Icecream Journal

If you’re a baseball fan, today is a very good day. That’s because it’s Opening Day for the 2012 Major League Baseball season. The great thing about Opening Day is that for one day all year, every team is tied for first place!

Two teams who hope to be in first place all year long (and probably will be!) are the Philadelphia Phillies and the New York Yankees. Turkey Hill makes the official ice cream flavors for both teams, and the teams and the ice cream flavors are expected to have fans cheering throughout the summer and into the fall.

The Phillies start the season on the road with a game in Pittsburgh tomorrow at 1:35 p.m. and the Yankees kick off the year in Tampa Bay on Friday at 3:10 p.m.  No matter which team you root for, we urge you to take some time this week (and throughout the season) to relax and watch a few games, either in person or on TV. Either one is fun; just don’t forget the ice cream!

On Sunday, we announced a new addition to our product line-up: Turkey Hill Float-Tea. The premise was simple – a refreshing combination of Turkey Hill iced tea and ice cream. As good as that may sound to some people, we have to admit that it was just an April Fool’s joke.

Of course, many of you figured that out based on the April 1 timing of the entry and the somewhat wacky idea of mixing iced tea and ice cream.

To be honest, some of the Float-Tea flavors didn’t sound too bad! “Orange Cream,” (a mix of Orange Tea and Vanilla Bean Ice Cream) might taste pretty good. “Sweet Cookie Dough,” on the other hand (Sweet Tea and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream) is probably a bad idea.

If we ever do decide to make Float-Tea a reality, which combinations of Turkey Hill iced tea and Turkey Hill ice cream do you think would be the best?

The final round of the Ultimate Flavor Tournament has arrived! Your votes have propelled two very deserving flavors into the championship round, but only one can be crowned the Ultimate Flavor Tournament champion!

Visit the tournament page of our Facebook page to cast your vote and sound off with a comment below with your thoughts on the final match-up. Speaking of sounding off, here’s Ernie’s expert analysis of this year’s historic final showdown:

Eagles Touchdown Sundae vs. Strawberries and Cream

ERNIE SAYS:

So this is what it comes down to: Eagles Touchdown Sundae versus Strawberries and Cream. I have to admit, I would have never predicted these two would be the finalists in this year’s tournament, but they’re both great flavors with lots of fans, so it makes perfect sense.

No doubt about it, these two are fighters. They each had to win four match-ups to get to the final round, and it wasn’t easy for either one. Eagles Touchdown Sundae took down heavy favorites like Fudge Ripple (round two) and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (round three). Meanwhile, Strawberries and Cream shocked us all with big wins against Black Cherry (round three) and Stuff’d Junior Mints (round four).

Of course, the big question is, which flavor has enough left in the tank for one more win? Per my final round tradition, I’ll refrain from making a prediction and instead leave the outcome up to you – the voters!

Last week, we told you about a new Turkey Hill product, and we’re finally ready to make the official announcement!

Many people enjoy Turkey Hill iced tea. Many people also enjoy Turkey Hill premium ice cream. Now, you can enjoy both, thanks to Turkey Hill Float-Tea. Like it says in the ad above, “When is an ice cream float more than an ice cream float? When it’s made with Turkey Hill Premium Ice Cream and Turkey Hill Iced Tea!”

Turkey Hill Float-Tea is available in four “floatastic” flavors: Orange Cream (Orange Tea and Vanilla Bean premium ice cream), Peachy Chocolate (Peach tea and Dutch Chocolate premium ice cream), Diet Green Ripple (Diet Green Tea and Fudge Ripple frozen yogurt), and Sweet Cookie Dough (Sweet Tea and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough premium ice cream).

Float-Tea was one of the most challenging products Turkey Hill has ever developed, but we were able to make it a reality thanks to the ingenuity of the Turkey Hill package design team. (On the right is an early sketch of a Float-Tea package prototype.)

Our team created an iced tea container in which a single scoop of ice cream rests in a separate compartment, until the customer is ready to enjoy his or her Float-Tea. The design (patent pending) includes a tab on the side of container, which the customer pulls to allow the ice cream to drop down into the iced tea! Some additional secret packaging technologies help the package remain leak-proof after the tab has been pulled out.

The biggest challenge was figuring out how to store Float-Tea without the ice cream melting or the iced tea freezing. Is it stored in the freezer or is it stored in the refrigerator? To keep the ice cream nice and frosty, Float-Tea is kept in the freezer. The iced tea doesn’t freeze, however, because the lower half of the container is specially insulated (sort of like a Thermos). In addition to keeping the iced tea from freezing, the insulation also helps keep the drink nice and cold while it’s being enjoyed on a hot summer day!

So there you have it! Turkey Hill Float-Tea will be available wherever Turkey Hill products are sold beginning in late May. The 14-ounce Float-Tea (12 ounces of tea and a two-ounce scoop of ice cream) will likely only be a Spring and Summertime product, but if enough people like iced tea floats, we might make a year-round treat!

And now, here’s another “Find That Experience” picture. Below is close-up of something at the Turkey Hill Experience. The first person to find the mystery spot and email a photo of themselves or someone they know standing next to it will win a one-month’s supply of Turkey Hill Ice Cream! Send your pictures to icecreamjournal@gmail.com. We’ll post another “Find That Experience” picture next month and let you know if anyone found this one. Good luck and happy hunting!

KELLY P. FROM ALTOONA, PA ASKS: Hi Ernie! I was hoping you could answer a question that my friend and I were debating. Which ice cream flavor melts faster – chocolate or vanilla?

Some people debate politics. Others debate sports. You and your friend debate ice cream, and that’s my kind of debate!

The answer to your question is a little tricky. Technically, the chocolate ice cream should melt faster because it’s darker in color, and darker-colored objects absorb more light (or heat) than lighter-colored objects. If you’ve ever worn a dark-colored shirt in the summer, you’ll know what I mean. If the chocolate ice cream absorbs more light (heat), that means it’ll melt faster. This is especially true outdoors in direct sunlight, but the same principle applies indoors.

The only problem with that theory is that other factors also determine how quickly certain ice cream flavors will melt. Fat destabilization, ice crystal size, and the consistency coefficient of the mix can also affect the melting rate of ice cream. Maybe I’m getting a little too technical and paying too much attention to the details, but as anyone who knows me will tell you, when it comes to ice cream, I always pay close attention to the details!

Instead of talking about it, let’s put it to the test, shall we? I took a container of Turkey Hill Vanilla Bean Ice Cream and a container of Turkey Hill Dutch Chocolate ice cream and stored them side-by-side in the same freezer. I then scooped a single scoop of each flavor onto a plate and placed the plates next to each other on a countertop. Then I stood back and let room temperature (about 72 degrees Fahrenheit) take over.

The results? Both flavors turned into sad little puddles within an hour and I forgot to check in to see which one melted first. Either way, my advice is this: If you eat your ice cream fast enough (like me), you never have to worry about it melting!

And then there were four. The Frosty Four. Last week’s match-ups were some of the closest contests in Ultimate Flavor Tournament history with only one flavor – Eagles Touchdown Sundae – winning its match-up by a comfortable margin.

The Frosty Four means our flavor category champions have been crowned and they’ll now battle each other to see which two flavors advance to the final showdown. Cast your votes on our Facebook page!

The flavor category champions are:

VANILLA CONFERENCE: Eagles Touchdown Sundae

CHOCOLATE CONFERENCE: Light Recipe Chocolate Nutty Moosetracks

FRUIT CONFERENCE: Strawberries and Cream

“OTHER FLAVORS” CONFERENCE: Stuff’d Junior Mints

Once again, our “Einstein of Ice Cream,” Mr. Ernie Pinckney offers his thoughts about this week’s match-ups.

Eagles Touchdown Sundae vs. Light Recipe Chocolate Nutty Moose Tracks

ERNIE SAYS:

Out of last week’s match-ups, only Eagles Touchdown Sundae won by a comfortable margin. As a result, maybe Chocolate Nutty Moose Tracks is a little worn out or maybe it’s sharp and ready for a good fight this week. Either way, I think the Eagles flavor has the edge in this round and will win by a couple of field goals.

Strawberries and Cream vs. Stuff’d Junior Mints

ERNIE SAYS:

Stuff’d Junior Mints won one of the closest match-ups in Ultimate Flavor Tournament history last week, edging Yankees Pinstripe Brownie Blast by just two votes! The close call is proof that every vote counts in this tournament. Strawberries and Cream had its own nail biter, beating Black Cherry by just seven votes. The winner this week? I predict another close one for Junior Mints, but this time on the losing end.

Warmer weather is upon us and it’s only going to get warmer, which means we’ll all be searching for ways to gain a little refreshment! With that in mind, we wanted to let you – our loyal blog readers – be among the first to know about a new and very refreshing product that will be arriving in stores in just a few months.

We’ll make the official announcement in a week or two, as soon as the first advertisements are complete. For now, we can tell you that this product is a “new twist on an old favorite.” Stay tuned!

In February, we mentioned our new mailer, and we’re finally ready to give you a peek at it.

The old calendar was designed to help you keep track of your days, but the new giveaway is designed to help you keep track of your grocery shopping duties. It’s a pad of shopping lists (that’s it on the right) with a few must-have items already filled in.

Just like the calendar, the shopping list will include coupons for Turkey Hill ice cream and iced tea. Also like the calendar, the shopping list is free to everyone who signed up to receive it. The new list has been mailed to Turkey Hill fans, and you should have already received it (or will in the next few days).

If you were signed up to receive the calendar, you’ll already be signed up to get the shopping list, so there’s no need to sign up again!

If you’re not signed up to receive the list, the good news is that you use the list online. It’s easy to use, too. Just visit the shopping list page of our website, sign up to use the app, and then add whatever you like to your shopping list, including specific flavors and varieties of your favorite Turkey Hill products. You can check off items as you put them in your grocery cart, save your list and access it later, or delete your list and start a new one from scratch.

You can either use the Shopping List on our website and then access it from a mobile version on your iPhone (coming soon!) or Android while shopping. Or, you can create your list right from your mobile app.

Good news for pretzel lovers! Our March Limited Edition flavor is Snyder’s of Hanover Pennsylvania Dutch Pretzel. It’s described as brown sugar flavored ice cream with choco pretzels and a pretzel swirl. That’s right, a pretzel swirl. It’s kind of like the cookie swirl found in some of our other flavors, but with pretzels!

This flavor is extra special for Turkey Hill because it pays tribute to a big part of who we are. Lancaster County and the surrounding region is home to a rich culture known as the Pennsylvania Dutch. The Pennsylvania Dutch culture has its roots in German settlers who arrived in the area in 17th and 18th centuries and it lives on today through Lancaster County’s Amish population.

But even if you’re not Amish, if you live in central Pennsylvania, you can definitely appreciate the impact that Pennsylvania Dutch culture has had on our lives, and especially on our food. One of those culinary contributions is – you guessed it! – the pretzel.

Some of you may be able to find Turkey Hill’s Pennsylvania Dutch Pretzel at your local grocery store. Others might still be able to find last month’s Limited Edition flavor, Salty Caramel (which means our March flavor should arrive next). If you can’t track down either flavor, put in a request with your store’s frozen foods manager. They’re usually more than happy to consider customer requests!