no matter what month it is.

Speaking of months, congratulations to our two August prize winners, Sue C. from Coulters, PA and Lee C. from Philadelphia, PA. Their comments were chosen at random to win a Cooler Shopping Bag and some free Turkey Hill Ice Cream. Just in time for that crisp Autumn weather!

Roman emperor Nero is credited with creating the first frozen desserts. Back in the first century A.D., the emperor sent his servants into the mountains to retrieve snow which was then mixed with nectar, fruit and honey to make something similar to the modern sorbet. Later, in 1295, Marco Polo returned to Italy with a Chinese recipe that mixed yak milk with snow. The creamy frozen treat soon became very popular throughout Europe.

A few weeks ago we featured an ice cream loving dog named, Duncan. Now we’d like to introduce you to an ice cream-loving cockatiel named Buddie. Buddie lives in Attleboro, Massachusetts, with his owner, Kathy. According to Kathy, he’s a little camera shy, but he loves Turkey Hill Vanilla Bean. In fact, Kathy says “The minute the top is off, he’s already on the edge of it helping himself.”

Here’s another funny story about Buddie. For almost three years, Kathy assumed Buddie was a boy because, well, it’s sort of hard to tell the difference. But not any more. A few weeks ago, Kathy returned to the living room to find that Buddie had laid a tiny egg on her couch. On that day, Kathy changed the spelling of her cockatiel’s name from “Buddy” to “Buddie.” Congrats on the egg, Buddie…some coupons for some free Vanilla Bean are in the mail!

(NOTE: Because some dogs and other pets are prone to lactose intolerance, care should be taken when feeding your pet ice cream. Like most “people food” treats, moderation is the key. Talk to your veterinarian if you have questions about your pet’s ability to eat ice cream.)

We like the idea of making ice cream in a can because it’s fun and home made ice cream has such a unique taste (which many of you mentioned in your comments in our “Old School Ice Cream” post in June). It’s something everyone should try now and then. There are lots of “ice cream in a can” recipes out there, so feel free to poke around. Some use the egg and pudding mix like this recipe does, but some don’t.

When consuming uncooked eggs, it’s important to use a pasteurized egg and not a regular egg. You might be able to get away with not using an egg at all. If anyone tries this recipe, or has tried something similar in the past, let us know with a comment how it went. By the way, the photo below depicts another fun tin can activity: the tin can telephone.

INGREDIENTS
• 1 pasteurized egg
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup half-and-half cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup rock salt
• 1 pound crushed ice

DIRECTIONS
1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg, sugar, instant pudding, milk, half and half and vanilla. Pour the mixture into a 12 ounce size coffee can. Cover the top with plastic wrap, and then the plastic lid. Place the filled coffee can into an empty 34.5 ounce coffee can (the big ones). Fill the empty space with crushed ice, sprinkle generously with rock salt, and cover with the plastic lid.

2. Roll the cans around on the floor for about 20 minutes. If the center of the ice cream is still soft, place the containers in the freezer to harden.

It’s true. Our new Duetto Gondola Game is very addictive, which is funny because the average game lasts less than 40 seconds. It’s pretty much impossible to play the game just once, so be careful if you try it at work. “One or two tries” can quickly turn into 15 or 20 minutes of fun. 

The object of the game is to navigate your gondola through the canals of Venice in the fastest time possible (use your arrow keys to steer and the space bar or back arrow to slow down). Don’t hit boats or the game will end. Also try to avoid the birds. They’re just out there looking for a snack.

If you think you’ve got what it takes and you’ve got some spare time on your hands, check out the game here. The record for the fastest time so far in our office is 33.4 seconds. Let us know if you can beat it!

Dennis F. from Maryland writes:

Ernie,
Why do you not offer more Fat Free/Sugar Free ice cream?  My wife and I think the taste is fine and much better for health. Thanks!

I’m with you on that one Dennis. I’ve always been an advocate for expanding our Light Recipe and Fat Free/No Sugar Added line-ups and over the years we’ve added lots of new varieties. Of course, it’s not all because of my efforts. Public demand and acceptance for low fat varieties have played a role in our decision to add new light flavors.

It’s not fat free or no sugar added, but have you tried our Light Recipe Extreme Cookies ‘N Cream yet? A lot of people are probably tired of hearing me talk about it. It’s one of my favorites right now.

If it’s fat free you’re looking for, I would suggest our Fat Free Frozen Yogurt flavors such as Neapolitan, Chocolate Cherry Cordial, Chocolate Marshmallow, and Fudge Ripple.  These flavors also offer an “Excellent Source of Calcium,” “Active Yogurt Cultures,” and, of course, are fat free. But I’m getting side tracked…

You might have noticed I called our one line “No Sugar Added” and not “Sugar Free”.  This is a small difference, but an important one. Our No Sugar Added flavors contain a small amount of sugar from the lactose in the milk used to make the ice cream (however, no sugar is added). Lactose occurs naturally in milk and provides that slightly sweet taste. Now back to your original question.

The demand for fat free and sugar free flavors hasn’t been as high as our low fat flavors, but we have seen a boost in interest over the years. We’ve slowly increased our fat free (FF) and No Sugar Added (NSA) selection to include flavors like Cherry Fudge Ripple (FF/NSA), Dutch Chocolate (FF/NSA), Vanilla Bean (FF/NSA) and Peanut Brittle (NSA).

I’ll pass your suggestion along to our flavor development team. Trust me, they’re used to hearing me ask for new low fat and fat free flavors.

Thanks for your question!
Ernie

This week we spent some time trying to think of things to write about here on the Ice Cream Journal over the next four months. We’ve got lots of good ideas, but we need more!

Because you love ice cream just as much as we do, we’re asking for your help. If you have any ideas for blog entries, let us know. You don’t have to think of something now. Just whenever something pops into your head. Tomorrow, next week, next month…whenever. It can be whatever you find interesting, as long as it’s related to ice cream or Turkey Hill or the dairy industry. That includes recipes, quirky news stories, odd facts, jokes, photos, events. You get the idea. Thanks in advance for your help!

Ernie was featured on Monday in the Philadelphia Inquirer. The article opens with “Meet the luckiest man in the world.” It goes on to ask Ernie a series of questions about Turkey Hill and his job as an ice cream tester, including the downsides of being an ice cream tester and some of the flavors currently being developed. Feel free to check out the article here.

By the way, it’s still early, but so far in this month’s poll roughly 80 PERCENT of you admit to sharing ice cream with your pet. That’s way more than we anticipated. Maybe we’ll have to create a pet-friendly flavor soon…like Bacon & Cheese Duetto.

(UPDATE: Since we posted this entry, the poll number has dipped to around 70 percent. What happened? Was it our mention of Bacon & Cheese Duetto? Sorry about that.)

It’s said that 10 percent of dog and cat owners share their ice cream with their pets. After reading through some of the comments left on the Ice Cream Journal about how many of you indulge with your pets, we’d think that number would be higher. (Check out this month’s poll on the right to register your own thoughts on this behavior.)

Many of you have talked about how your dogs, cats and even birds are bigger ice cream fans than you are, so we thought it would be a good idea to feature ice cream-loving pets here on the blog, starting with Duncan, a two-year-old West Highland Terrier owned by Terri R. from Pittsgrove, NJ. According to Terri, Duncan and his brother Gillie like all flavors, but they like Strawberry Cheesecake the best.

If anyone else has an ice cream-loving pet, send us a photo of your pet indulging in his or her favorite Turkey Hill treat. If we use it on the Ice Cream Journal (and chances are, we will), we’ll send you and Fido a coupon for some free ice cream.

(NOTE: Because some dogs and other pets are prone to lactose intolerance, care should be taken when feeding your pet ice cream. Like most “people food” treats, moderation is the key. Talk to your veterinarian if you have questions about your pet’s ability to eat ice cream.)

If you and the family are looking for a little fun this weekend, there’s a place in Brogue, PA (about 10 miles southwest of Lancaster) called Hope Acres.

Hope Acres is a dairy farm that offers guided public tours. But it’s not your average dairy farm. It’s one of only a handful of farms in the country that uses a fully-automated milking system. This one features laser-guided robots milking the cows, mechanical back scratchers (for the cows) and waterbeds (yes, also for the cows). The tours last about 75 minutes and end with a free scoop of homemade ice cream. A restaurant is also available in case you’re hungry. 

If you’re too far away to make a day trip out to Hope Acres, check out the video on their website here (including a bit about the cow waterbeds).