Named after the Texas blue bell wildflower, Blue Bell Creamery has been in the business of making ice cream since 1907.  Based in Brenham, Texas, this brand of ice cream is one of those regional specialties that is unavailable in most of the country.  Initially established as the Brenham Creamery Company, they first started making butter from the excess cream provided by farms in the nearby area.  Later moving into ice cream production, the creamery has now become a classic Texas institution.  Blue Bell is so popular that its ranked as one of the top three ice cream brands sold in the US, even though it is only available in 20% of the nations supermarkets.

Keeping ahead of the tastes of its customers, Blue Bell is constantly inventing new flavors to keep its loyal fan base coming back for more.  This year they introduced Nutty Chocolate (chocolate ice cream loaded with milk chocolate-coated pecans, dark chocolate-coated peanuts, white chocolate-coated almonds and roasted walnuts) and Grooms Cake (chocolate ice cream with chocolate cake pieces and chocolate coated strawberry hearts, surrounded by swirls of strawberry sauce and chocolate icing) YUM.  The one ice cream that Blue Bell makes that always been a favorite of mine is the flavor based on the southern specialty, Banana Pudding. A sentimental favorite since childhood,  I can’t pass it in the supermarket without buying a container.  For all of our readers north of the Mason/Dixon that dream of Blue Bell, one of our favorite bloggers Homesick Texan has posted her recipe version of Banana Pudding Ice Cream that you can try and make at home.  If you still can’t do without, for a fee of $119 Blue Bell will fedex overnight a selection of four flavors to help you get your Brenham fix on. – S.W.

Filed under: Food & Drink, History, Texas by Stephen : No Comments »