Our trip to the Blue Bell Ice Cream Creamery

If you live in Texas, chances are your favorite ice cream brand is Blue Bell. And when I say favorite, I don’t mean just like it, but LOVE Blue Bell ice cream. Not to mention it’s my personal favorite because my dad used to drive a Blue Bell delivery truck, and I grew up eating only Blue Bell ice cream, and I normally reach for a scoop of Blue Bell ice cream (or two) at night instead of a glass of wine when the kids are in bed… well you get the drift that I love Blue Bell ice cream but don’t tell that last part to my kids! 😉 

I’m still not 100% sure other than timing why I’ve never visited the Blue Bell creamery before but thanks to my brother and sister-in-law’s suggestion, we loaded up our kids and took them for a visit to “The Little Creamery” in Brenham, TX for a self guided tour.

What’s the science, you say?

We were unable to take photos while inside the creamery but here are a few factoids we learned from an observation deck watching the assembly of vanilla, chocolate, and cookies and cream ice cream in 3 gallon, gallon, and little individual serving sizes.

• It takes the milk of 50,000 cows for one day’s production!  
• It’s made from milk, cream, sugar, and other flavorings blended together to make a base before it’s sent to be homogenized.
• Homogenization makes the mixture consistent throughout by adding heat.
• Then it is pasteurized to 175 degrees to kill any harmful bacteria.
• Afterwards, it’s cooled to a soft serve texture to mix in flavoring and other yummy goodness, like Oreos! (We watched crushed Oreo cookies being added to the process… ah-mazing on so many levels for this Oreo cookie fan!)
• The ice cream was spun throughout this process to make sure it’s evenly mixed before sending to a freezer
• Then the ice cream is sent to a freezer to flash freeze the ice cream down to -30 degrees! 
• Here is another interesting fact, the ice cream is then stored upside down to create a good seal on the container.

The kids and I even had an economic discussion about supply and demand when reading one of their slogans, “We eat all we can and we sell the rest!”… We talked about how Blue Bell has to determine how much ice cream to make based on the demand in the stores and that really they try and sell all they can and eat as little of the left overs as possible!

And of course we thoroughly enjoyed the $1 / scoop ice cream parlor afterwards while reveling in the ice cream making process. I was most impressed with my almost kindergartner’s attention to detail while we watched the process of empty milk cartons entering the assembly line room and each step of the production line until they went to the flash freezer. 

So, if you are looking for a last minute trip for the summer (that’s educational AND tasty) then we recommend spending an hour enjoying the Little Creamery in Brenham, TX! Blue Bell, it really is the best ice cream in the country!