Jacksonville’s Caramel Queen Wins Ben & Jerry’s National “Do Us a Flavor” Contest

BURLINGTON, Vt.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Tasha Callister of Jacksonville, Florida enjoyed a sweet victory on Thursday as Ben & Jerry’s ceremoniously crowned her the winner of the company’s “Do Us a Flavor” contest. Callister competed in the Flavor Finals at the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream plant in Waterbury, VT along with four other flavor creators, who were selected from more than 40,000 entries from across the United States and Canada. She won the title of ‘Honorary Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Guru’ and a hometown ice cream party for her friends and family featuring her creative concoction. Each of the five finalists won an all-expenses paid, four-day trip to Vermont as well as a year’s worth of free Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.

Inspired by her grandmother, who melted caramel cubes on a stick over a campfire and then squished them between crackers, Callister’s creation - Puttin’ On The Ritz is a mouth-watering blend of Vanilla Ice Cream, Caramel and Ritz Cracker Swirl with Chunks of Chocolate Covered Sandwiches.

“We invent and taste ice cream flavors all day long, so we thought it would be nice to have some fun with our fans, and give them a chance at making their own dream flavor,” said Arnold Carbone, Conductor of Bizarre & D and Chief Flavor Guru at Ben & Jerry’s. Carbone also served as one of the four judges on site for the event. The final scores were extremely close with Callister eking out the victory. “These were the best 5 out of 40,000,” Carbone stated. “In the end, the finalists and their flavors were all winners to us.”

The competitors were paired with a Ben & Jerry’s Flavor Developer and given hands-on training to expertly produce their flavor in the R&D lab. Then the finalists sat with the ice cream company’s Design Department to put the finishing touches on their own pints at Ben & Jerry’s headquarters in Burlington. They faced-off in a live event at the Waterbury plant as a panel of expert judges tasted their creative concoctions.

Callister’s Puttin’ On The Ritz competed against four other finalists’ flavors:

• Mojito by Timothy Link of Troy, ID -- a blend of lime ice cream with a light swirl of brown sugar, a touch of white rum and sprinkled with mint
• Wackie Chan by Kerstin Karlhuber of Brighton, MA -- a mouth-watering blend of sweet cream and ginger flavored ice cream, chocolate-covered fortune cookie bits and a fudge swirl
• Apricotabra! by Reina Chilton of Tempe, AZ -- a magical mix of creamy vanilla bean ice cream, juicy chunks of apricot and extra dark chocolate, swirled with a tart apricot preserve drizzle
• Italian Renaissance by Robin Thorneycroft of Richmond, British Columbia, Canada -- an invigorating mix of amaretto liqueur ice cream with cherry chunks and sliced almonds

Entries that were on the opposite end of the spectrum, and didn’t make the finals included:

• Gorgonzilla – pear sorbet, Gorgonzola cheese nuggets, walnuts and grapes - described as “something you would have after a steak meal”
• Lemon/Cayenne – vanilla/lemon swirl with lemon cream and cayenne pepper
• The Armand – sautéed pears with reduced balsamic vinegar in a cream cheese flavored ice cream
• Whatz Up Black Olive – chunks of black olive in vanilla ice cream
• Curious Avocado Experiment – avocado ice cream with lemon crème swirl, macadamia nuts and white chocolate chunks

The Ben & Jerry’s “Do Us A Flavor” contest took place from March through July 2006. Entries were judged on creativity (40 percent), flavor profile or taste (40 percent) and relevance to the Ben & Jerry’s brand (20 percent).

About Ben & Jerry’s

Ben & Jerry’s produces a wide variety of super-premium ice cream, sorbets and ice cream novelties, using dairy products from a Vermont dairy cooperative and high-quality ingredients. The company is committed to using milk and cream from cows that have not been treated with the synthetic hormone rBGH, and states its position on rBGH on its labels. Ben and Jerry’s products are distributed nationwide and in selected foreign countries in supermarkets, grocery stores, convenience stores, franchise Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shops, restaurants and other venues.

Ben & Jerry’s, a wholly-owned autonomous subsidiary of Unilever, operates its business on a three-part mission statement emphasizing product quality, economic reward and a commitment to the community. Ben & Jerry’s contributes a minimum of $1.1 million annually through corporate philanthropy that is primarily employee led. Contributions made via the Ben & Jerry’s Foundation in 2001 totaled over $1.4 million. Additionally, the company makes significant product donations to community groups and nonprofits both in Vermont and across the nation. The purpose of Ben & Jerry’s philanthropy is to support the founding values of the company: economic and social justice, environmental restoration and peace through understanding, and to support our Vermont communities. For the full scoop on all Ben & Jerry’s fabulous flavors, visit www.benjerry.com.