Orit Tucker, Chief Technology Officer and chief taster of Ben & Jerry’s, where she has been working for over 20 years, is used to comments about her work. “People are jealous, just jealous, when they hear what I’m doing,” she enthuses.
“They’re also sure that in my house the freezer is stuffed with ice cream, and that’s indeed true.”
While we all spend the summer months with ice cream in hand, trying new flavors or sticking to the old, well-loved ones, there are those who, like Tucker, have tasted this ice cream countless times to make sure the sweetness is right, the nuts are not too big or small and the chocolate melts exactly according to protocol. And they even get paid for it.
“It starts with tasting the natural ingredients that make up ice cream: cream, nuts, chocolate, caramel and more,” says Tucker. “The second stage of tasting happens during the production process, where you taste the fresh ice cream produced in the factory in the industrial area in Be’er Tuviya. The most fun is the final product, which combines all the different flavors that I taste every day.
“Now, for example, we released the vegan ice cream Caramel Sutra, so there was a set of tastings. Another new flavor came out called Gimme S’more, with a marshmallow base and lots of toppings like cookie crumbs and pieces of fudge.”
Although the company’s ice creams are made according to an exact American recipe, Tucker says they still have to be tasted all the time. “There are a lot of things that can only be figured out through tasting,” she explains, “such as if there is suddenly an inappropriate taste in ice cream. We have already had situations in which we did not approve [a flavor] and started from scratch.”
Do new flavors excite you?
“It’s the most fun in the world, and I say it after more than 20 years in the field. Every morning I get up and know that only good and sweet things are waiting for me. The new flavors are the most enjoyable, but there are also the existing flavors, which we also continue to taste every day. Every time there is the renewed joy of tasting Cookie Dough or Chunky Monkey (vanilla, walnuts, chocolate fudge and banana). It never gets tiring; it’s never-ending fun.”
You aren’t worried about gaining weight?
“I just taste, I do not eat (laughs), and of course I have other teams that do it. For me it is a spoon and to the trash, but I do not count how many such spoons I taste a day.”
As part of her work, Tucker is sometimes called by people who miss one flavor or another that is no longer produced. “We have the ‘Cemetery for Tastes’ project, where we cherish our favorite flavors that are no longer there,” she says. “Every year we revive a flavor that no longer exists. We ask customers what flavor they would like, and according to the majority we decide what to revive.
“This year, for example, the taste Cherry Garcia returned – cherry ice cream with cherries and chocolate.”
‘It’s probably genes’
“I taste a lot of ice cream, I estimate that about a pound a day,” shares Yoav Goldberg, director and chief taster of the Legenda ice cream chain, which has 21 branches around the country. “Some days I get ice cream ‘poisoning,’ but to my great joy I do not gain weight. It’s probably genes I got from my grandfather.
“It starts with the first stage where you want to choose the taste, whether it is through ideas in your head, ideas that are seen in other worlds. First you think about the taste, then about the ingredients, then you start creating the mixture of the ice cream you want to make.”
When does the sense of taste enter the picture?
“I taste the mixture itself; I see that it suits the taste we want. In Apropo ice cream, for example, one of the ingredients is actually Apropo, the local cone-shaped snack. So I want to make sure the Apropo taste is not too strong or too weak. The chain’s owner, Dudu Mina, and myself check this both before the [freezing] process and during the process.
“On average it can take a month until we reach the desired taste because it is important for us to reach the right texture and the right flavors. We also pilot for a period of time to see consumer responses.
“We have over 80 flavors in the chain. We produce the desired flavor, then send the recipe to each branch, and they produce it there. I also go through the branches to sample the ice cream and make sure everything is in order.”
Have you ever withheld approval of flavors?
“Of course. Even in the simplest taste it takes time to reach the right taste and texture. For example, we now made popcorn flavor. We had a problem with the texture, which was too hard. So, we canceled it and did it again. After getting the desired texture, we got to the point of taste. At first the taste of caramel was too strong, and we had to get the right balance between sweet and salty.”
Goldberg admits he has no ice cream at home. “The cobbler walks barefoot,” he notes. Yet, on the job, one of the things that excites him is the fact that “I was the first to taste the ice cream, that I was part of the process of making that ice cream. Sometimes, as mentioned, it takes a very long time to get to the desired taste. When we succeed, it is exciting and satisfying.”
From idea to reality
“New flavors can come from several directions,” says Dennis Gotkin, technologist, development manager and new-flavor taster at the ANITA Group, which includes the Golda chain with 90 branches nationwide, and the ANITA brand, which includes four branches in Israel and eight branches in New York, Australia, Puerto Rico and Barcelona.
“For example, we may come across a new raw material we have not dealt with and want to produce something with, such as macadamia nut or pretzel. It can come from popular overseas trends like spirulina or unicorn ice cream, which has several colors in one texture, or from different inspirations.”
Tell us about the process.
“Usually when you make a taste of ice cream, you make it in several versions with different doses. For example, nuts in one dose or another or one size or another or a salty, natural or caramelized nut, added sugar in this amount or another. Then we do a taste test that I participate in along with everyone who is there at the moment: if the taste test is done at the branch, then the employees taste; if in the factory, everyone who is there tastes. In the end, we choose the elements that were more successful, then we produce the final version, which I also taste and approve.”
On a tasting day, according to Gotkin, he easily reaches a pound of product. “We can hit the taste after a day, on the other hand it is possible to reach the desired taste after a lot of trying, and it can even take months,” he says. “In short, there is not a day that I do not eat ice cream.”
Outside of work, are you able to stomach ice cream?
“Yes. Everywhere that I see a new flavor that I don’t recognize; I have to see what is going on.”
What is expected this summer?
“We are continuing with salty and surprising ice creams, such as mascarpone cheese with za’atar-spiced crackers. We also really like the nostalgic childhood trend and are trying to find an interpretation for snacks from the past. We made, for example, an ice cream coating that has the taste of red Bamba of yesteryear, but instead of a crunchy texture, it comes in a smooth and rich creamy texture. You get the familiar taste, but with a completely different texture.”
How does it feel to be the first to taste the new flavors?
“It’s the greatest fun there is. It’s something I’ve been doing all my life.
“I love ice cream and I like to see an idea crystallize into reality. It’s a great satisfaction.”