The Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog

Today I've got a double review of some Kemp's limited edition flavors. Kemp's is a dairy company based in Minnesota and recently released a line-up of four Minnesota-inspired ice creams.  Sadly, I went to the store a few days ago and didn't see them, but you may still be able to find them. I bought 2 out of the 4 flavors in mid-October which must have been pretty close to the end of their run at my local Cub Foods. I picked up the two fruity flavors: Cherry and Spoon and You Betcha Berry. Cherry and Spoon is  vanilla ice cream, cherries and brownie bites with swirls of chocolaty fudge.  So you might be wondering, 'What the heck is the deal with the name Cherry and Spoon?'  Spoonbridge and Cherry  is a sculpture at the Walker Garden that has somehow become  the  Minneapolis image on all Minneapolis promotional material (like the arch is for St. Louis, or the Golden Gate Bridge is for San Francisco). I don't really get it, though. It's jus...

Guys, we really like EXTRAVAGANZAS! This past weekend, your two friends over here at the Big Muddy Ice Cream Blog had our most exciting adventure yet as bloggers! We've had ice cream extravaganzas before, eaten ice cream from all over the country, but nothing compares to our adventure this past weekend.  We went on an ice cream run! Yes, you read that right, we ran from ice cream shop to ice cream shop, nausea be damned! Our ice cream run was totally the brain child of Madeline and it involved four ice cream shops and three segments of running. We started at Sebastian Joe's, ran .95 miles to Milkjam, ran 3.86 miles to Pumphouse Creamery, and then ran .87 miles to Grand Ole Creamery! Thanks Alex, Rebecca, Laurel, Somyi, Theo and Humberto for coming on this crazy adventure! Lizzy: The only one of these I had been to before was Sebastian Joe's, so I was super pumped to try all of these shops. But I will definitely need to go back to them, because I didn't get as m...

A long while ago, I got some Capanna Gelato from New Pioneer Co-op in Iowa City. After eating some and being a bit disappointed, I found out Capanna is actually a local gelato and  coffee shop with locations in North Liberty and Coralville. I was actually Facebook messaged by who I'm assuming is the owner of Capanna after I posted my review. He suggested I give Capanna gelato another shot and have some fresh in the shop. One of my major complaints about Capanna was the icy texture of the gelato. But as ice cream nerds will tell you, gelato is actually made to be served at a slightly warmer temperature than ice cream. So buying good gelato from a grocery store, as opposed to getting it in a shop, can be dicey. So I was definitely planning on giving Capanna another shot! When Brett was in town this past weekend, we decided to stop on over to the Coralville location for some gelato and coffee! The Coralville location of Capanna is a funny little spot. It definitely did not have ...

Cardamom.  Oh, cardamom, how I love thee.  I will seriously buy anything with cardamom in it.  For a while last fall Starbucks was making a Vanilla Cardamom Latte and I bought SO many of them and I don't even really like Starbucks. My favorite way to make blueberry pie is to make the normal filling and then add cinnamon, nutmeg, and cardamom, so when when I saw 'Spiced Berry Crumble Gelato infused with cardamom flavor' at Target I knew I was bringing that guy home with me.  I paid $4.99 for 30 Fl Oz (a pint is 16 Fl Oz), so this was cheaper ice cream than a B&J or H-D pint. Archer Farms is a (generally pretty yummy) Target brand.  Per the container: Sometimes the best things in life are the simplest, Gelato, Italian ice cream, is hard to resist.  Imported from Italy, Archer Farms Spiced Berry Crumble Gelato is made with alternating dollops of berry-flavored gelato and cardamom-flavored gelato.  A ribbon of berry sauce runs throughout the...