High Lady of the Nap Court

Grapes contain a  a special molecule Anthocyanin that prevents freezing, so you’d keep ending up with grape milk. Many ice cream companies and manufacturers have made bold attempts at grape ice cream, hardly any of them successful.

But then, finally, those geniuses at Ben and Jerry’s did it. So why don’t we have grape ice cream?

Here’s the thing: Ben confessed in a People Magazine interview in 1984 that he had a huge crush on Becky and promised to create the flavor just for her. Knowing the history of grape ice cream, she coyly requested it, thinking it to be impossible. Ben began to include the grape skin and juice to better see the differences between batches. While he didn’t understand the science behind this at the time, he found that including the skins increased the levels of anthocyanin enough to make the ice cream freeze. “Becky was impressed,” he remarked, “We were at her house, alone. I gave her the scoop – on a cone. I was really getting somewhere. She was laughing and happy. She couldn’t believe I did it. I’ll never forget what happened next.”

“Becky jokingly gave her dog a lick from the cone. He liked it and took a couple of licks. Then he just gasped and dropped dead. He flipped down onto the floor and was just gone. I had no idea grapes are toxic to dogs. Specifically to the anthocyanin. Becky was devasted. I had invented a deadly dog poison, and I definitely wasn’t getting anywhere with her now.”

Yeah.