*
milk supplv/ for one day's
production of ice cream at
Blue Bell Creameries.
The raw milk
undergoes up to six
different tests for quality
before it is mixed in three
1,000-gallon vats with
cream, condensed milk
and cane sugar or syrup
to produce a base.
After the mixture is
pasteurized and
homogenized, it’s cooled
and sent to holding tanks
which pump the mixture
into the flavoring tanks.
Each of the 40 flavors
made by Blue Bell has a
separate tank flavored
with natural fruits, juices
and sauces made by Blue
Bell. The company even
has its own cookies for its
cookies and cream ice
cream, Kenjura said,
adding that since Nabisco
doesn’t package Oreos in
bulk, it was too time
consuming for Blue Bell
employees to individually
open each pack of
cookies.
While the ice cream is
still in a semi-soft stage,
nuts and other dry
ingredients are added.
Then the ice cream is put
into the cartons and
turned upside down to
eliminate air bubbles. (If
you think it’s hard to
scoop single flavors out of
the neopolitan cartons,
you should see how they
go in — all three flavors
travel through the same
pipe at the same time.)
The ice cream then
undergoes a quick-freeze
process for six and a half
hours in a room with a
wind-chill factor of 100
degrees below zero —
definitely a quick way to
cool off in summer.
Pallets of ice cream are
stored in another room
where they await the
morning arrival of 35
transport trucks to take
them to the distribution
centers in Texas which
include Houson, San
Antonio, and Long View.
Ice cream production at
Blue Bell takes place from
•5 a.m. until 4 p.m. "Then
for nearly two and a half
hours, pipes, tanks and
other equipment are
dismantled and each
piece is individually hand
washed and put aside to
dry.
In only 11 hours, Blue
Bell Creameries Inc.
produces 110 thousand
gallons of ice cream,
about 99 thousand ice
cream sandwiches and
well over 132 thousand
popsicles and delivers two
thousand to four
thousand pallets of
products to warehouses
around Texas.
“No one handles our
product but us,” Kenjura
said. “We’re very proud
of very fresh ice cream. ”
Reinforcing Blue Bell’s
magazine ad that simply
says, “We eat all we can.
We sell the rest,” the
employees are allowed to
eat all the free ice cream
that they want during the
day; and with 500
employees in Brenham
and 500 more throughout
the state, that’s a lot of ice
cream!
Blue Bell makes about
40 flavors of ice cream,
four flavors of frozen
yogurt, four flavors of
frozen custard, five flavors
of ice cream sandwiches,
drumsticks, fruit and
cream bars and several
kinds of stick snacks.
The newest ice cream
flavors are banana-berry
and chocolate crisp —
chocolate ice cream with
chocolate covered
Blue Bell ice cream in
crispies.
However, Kenjura said
the basics are still the top
sellers. Homemade
vanilla is the number one
seller while cookies and
cream is number two.
Some customers think
that different lid colors on
the ice cream cartons
denote differences in
quality. But, Kenjura said,
the different colored rims
relate not to the quality of
the ice cream, but rather
to the cost of the added
ingredients. In fact, all
round cartons contains 12
and a half percent milkfat.
Mellorine, made with
vegetable fat instead of
animal fat, and the 97
percent fat-free Blue Bell
Light flavors are packaged
in the square cartons.
Because Blue Bell can’t
produce all of its flavors all
of the time, some (like
fudge brownie nut and
the cheesecake flavors)
are rotational.
Kenjura explained that
it’s fun to not have
everything available all of
the time, and that
production of flavors is
dependent upon grocers’
space and Blue Bell’s cold
storage sfDacze.
“Before we can
produce more ice cream,
we have to have more
At right: Why is
this man smiling?
Since Blue Bell
allows its employees
to eat all the ice
cream they want
while they’re at
work, Mike
Marshall, a 1984
graduate of Texas
A&M and floor
supervisor at Blue
Bell, has something
to grin about.
Below: The finely
tuned machinery at
the Blue Bell
creamery in
Brenham produces
110,000 gallons of
ice cream daily.
cold storage,” Kenjura
said. “We have no place
to put it. It wouldn’t
matter if you wanted it;
we can’t get it there, yet,
until we grow. The key
people, who are Brenham
natives, choose to stay
right here. ”
Blue Bell began giving
tours in 1983, and 45,000
people visited the
creamery last year.
Kenjura said Blue Bell
has given tours to senior
adults, church groups,
school groups, caravans
of people, and of course,
groups; everyone is
welcomed. For groups of
more than 10, however,
reservations must be
made.
The tour lasts 30 to 40
minutes, depending upon
how long it takes to eat
your complimentary ice
cream cone at the end of
the tour.
“Homemade vanilla is
our number one seller,”
Kenjura said, “but that’s
not what people eat here
(at the creamery).
Everybody likes
something different. ”
Number one with At
Ease was mint chocolate
chip. I wonder what the
cows like best.