By Jecca Berta

If you happen to subscribe to our Dandelion Japan newsletter, you may have read about an ice cream topping that’s currently popular among our staff across the Pacific: Hot Chocolate Mix! They’ve had some very hot weather in Tokyo this summer, so Dandelions have taken to sprinkling the Mix onto their ice cream for a cool take on hot chocolate. Maybe you’ll give it a try?

As we make our way through Lisa’s new ice cream menu at Bloom, we’ve been sharing ice cream stories and memories, several of which we’ve rounded up below … we invite you to share yours as well. 

My favorite childhood ice cream memory was finally being able to get a Vermonster with my cousins at Ben & Jerry’s. I grew up in Vermont, but this didn’t happen until I was twelve! We sat at the scoop shop and ordered all the best flavors and toppings. It was finished!!

– Nicholas, Head Chocolatier

For the uninitiated, a Vermonster begins with twenty scoops of ice cream and only gets more outrageous from there. Given Nicholas’ experience in pastry and desserts (including seventeen years with Bouchon Bakery before joining Dandelion), he’s no stranger to making ice cream. One that stands out? 

The most memorable ice cream flavor I made was kecap manis — an Indonesian sweet soy sauce. We substituted some of the sugar with gula jawa (Indonesian palm sugar) and added some kecap manis as well. This was served with Sticky Toffee Pudding. SO good. 

Meanwhile, has Jennifer ever eaten ice cream at the movies since? 

My first ice cream memory was when I was four, and my older sister took me to my first movie in the theater. I was so excited! She bought me a soft-serve vanilla ice cream, and when we got to our seats and the lights went down, I started crying. “What’s wrong?” she asked. “I need to leave.” “Why?” “I CAN’T SEE MY ICE CREAM.” I made her take me home. True story.

– Jennifer, Communications

Sometimes the anticipation is as memorable as the ice cream itself … 

One of my fondest ice cream memories is saving money to wait for the ice cream truck. My neighborhood had a family with an ice cream truck called “La Cucaracha.” It was more like a mini-store on wheels, selling vegetables and fresh fruit in addition to ice cream. Kids got a discount! Back then, my preferred type of ice cream was traditional fudge bars. Now, I love nitrogen-made ice cream because of how soft it is. There’s a place called Creamistry that makes it to order, and it’s fantastic.

– Ruben, Venetian Café
Favorite flavor: Chocolate with brownie chunks, and fudge is a bonus.

And Flora’s dream of being an “ice cream lady” sort of came true? Chocolate’s got to be in the same family. 

There was a Baskin-Robbins very close to where I grew up in Kyoto, and we would get ice cream sandwiches on very special occasions. They would always bag them up with dry ice, which added to the excitement … At age six, when we did a “What do you want to be when you grow up?” project at school, I created an entire poster on how my dream was to be an “ice-cream lady” — mainly because I thought it meant I would get to eat ice cream every day.

– Flora, Guest Care
Favorite flavor: Pistachio. (“However, if I’m 100 percent honest, I prefer the Maxibon ice cream sandwiches you can get at the little corner shops. It’s half cookie ice cream sandwich and half chocolate-covered, like a nutty Magnum.”)

Both Dave and Lori have memories of making ice cream the old-fashioned way … 

A fond memory for me is making ice cream at home as a kid with my dad. We had an old, hand-crank wooden bucket-style maker just like this one. We would set it up in the garage, fill the canister, put it in the bucket, and pour in the ice. Then we’d pour rock salt over the ice to melt it faster, creating a super-cold slushy that would — after a decent chunk of time and arm-exhausting cranking — create a delicious, smooth custard-based ice cream. It had a very specific vanilla flavor I still remember. Add a little home-made chocolate chip cookie to the bowl and enjoy. Totally great.

– Dave, COO

Growing up in an almost entirely sugar-free, fat-free, salt-free household (no wonder I work for a chocolate company!), ice cream was rarely available; all instances were memorable. Perhaps my favorite was at around age ten: On the last day of girls’ summer sports camp at Foothill College, one of several competitions was between two teams who “had” to hand-churn ice cream as quickly as possible. One girl from each team sat on the team’s big, heavy, wooden churn to keep its lid closed, while her teammates took turns frenziedly cranking the churn’s arm; whichever team’s ice cream solidified-ish first “won”! My team made a batch of creamy, cool, fresh-mint chocolate chip in RECORD time — and I’d maybe never tasted anything so delicious??

– Lori, Creative Team 
Favorite flavor: My family always championed NO PASTEL FLAVORS. So anything rich, mellow, salty-sweet, buttery, creamy, chocolatey, caramelly, peanut-buttery, nutty, etcetera, passes muster!

Jecca is here for the crunch cones. 

When my brother and I were little, we would ride our Big Wheels to Boy Blue with my mom on foot, not far behind. Boy Blue was a midwestern ice cream chain, and there was a location near our dad’s bar and restaurant. The ice cream at Boy Blue was standard soft-serve — nothing like the rich, creamy frozen custard that Milwaukee to this day holds dear. Still, I loved it. We would usually get “crunch cones,” which were a swirl of vanilla soft-serve topped with what I recall being a mix of crushed peanuts, puffed rice, and rainbow sprinkles. We’d eat them while sitting at the kid-sized chairs and tables. Something about the scaled down furniture felt very special to me.

– Jecca, Creative Team 

Lauren nearly lost her cone to her baby. 

One of my favorite memories is sharing ice cream with my first born son. We had not yet fed him much solid food around six or seven months. While on a trip, we ordered ice cream cones, and I gave him a lick of mine. He loved it! His eyebrows went up, and he grabbed hold of the cone so hard. He ended up getting it all over his face. He was fascinated.

– Lauren, Director of Product 

Favorite flavor: Hands down, mint chocolate chip! And Dippin’ Dots were such a treat as a child. The texture is so fun and always meant it was a special occasion.

And lastly, a tri-colored memory from Ron. 

My grandparents always bought Neapolitan ice cream because I loved the chocolate, my grandfather loved the strawberry, and my grandmother by default ate the vanilla. I always wondered if she ate it because she liked it, or because it was the only one left.

– Ron, Cocoa Sourcing Manager 

What about you, reader? Do you have a favorite ice cream memory or flavor? We’re curious. And if you find yourself near Bloom this summer, Lisa’s seasonal ice cream menu — with a Nibby Root Beer Float, a Cacao Fruit & Lime Sundae, Spumoni Ice Cream Cake, and a Cocoa Nib Ice Cream Sandwich — puts a Dandelion spin on cool, creamy nostalgia.