Strawberry Fudge, Need I Say More?

Yesterday morning we went to the Ben & Jerry’s factory in Waterbury, VT to take the famous factory tour. Saying the kids were excited would be an understatement! We rolled in right before they opened up at 10 in the morning. Amazingly,  on a Wednesday morning, there were 3 other parties joining the tour with us.

Thanks to the handy little social app Foursquare, my admission was FREE (it’s regularly $4, but if you check in on Foursquare, you get a free adult admission), and kids under 12 are free = WIN! The tour started off with a six-minute video on the history of Ben & Jerry’s—a great business success story worth checking out. I also love the fact that the company is and always has been very socially conscious.

We then headed into a bridge that overlooks the factory. Our tour guide was hilarious, and it was really interesting to watch the whole ice cream making process. The kids enjoyed watching the whole production – the machinery was filling pints of Imagine Whirled Peace (in honor of John Lennon – all of the pints are lined with John Lennon quotes!).

The last part of the tour was everyone’s (including my kids’ of course) favorite – sampling the finished product. You end up in a little room that looks like a scoop shop. On the tour you often get to taste flavors that are not on store shelves – they ask for written feedback about your opinion of the flavor and likelihood to buy it.

All I can say is that the Strawberry Fudge was super yummy; think chocolate covered strawberries… you get the idea. After finishing our samples, we headed over to the cute gift shop, where the kids got little stuffed Ben & Jerry’s cows.

Before leaving the premises, we checked out their great little playground and the Flavor Graveyard—where they have headstones for many of the retired Ben & Jerry’s flavors (see above picture)! Too cute!

We are having an awesome time in Vermont, and the kids are really enjoying the family-friendly atmosphere of our hotel. There is a nice, warm indoor pool and a really cool playground. On tomorrow’s agenda is a visit to Cabot Cheese and hopefully Cold Hollow Cider too!