Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, the duo behind Ben & Jerry's, opened their first shop in 1978, and over the past 40 years have experimented with a lot of different flavor combinations.
In honor of all of the Ben & Jerry's flavors that needed to retire in order to make room for new flavors, ice cream lovers passing through Waterbury, Vermont can stop in to pay their respects to the dearly de-pintedthat have been laid to rest in the Ben & Jerry's Flavor Graveyard.
The flavor graveyard exists online and offline
The Ben & Jerry's Flavor Graveyard was originally a web page dedicated to the brand's discontinued flavors. Currently, it's also a tourist attraction located behind the first Ben & Jerry's factory in Waterbury, Vermont.
The small plot of land displays rows of granite headstones, each dedicated to some of the 300 discontinued pints. The reminiscent plaques offer brief, quirky poems about the shelf lives of the flavors.
Some flavors in the graveyard were "not-so-best sellers"
When the physical graveyard was built in 1997, only four flavors had been laid to rest in an actual plot: Dastardly Mash, Economic Crunch, Ethan Almond, and Tuskegee Chunk.
Now, you can visit and mourn over 40 of what the brand labels as their "not-so-best sellers."
"Ben & Jerry's is known for outrageous, chunky, funky flavors," Flavor Guru Eric Fredette said in a press release. "But experimentation comes with risk, and not everybody likes our edgier ideas. Like everything else, ice cream flavors have a beginning and an end."
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Ben & Jerry's still look back fondly on some of their biggest "flavor flops" that have since been laid to rest, like Sugar Plum (plum ice cream with a caramel swirl), and Oh Pear (pear ice cream with almond and fudge swirl).
A handful of flavors dismissed from market shelves are still missed by fans
Ben & Jerry's website includes a round-up of some of the most-missed flavors,includingBrownie Batter (brownie batter ice cream with a brownie batter swirl) and Oatmeal Cookie Chunk (sweet cinnamon ice cream with chunks of fudge and oatmeal cookies.)
Some fans are very determined to bring back some of these flavors— one fan of Oatmeal Cookie Chunk took his plea to the White House. Another fan has a Facebook page dedicated to bringing back Fudge Central, another discontinued flavor.
But, your favorite flavor may not be gone for good— flavors can be resurrected
If your favorite flavor or a flavor that you want to try is in the Flavor Graveyard, don't lose hope of its return.
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According to a fun poem on the Ben & Jerry's site, the flavors that have "died" aren't gone forever.The brand has an ongoing competition in which fans can vote for their favorite flavor in the graveyard to be resurrected as the next limited batch.
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