Ben & Jerry’s Has A Literal Graveyard For Their Discontinued Flavors And Here Are 21 Of The Ones You Definitely Do Not Miss
The sweetest graveyard in the world is in Waterbury, Vermont.
In 1997, Ben & Jerry's opened a memorial to their failed, discontinued ice cream flavors. At first, it was an online-only affair, but eventually, a handful of tombstones were mocked up and planted on a hill behind the factory.
Each of the flavors got a hilariously clever epitaph that summed up their life and death, too. There are quite a few fan favorites among the deceased, like Turtle Soup, Fossil Fuel, and of course, Wavy Gravy.
The causes of death range a lot. Some fell ill due to bad sales, while others met stranger fates. The White Russian, for example, was discontinued due to the increasing price of Kahlua flavoring.
Each of the tombstones also has the birth and death dates of the flavors, painting a grim picture of infant mortality among ice creams.
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White Russian (1986 - 1996)
Coffee ice cream with Kahlua coffee liqueur. Bid adieu to ol' White Russian. Our tears, they are a-gushin'. But in our scoop shops, please don't forget. Dead it's not, oh no, not nyet.
The cemetery is a result of the company's rich history that started in 1978. Then, with a $5 correspondence course in ice cream-making from Penn State and a $12,000 investment ($4,000 of it borrowed), Ben and Jerry opened their first ice cream scoop shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington, Vermont.
The company kept growing and ten years later, it was named the “U.S. Small Business Persons of the Year” by President Reagan in a White House Rose Garden ceremony.
Fresh Georgia Peach (1986 - 1991)
Vanilla Ice Cream with Fresh Georgia Peaches.
Fresh-picked peaches
trucked from Georgia
Tasted great but couldn't last
'Cuz Georgia's quite a-ways away
& trucks don't go that fast.
After years of research and development, 1991 saw the release of one of the quintessential Ben & Jerry's flavors: chocolate chip cookie dough. The flavor immediately rocketed to the top of the most-popular-in-pints list, and it reigns among our all-time flavor hits to this day.
According to their site, there are 35 flavors resting in the Ben & Jerry’s boneyard. With over 300,000 annual visitors to the factory, they're guessing that as many as a quarter-million mourners pay their respects at the Flavor Graveyard each year. Luckily, sometimes flavors get resurrected as well.
Fossil Fuel (2005 - 2010)
Sweet cream ice cream with chocolate cookie pieces, fudge dinosaurs & a fudge swirl.
Fudgy dinosaurs galore
Got all dug up til there were no more.
A flavor re-design might be do-able
But Fossil Fuel is non-renewable.
Cool Britannica (1989 - 1990)
Vanilla ice cream with strawberries and fudge covered shortbread.
A flavour so smashing -
& yet it fouled out:
Strawberries & shortbread -
a love match devout
But sadly it missed
all the fame it deserved,
A bit too much English
put into the serve.
Holy Cannoli (1997 - 2001)
Creamy Ricotta and pistachio ice cream with chocolate covered cannolis and roasted pistachios.
Now in front of the pearly gates,
Holy Cannoli sits and waits.
What brought its ruin no one knows,
Must have been the pistachios.
Tennessee Mud (1988 - 1989)
Coffee ice cream with Amaretto, Jack Daniels Tennessee Whiskey and roasted slivered almonds.
The bottle is empty,
The cup, and the glass.
Mud with Jack Daniels
Was not meant to last.
Wild Maine Blueberry (1992 - 1993)
Blueberry ice cream with Maine blueberry purée and wild Maine blueberries.
Wild Maine Blueberry
From the land of the puffin,
Now when we crave you
We turn to the muffin.
Dastardly Mash (1976 - 1991)
Chocolate Ice Cream with Pecans, Almonds, Raisins, & Chocolate Chips.
Here the brazen
DASTARDLY lies.
Some say that raisin,
Caused its demise.
Rainforest Crunch (1989 - 1999)
Ice Cream with Rainforest Crunch – a cashew and Brazil nut butter crunch.
With an aching heart & heavy sigh
We bid Rainforest Crunch goodbye.
That nutty Brittle from exotic places
Got sticky in between our braces.
Economic Crunch (1987 - 1987)
Vanilla with Chocolate Covered Almond, Pecans and Walnuts.
A delightful mash,
This flavor we remember
For the stock market crash
On the sixth of November.
Sugar Plum (1989 - 1990)
Plum Ice Cream with a Caramel Swirl.
It swirled in our heads,
It danced in our dreams,
It proved not to be though,
The best of ice creams.
Peanuts! Popcorn! (2000 - 2000)
Caramel Ice Cream with White Fudge-covered Caramel Popcorn, Toffee-coated Peanuts & a Caramel Swirl.
Peanuts, Popcorn!
mix 'em in a pot!
Plop 'em in your ice cream!
Well, maybe not.
Aloha Macadamia (2001 - 2002)
Rich milk chocolate cashew Brazil-nut butter ice cream with macadamia nuts covered in white & dark fudge & a milk chocolatey swirl.
We won’t blame the macadamia
But we were kinda in denial
The Marketplace had spoken:
Mac got aloha’ed off the aisle.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frozen Yogurt (1994 - 2001)
Vanilla frozen yogurt with gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough.
So now we know: our dough Fro Yo
Just wasn’t as great as expected.
Folks who love Dough as well as Fro Yo
Love ’em separate, not interconnected.
This Is Nuts (2001 - 2002)
Chocolate and pistachio ice cream with fudge covered almonds and roasted pistachios.
The name was meant to say it all
Without the pompous prose
Was it nuts we chose to say so,
or was it the nuts we chose?
Economic Crunch (1987 - 1987)
Cherry Garcia & Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice creams side by side.
Fans of the flick about a gawky high schooler
Thought the flavor we made could have been a lot cooler
Gosh! if we’d been quicker at reading their thoughts
We’d have realized they wanted a flavor with tots.
I remember when Napoleon Dynamite came out when I was a teen and have since watched the modern classic many times. Really wished I could’ve eaten some pints of this ice cream as a movie night snack!
Turtle Soup (2006 - 2010)
Vanilla ice cream with fudge & caramel cashews & a caramel swirl.
Slow and Steady wins the race,
Turtle Soup kept up the pace.
You may protest, but we suggest
Turtle Soup deserves a rest.
Schweddy Balls (2011 - 2011)
Vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum & loaded with fudge-covered rum & malt balls (2011 Holiday Season Limited Batch).
Born of the classic SNL sketch
The masses rejoiced
while others kvetched.
Fudge-covered rum balls
& malt balls galore!
The double entendre -
too fun to ignore!
This holiday favorite -
with love from Pete Schweddy,
vanished from store shelves
before we were ready.
Urban Jumble (2000 - 2001)
Coconut Almond Fudge Chip meets New York Super Fudge Chunk A Swirling Safari of Chocolate Ice Cream & Coconut Ice Cream mixed with White & Dark Chocolatey Chunks, Pecans & Roasted Almonds.
The chaos & cacophony
of busy city life
lies peaceful now under a maple tree,
the flavor lost its strife.
Ben & Jerry's Flavor Graveyard: Oh Pear
Miz Jelena's Sweet Potato Pie (1992 - 1993)
Ginger ice cream with a fudge swirl.
One potato, two potato,
Sweet Potato Pie,
No one could appreciate it
So we had to let it die
I never thought I could feel mournful for ice cream flavors, but here we are
Most these actually sound as if they would taste really really good
Ben and Jerry's has been my guilty pleasure for so long, but appearantly not long enough to try ANY of these amazing buried flavors. Grrr
The original Ben and Jerry s flavor 'Wavy Gravy', named in honor of Wavy himself, gave some of the profits to Wavy s 'Camp Win a Rainbow' to help disadvantaged kids. Now with the corporate takeover, the flavor, the benefits to the kids and any business from me are all gone and not even a stone to mark their passing. Shame shame on you, the not the real B & J s!
My favorites which were retired (or died?) were "Imagine Whirled Peace" and "Festivus" RIP... but I would be delighted with a return.
I never thought I could feel mournful for ice cream flavors, but here we are
Most these actually sound as if they would taste really really good
Ben and Jerry's has been my guilty pleasure for so long, but appearantly not long enough to try ANY of these amazing buried flavors. Grrr
The original Ben and Jerry s flavor 'Wavy Gravy', named in honor of Wavy himself, gave some of the profits to Wavy s 'Camp Win a Rainbow' to help disadvantaged kids. Now with the corporate takeover, the flavor, the benefits to the kids and any business from me are all gone and not even a stone to mark their passing. Shame shame on you, the not the real B & J s!
My favorites which were retired (or died?) were "Imagine Whirled Peace" and "Festivus" RIP... but I would be delighted with a return.
