The Most Popular Flavor
It took six years for Ben & Jerry’s to perfect the cookie dough chunks in its Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream.

Courtesy of Ben & Jerry

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The Sweetest Job

Have you ever tasted a Ben & Jerry’s flavor and wondered how someone came up with it? We have the answer!

    Imagine having a job that’s all about ice cream. You have to think up new flavors and taste them. Does that sound like the best job ever? For Natalia Butler—a Flavor Guru at Ben & Jerry’s—it sure is!

    Flavor Gurus are the people who formulate delicious new flavors. Some are food scientists, like Natalia, and others are chefs. They travel the world looking for new ingredients. They spend hours figuring out the right amount of caramel or chocolate chunks to make every bite perfect. We asked Natalia about her sweet job!

    How did you decide to become a food scientist? 
    I actually started college to become a doctor. I was walking around campus one day, and I saw that one of the buildings said “food science.” I couldn’t believe that was a real thing! I knew it was what I wanted to do. 

    How long does it take to create a flavor?
    It takes about 18 to 24 months. We have to be thinking way into the future: What are people going to be eating a year from now?    

What’s the best part of your job?
    I get to be myself! Everyone on our team likes food just as much as I do, so we bond over that. I love that I get to cook and play with food at work.

    Did you ever invent a flavor that didn’t end up getting sold?
    I made a flavor based on a dessert I loved as a kid: baked pears. It was a pear ice cream with caramel and nuts. The small batch I made was delicious. But other people didn’t like it as much as I did, so we never made it in the factory. Oh well!

    What advice would you give a kid who wants to be a food scientist?
    Don’t get discouraged. No class is hard enough to stop you. For me, chemistry was really difficult, but I’m so happy that I didn’t quit. I learned that every challenge gets you ready for the next one. 

    Do you ever get sick of ice cream? 
No! 

 

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