Graeter's - Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip

Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip - Black Raspberry Ice Cream with Chocolate Chips

Today's review is new brand for me - Graeter's.   Graeter's is a family-run business based in Cincinnati which has been around for four generations now.  Originally started by Louis Graeter in 1870 and was later joined in the business by his wife Regina.  When Louis died in a streetcar accident in 1919, Regina took over and expanded it into the business that it is today.  Regina lived into the 1950s and although technological advances in her lifetime had made ice cream manufacturing easier than it was in the 19th century, Regina clung to the old-fashioned "french pot" process.  Today, her great-grandchildren now run the company but they still use the "french pot" process at Graeter's.

What is the "french pot" process?   They describe it online in one of their many youtube videos.  It's similar to how one would try to make their own ice cream at home.  The milk, cream, sugar and flavoring is put into a cold pot which is then mixed until it thickens.  In the 19th century, this was done partly for practical purposes.  Before refrigeration, the pot was made cold by being placed in a larger pot of ice.  Modern freezers now allow for ice cream manufacturing machine which produce large batches of ice cream but Graeter's still uses these small "french pots" and are limited to batches of just two and a half gallons each which they still hand-pack into the pints.

How does this process affect the ice cream?  Let's see!  Removing the lid shows a thick ice cream of purple color of the black raspberry base.  You can actually see the effects of the hand packing right away as the swipe of the scoop has left the top a bit like frozen slush on one side.  Digging into the pint, the ice cream is very thick -- not a lot of air gets injected in during the "french pot" process.  The frozen slush section on one side of the top was not ideal, but it did give a certain "homemade" feeling to the ice cream.  Only small pockets of it were found later on in the pint.  The black raspberry flavor was delicious.  Red raspberry can be a bit tart sometimes but the black raspberry provided the berry flavor without a hint of that.  The chocolate chunks were dispersed throughout the pint,  They were uniquely shaped, each was a bit large for a chocolate chip -- they were like crushed up chocolate bars.  The chocolate went well with the raspberry.

All in all a successful pint.  I enjoyed checking out a new brand -- especially one made with a unique process.  It really is a thicker ice cream than other brands.  The frozen slush sections are a bit of a concern but not a dealbreaker.  I have another Graeter's flavor in my freezer so I'll be able to report if that is a common occurrence or just an aberration.    If you are interested in checking out a unique ice cream in a classic berry & chocolate combination -- and you can find a pint of it -- then you should check this out.

UPDATE -- I have had this flavor a couple of times since I first wrote this review and it has always been amazing.  The slush issue must have been a fluke issue in transit or at the supermarket.  I have never seen it again in the dozens of other Graeter's pints that I have tried either  That the fluke happened on my very first Graeter's pint is frustrating in retrospect.  I know now that this is the top flavor from one of the top brands in the country, but I did not know when I was first trying this out.  So, do not fear.  Enjoy this flavor!