Icecream Journal

Don’t look now, but the New Year is right around the corner. Okay, maybe not, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get started on the design of Turkey Hill’s annual calendar. Many of you are familiar with our calendar, which we give away for free to thousands of our customers each year.

We want to let our fans help create the 2009 calendar, which is why we’re asking you to send us photos of people or pets enjoying Turkey Hill ice cream or drinks. Your Boston Terrier waiting patiently while you dish up some Mango Duetto? That’s a photo! Your local Little League team cooling off with some Turkey Hill Iced Teas? That’s a photo, too! Your family enjoying some samples of Turkey Hill lemonade and ice cream while posing with our Giant Cow? That’s definitely a photo!

Sounds simple, right? That’s because it is. The photos can be candid or posed, but make sure the Turkey Hill logo is clearly visible in the image. The more clearly visible the logo, the better!

To submit your pictures, visit the “2009 Calendar Photo Contest” page of Turkey Hill’s website. Later this year, 12 pictures will be chosen to be featured in the 2009 calendar. We may also feature some of the photos throughout the year on the Ice Cream Journal. Good luck!

Congratulations to the winners of our Adventure Aquarium trivia contest. The following Ice Cream Journal readers correctly answered all five questions and will receive a pair of passes to the aquarium, which they can use to visit Button and wish her a happy birthday: Lee C. from Philadelphia, PA, Rebecca H. from Downingtown, PA, Christine P. from North Wales, PA, and Barbara F. from Lancaster, PA.

In case you’re curious, here are the answers to the trivia questions:

1. What are the “big three nutrients?” (ANSWER FROM HERE: total fat, total carbohydrates and protein)

2. What type of pudding mix is used in “Dirt Salad?” (ANSWER FROM HERE: Two boxes of instant pistachio pudding)

3. In what year did Glenn, Emerson and Charles Frey purchase their father’s milk business? (ANSWER FROM HERE: 1947)

4. How much does a Turkey Hill ceramic mug cost? (ANSWER FROM HERE: $9.95)

5. What is the name of the second hippo at Adventure Aquarium? (ANSWER FROM HERE: Genny)

As some of you may know (from previous posts like this), Turkey Hill is the official ice cream of the Adventure Aquarium in Camden, New Jersey. As such, we’ll be on hand in March to help celebrate the birthday of Button, one of the hippos in the West African River Experience. (She’s turning 11, but she doesn’t look a day over 8.)

According to a news release from the aquarium, there will be special festivities for Button on weekends from March 1 through 16, including the opportunity to watch her feast on her own birthday cake, a specially prepared treat made with yams, kale, lettuce, carrots, celery, fruits and vegetables. The Turkey Hill Giant Cow and sampling team will be at the Adventure Aquarium on Saturday and Sunday, March 15-16. If you’re in the area, stop by and say hello!

To help celebrate, we’re giving away two free tickets for admission to the aquarium (a $35.90 value) to the first four people who can correctly answer the five questions below. Send your answers to Ernie using the “Ask Ernie” link below the poll on the right or by emailing him at icecreamjournal@gmail.com. The answers are found somewhere on the Turkey Hill website (www.turkeyhill.com) except for the last one, which is on the Adventure Aquarium site (www.adventureaquarium.com). Good luck!

1. What are the “Big 3 Nutrients?”

2. What type of pudding mix is used in “Dirt Salad?”

3. In what year did Glenn, Emerson, and Charles Frey purchase their father’s milk business?

4. How much does a Turkey Hill ceramic mug cost?

5. What is the name of the second hippo at Adventure Aquarium? (on www.adventureaquarium.com)

The following was originally posted in July 2007. Who wouldn’t want to have one of these machines around the office — or in their home?!

You can get soda and coffee from a vending machine, chips and candy from a vending machine, even egg salad sandwiches and soup from a vending machine. So it was only a matter of time until someone invented a vending machine that dispenses custom made ice cream.

That’s exactly what the folks at MooBella have done. We first heard about their creation when they won a Food Network Award in the category of “Icy Innovations” (a category Turkey Hill hopes to win next year for its work with Duetto).

As far as we can tell, the machine exists only in a few markets in the Boston area, but it’s designed for use just about anywhere—malls, cafeterias, museums, universities, living rooms. It uses a touch-screen (below) and a flash freezing method to create 12 flavors of premium or low-carb ice cream with your choice of several mix-ins.

In movies about the future, this would be one of the crazy inventions the main character uses before strapping on his jet pack and zooming off to work. Except this thing is actually real!

Happy President’s Day! We’re not sure what the appropriate celebration is for President’s Day, but we suggest digging into a little Cherry Duetto while reading the story about a young George Washington chopping down his father’s prized cherry tree. Check out the original writing of the tale here.

It’s a great story about the value of honesty, even if some people doubt its authenticity (that’s irony at its best!). Feel free to read it aloud to your children or grandchildren, or just read it to yourself. But don’t read it aloud to yourself…unless you want to attract strange looks from people around you.

Don’t look now, but Valentines Day is tomorrow. Women, of course, know this. Men sort of know this. You can’t blame them for being forgetful though. The “Holiday of Love” is a little oddly timed. Most men are feeling a bit out-of-sorts because of the recent end of the football season and they’re getting antsy because the start of baseball’s Spring Training is only days away. This affliction, of course, affects some women too.

Regardless of who you are or your particular reasons for letting Valentines Day sneak up you, you can now say “I love you” (or at least “I really, really like you”) with ice cream thanks to Turkey Hill’s February Limited Edition Flavor, Gertrude Hawk’s Box of Chocolates. Its premium milk chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate raspberry cups, chocolate almonds, white chocolate chunks, and swirled with chocolate chips and its only available while supplies last.

It’s sort of like a regular box of chocolates, only instead of a box, the chocolates are wrapped in ice cream! That’s right guys…throw in a dozen roses and a poem and you’ll be able to watch all the Spring Training baseball you want!

UPDATE: Due to unforeseen circumstances there was a delay in getting this flavor out to the stores, but it should be arriving shortly depending on the location!

Those of you in the Northeast United States already know what today’s weather is like: cold and, depending on which state you’re in, snowy/icy/rainy. Here in Lancaster County it’s all of the above (also known as a “wintry mix”). Below is a photo that was taken this morning of our Giant Swirly Cows huddled up and waiting for the storm to pass. That’s where they’ll stay until the roads are clear. Speaking of staying put, today’s the perfect day to stay warm by the fire with a big bowl of your favorite Turkey Hill ice cream.

The following recipe was e-mailed to Ernie by Bob B. of Rexmont, PA. Sounds like the perfect nightly dessert ritual to us. If anyone else has any special ways they like to dress up their ice cream, please let us know!

Ernie,

There is only one TECHNICAL way to eat Turkey Hill Butter Pecan. Four scoops of ice cream on top of a cut up banana, a squirt or two of chocolate syrup drizzled over the top, topped off with 7 or 8 thin, salty crushed pretzel sticks and a cherry. I am 73 and this is my bed time snack (almost) every night.

We make ice cream for a living, so it’s only natural that we think everyone should experience the joys of making ice cream at home. That’s what this month’s poll is all about (at right). Because even though homemade ice cream isn’t always quite as “perfect” as store-bought stuff, you have to admit it tastes pretty good knowing you made it yourself!  

Speaking of polls, in last month’s question asked whether you preferred a cup or a cone. Fifty-three percent of you claimed the waffle/sugar cone as your top choice, followed by 29 percent favoring the cup or bowl, while 18 percent chose the wafer cone.