We’ve got the scoop on the best star-bought ice cream.
Editor’s note: This column originally ran on February 24, 2014.
You surprised me, readers. Recently I was loitering around the frozen food aisle at H-E-B supermarket and noticed that H-E-B’s house brand, Creamy Creations, had more kinds of vanilla ice cream than the reigning Texas heavyweight champion, Blue Bell.
I bought a couple of pints of Creamy Creations.
Then, I said it. I think this stuff is just as good … wait, better … than Blue Bell.
I expected, let’s call it, a negative reaction from readers. Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla is the passion of Texas. It’s in our blood, especially in the heart area. Next time you’re in a supermarket, look at the shelf space dominated by Blue Bell, and one flavor of Blue Bell … Homemade Vanilla.
You know the legend of Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla. Presidents have it delivered to the White House. Celebrities have it shipped around the world. If the Houston Texans really wanted their logo to reflect the Lone Star State, they’d put a sticker of Blue Bell ice cream on their helmets. So I was braced. Readers let me have it good, all right. They agreed with me! A few Blue Bell blue bloods questioned my sanity and challenged my residency, but most readers rallied for Creamy Creations.
That’s weird. How could a supermarket brand stand up to Blue Bell? I used to think that store brands were leftovers from name brands. Like if CocaCola made too much, they sold the overflow to supermarkets for their own off-brand. Or if Libby’s had green beans that weren’t green enough, they sold the “slightly irregulars” to supermarkets.
But that’s not the case with H-E-B brands like Creamy Creations ice cream. I talked with Scott McClelland, the nerdy guy with glasses in the TV commercials. He really is the president of H-E-B Houston.
Creamy Creations ice cream isn’t leftovers or a moonlighting job from an established dairy plant. H-E-B has its own ice cream factory in San Antonio.
“I worked on this project (Creamy Creations) 15 years ago,” he said. “For two solid years, we ate ice cream every Wednesday afternoon for three hours. And I got paid for it! We refused to launch Creamy Creations until it was at parity, or better, in blind taste tests against Blue Bell.”
I asked McClelland, is it difficult getting customers to believe that Creamy Creations can stand up to Blue Bell, Breyers and Dreyer’s? Or that $5 pint of heaven called Graeter’s?
“It is, because historically store brands have been cheaper and lower quality. At H-E-B, (owner) Charles Butt’s name doesn’t go on it until the quality goes in. That’s why it took us two years to develop our ice cream. In particular, vanilla was a challenge because Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla has a custardy taste that was hard to match. Blue Bell was the standard for us to meet.”
Creamy Creations’ bestseller is, no surprise, H-E-B’s take on Homemade Vanilla. Butter Pecan is No. 2. During football season, if you call what the Texans just put us through a season, the top flavor was Texans Tackle Crunch.
So I survived the Blue Bell challenge. But there was a time I challenged the orthodoxy of local taste, and it didn’t go so well.
When I landed in Houston, even before I unpacked the UHaul, I ordered a hamburger. It came with mustard on it! Huh? Mustard on a burger? One of my first columns may have said something like, “Hey, y’all, tell me you’re kidding with mustard on a hamburger.”
The next day I was calling Amtrak for its departure schedule … so I’d know when I’d be run out of town on a rail. I still think mustard on a burger is crazy talk, but I keep it to myself.
Today’s trivia
Only four songs sung entirely in a foreign language have topped the Billboard singles chart in the rock era (1955now). I’ll give you the year and language. How many can you name? 1958 — Italian 1963 — Japanese 1963 — French 1987 — Spanish
Trivia answer
The four foreign language songs to reach No. 1 on the Billboard singles chart are:
“Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blu (Volare),” by Domenico Modugno (Italian, 1958).
“Sukiyaki,” by Kyu Sakamoto (Japanese, 1963).
“Dominique,” by the Singing Nun (French, 1963).
“La Bamba,” by Los Lobos (Spanish, 1987).
Honorable mention: “99 Luftballons,” sung in German by Nena in 1984, reached No. 2.
In case you’re wondering, “Dominque” tells the story of Saint Dominic, founder of the Dominican Order. It is not about KPRC “Channel 2” anchor Dominique Sachse. The song is numbingly repetitive but very catchy.