The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

Vice Cream has finally hit the Upper Midwest! You've probably seen it on all of those ~coastal~ ice cream blogs and instagram accounts, but I don't care, I'm still going to make you read about it again! When I first saw this at my local Cub there were two flavors available and I decided to pick up Breakfast in Bed, maple ice cream, sticky bun dough, pecan praline, maple syrup and cinnamon cream cheese ripple . Does it sound like there was a lot going on? There was a lot going on. I loved the base. The combination of the dairy and maple syrup reminded me of Waffle Crips cereal. The maple flavor was very sweet, but there was another underlying flavor adding some fullness and richness to tone down the sweet maple. After reading the ingredients, I believe this additional flavor to be vanilla. The ingredients list vanilla ice cream, and then further down list maple flavoring. I've never thought to combine vanilla and maple before, but I'm a fan. The sticky bun...

One thing that I think Big Muddy's does better than other ice cream bloggers is bring you info about scoop shops in interesting corner's of the country. We love hidden gems. Yeah, yeah other ice cream bloggers can go on for days about the myriad of scoop shops in NYC and LA, but who knew Utah had such a hip ice cream scene until Madeline visited? Probably no one outside of Utah, that's who. And who knew that some of the most innovative ice cream flavors are being thought up in Omaha, NE? Probably no one outside of Omaha. When Madeline and I recently visited Omaha to watch our cousin compete in the US Triathlon Age Group Championships we stopped by Ted and Wally's to grab some tasty frozen treats. The line was out the door and around the corner, so we were hopeful that we were about to have some tasty ice cream. When we saw the flavor list, it wasn't the longest we'd ever seen, but I would go so far as to say it was THE most unique flavor list I've ev...

Yep you read the title right. I got to go on the Ben & Jerry's factory tour over Thanksgiving break. While lounging around Brett's parents house in a post-Thanksgiving food coma and discussing what to do with the rest of break, Brett's mom suggested we drive to Vermont and go on the Ben & Jerry's factory tour! Oh the magic of the Northeast. You want to go to the other end of a different state? No worries, its only three hours away! So that is exactly what Brett and I did on the day after Thanksgiving! Now, before I continue on the with the story, I need to tell you a bit of our family history so you can understand how important this trip was to me! Our parents met in Burlington, Vermont back in the early 1980s, and frequented the very first Ben & Jerry's on the regular. As in, Ben and Jerry, themselves, scooped my parents ice cream. So Ben & Jerry's is basically in my blood and this wasn't so much a trip as it was a pilgrimage to my a...

Being somewhat of a completionist, it is my goal to try every Talenti flavor ever.  And every Ben and Jerry's flavor.  And every Haagen-Dazs flavor.  And every Graeter's flavor. And ever flavor of ice cream in the world ever.  I have a spreadsheet and I check off flavors after I try them. The thought that I won't be able to try every flavor ever keeps me up at night. Because of this compulsion, I keep a mental list of what I like to call 'Unicorn flavors.'  Specifically, these are flavors in the permanent line-up of a decently well-known and widely available brand that I just never, ever, ever see in stores.  Some of them, like Talenti Simply Strawberry, make no sense.  I mean, strawberry is a pretty standard flavor, it should be available everywhere Talenti is sold.  Others like Haagen-Dazs Green Tea (although this seems to be making a surge lately), make a little more sense.  Green Tea is not a super popular or well-known flavor among th...

I'm currently in Arvada, Colorado visiting my grandparents. Obviously, any time I go anywhere, I make sure to visit an ice cream shop.  Scrumptious  is located in Olde Town Arvada.  I didn't know this going in, but Scrumptious is a micro creamery (Lizzy gives you the definition  here ) and was voted Denver's best ice cream.  These two facts help explain the excellent experience I had yesterday afternoon. The whole posse, consisting of myself, my father, my aunt, my grandmother, and my grandfather, rolls through the front door.  We scope out the flavor menu.  There are some old standards like chocolate and strawberry.  There are some interesting flavors like white chocolate raspberry.  Then there are some mystery flavors with names that give no hint to the contents of the ice cream.  One of these mystery flavors was 'blackout.' We asked the ice cream maiden (there needs to be a word like 'barista' but for ice cream scoopers) to describ...

I have to credit my friend Alex with introducing me to a brand of Minneapolis ice cream I was not familiar with (ice cream blogger fail!), and also being my partner in crime/fellow ice cream adventurer last Tuesday.  Froz Broz is a craft ice cream maker who manufactures their ice cream at  City Food Studio  (aside: this place is such a cool idea, go read about it!). Froz Broz sells their ice cream on Tuesdays from 5-8pm and Saturday 9am-1pm at City Food Studio at 3722 Chicago Avenue S. Before heading over to City Food Studios to pick up a couple pints I did some snooping around the Froz Broz  flavor list.  Let me tell you, these are my kinds of flavors. The more out there it is, the more excited I am to try it.  Just look at their flavor list to see what I mean. Excitement building! Alex and I made it out to City Food Studio last Tuesday, and I picked up a pint of Toasted Grits with Maple Syrup and a pint of Black Sea Salt Malt.  I have a review ...

My grocery store FINALLY got some seasonal/limited edition items.  When I went yesterday to check out the freezer section and saw that they had B&J's Candy Bar Pie and Haagen-Dazs delicious, amazing holiday flavor Peppermint Bark.  I obviously picked up a pint of this and the review will be coming soon.  But, they have sucked super hard at getting any pumpkin/fall flavored things.  I mean COME ON!  Kyle thinks they'll get some in November, but I, the eternal pessimist, doubt they will get any in at all ever. Anyway, on to the review.  If you don't live in the upper Midwest, you may as well move along because you can't get Kemp's ice cream.  HA. A few weeks ago I picked up a couple Kemp's flavors, one of which was Maple Nut.  I picked this up because I thought it was a seasonal flavor, but it's not!  It's awesome that you can get this year-round. This flavor comes in a 56oz size in a square cardboard carton.  If you are a map...