In 1984, President Ronald Reagan designated July as National Ice Cream Month and the third Sunday of the month as National Ice Cream Day. And what a perfect way to celebrate was to be invited to tour the Blue Bell Ice Cream plant here in Denver. Barb over at Creative Culinary, Karen at Savoury Table and I were pampered with a private tasting of products along with an education about the company which was founded in Brenham, Texas in 1907.
Starting out as a creamery, they then made their first gallon, or two, of ice cream, “ate all they could and sold the rest”. They packed it in a large wooden tub with salt and ice and delivered it to a few friends and neighbors by horse and wagon. The rest is history. Today Blue Bell Ice Cream is one of the top-selling brands in American, even though they only sell their products in the South. They hold the Number Three spot in National Market share behind Breyers and Dreyers, who sell their products Nationwide.
Join me on our Big as Texas Hospitality Tour where learned all about Blue Bell Ice Cream and their company.
This is the back of a Blue Bell truck backed up to the loading dock waiting to get filled with tubs of ice cream to distribute to our stores in Denver. I’m surprised the photo is in focus, it was bone shivering cold in that room. The ice cream is not made in Denver, but shipped from the main plant in Texas.
Nothing like ice cream for lunch. Our tour started in the board room with our gracious host, Kevin McDevitt, Denver Branch Manager serving samples. Here’s he’s scooping up samples of their Cotton Candy ice cream.
Bright with color and flavor truly reminiscent of huge fluffs of spun sugar, any kid would fall in love with this. I know this kid did.
Next up was the Southern Blackberry Cobbler. Creamy ice cream with a luscious blackberry flavor combined with flaky pie crust pieces and a blackberry sauce swirl. What impressed me most about their ice cream is how true the flavors are to the descriptions on the carton. They use the finest milk, cream, sugar and other ingredients money can buy. Then, they mix in their secret homemade recipe. Added ingredients aren’t just added flavors, employees actually hand crumble pie crusts, or cookies, or candy bars into the mix.
Blue Bell offers a line of seasonal and regional ice creams. This Rocky Mountain Road was created to sell in Colorado and became so popular they’ve expanded it’s distribution to more states. So far, this has been my personal favorite flavor.
They also have quite a lineup of frozen snack bars. We sampled the coconut and the sour pops. The sour pops were amazing with green apple flavor.
And just when the food industry has decided to decrease carton sizes and increase prices, Blue Bell stays true to their customers. They have placed a red banner across their cartons promoting the fact that consumers still get a full half gallon of ice cream with each purchase.
No matter how much the market grows, quality standards never change and are never diluted or compromised. That’s why, people who are lucky enough to live where they can buy Blue Bell Ice Cream, say it’s “the best ice cream in the country.”
- 1 package chocolate cake mix
- ¾ C. ready-to-spread chocolate fudge frosting
- ¾ C. water
- ¼ C. vegetable oil
- ½ gallon Blue Bell Summer Strawberry Pie Ice Cream
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously grease bottom, sides and rim of two 9-inch pie pans or round cake pans. In a large bowl, blend cake mix, frosting, water and vegetable oil at low speed until moistened. Then beat 2 minutes at high speed. Spread half the batter into bottom of each pan. Do not spread up the sides of the pan. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cakes will collapse to form shells. Cool completely. Wrap in foil or plastic wrap and freeze at least one hour. Unwrap shells and scoop 1 quart of ice cream into each shell. Serve immediately or wrap in plastic wrap and freeze up to 24 hours. Remove from freezer 15 minutes before serving. Slice each pie into 8 wedges and serve.
On this day..
Great post Lea Ann. Your recipe sounds great. If I have any Summer Strawberry left in my freezer I hope to give it a try.
Thanks Karen. That Summer Strawberry went pretty fast around here.
I came ‘this’ close to doing something very similar but those sugar cones did me in! I’ve got some of the Summer Strawberry in my freezer and love the idea of a brownie crust, I might have to do this one too. I’m gonna need a bigger freezer!
Your creation was much better than this Barb.
That sounds like a day I would enjoy very much!!! How fun! I have been making so much ice cream this summer, it has been great!
I love making ice cream, but when I don’t have time, you can bet I’ll be reaching for Blue Bell.
I don’t know if we have this ice cream here…will look for it! The pie looks great! Maybe I can get the chef to try it. Btw…your brownies have had a rebirth here in NorCal
.
LOL, love the rebirth. I haven’t made them for awhile. They’d go good with some Vanilla ice cream.
Lol! That’s exactly how I enjoyed one tonight!!
ok, gotta make some soon!
It was MMMMMM good
I’m so jealous! I would love a tour of Blue Bell.. ok, let’s be honest, I would like to live there!! lol The pie looks fantastic too! Perfect for a summer dessert!
That tour was so much fun Jenn. Wish you could have been there.
I’m also very jealous. I ate Blue Bell when I lived in Oklahoma. When I found out it was coming to Colorado, I was so happy. We always have 3-4 cartons in our freezer. Lea Ann, did you know you can go on their website and print two $1.00 coupons a month? I use them when King Sooper’s have their $3.99 sale to make them $2.99 each. They also have recipes and rotating flavors for the season.
I just learned they have coupons. You know I’ll be using those.
Blue Bell ice cream is GOOD. STUFF. I wish it were more readily available here! This ice cream pie is a dream!
Joanne, I feel lucky that it’s sold here. Love it.
What a delicious post! I started craving ice cream when I saw the back of the truck. The pie recipe sounds dreamy and that photo is just gorgeous. :Lucky you, getting to sample all those flavors, too. That blackberry would be in my cart in a heartbeat.
Unfortunately I always crave ice cream. That blackberry was fabulous.
Blue bell ice cream is truly amazing. I LOVE their plain vanilla with any cobbler or fruit dessert. Seriously, nothing beats it.
I’m a vanilla girl. It has been fun testing the different flavors, but will still continue to grab the vanilla when in the store.
How fun. Blue Bell is one of the best ice creams in the world.
Sam
Sam, it’s really very very good.
Sounds like a fun day, Lea Ann. There’s nothing better than ice cream for a summer dessert. We don’t have Blue Bell brand here unfortunately.
Well darn. I’m sure you have plenty other brands to choose from, Oregon is such a food mecca. I agree, ice cream is my favorite.
I drooled my way through this post, excuse me while I go find a napkin! (I especially drooled over the pie, chocolate and strawberry is the best and most underused combo!)
Sue, Ice cream is a favorite of mine. And can you believe we ate it for lunch? Fun.
Well, this ice cream pie looks wonderful–not lame at all!
I am very intrigued by the crust and just may give it a try to satisfy my curiousity!
Thank you Linda.
We love Blue Bell Ice Cream! What an interesting day and a terrific visit. Your pie looks amazing. Have a great weekend.
Thanks for stopping by Tricia.
We have Blue Bell here, thank goodness. That crust looks so interesting. Think I will make these for our family get together over Labor Day. Great post. Lucky you! I’m enjoying your blog.
love,love,love blue bell.. great post!!
love,love,love ice cream period!