"French Pot" Process
Graeter's ice cream is made in a French pot batch process. The ice cream mix is placed into a chilled, spinning French pot. As the cream freezes on the sidewall of the pot, a blade gently scrapes the pot's sidewalls, folding the slowly freezing cream into itself. It takes about 20 minutes to freeze a two-gallon batch. For flavors that include chocolate chips, a low melting temperature liquid chocolate is poured into the pot, and freezes into a thin shell on top of the ice cream. A worker uses a blade to break up this shell and mix it into the ice cream, resulting in Graeter's famous huge dark chewy chocolate chips.
Each batch of ice cream is only about two gallons (7.6 L) and is thus very labor intensive. The resulting ice cream is so thick that it must be hand-packed into pints (473 mL). An article in The New York Times in 1997 explains that for reasons not understood, superior ice creams are made in batches of two gallons or less. The ice cream is sold in pint containers at Graeter's stores, and at food markets, including Giant Eagle grocery and Meijer; Kroger, also a Cincinnati-based company, in the vicinity of Graeter's stores as well as in the Atlanta, Dallas–Fort Worth, Houston, Knoxville and Raleigh areas; King Soopers stores (a division of Kroger) in Denver, Colorado; numerous Ralphs and Smith's Food and Drug (also divisions of Kroger) locations in California and Utah respectively; Whole Foods in the Chicago, IL region; Highlander in Rockton, IL; QFC (Quality Food Centers) in Seattle, WA; and in Northeast Ohio at Heinen's Markets in Cleveland and Acme Fresh Market stores in Akron. Dean & DeLucca, the New York based fine food emporium, attempted to carry the product but were refused by Graeter's, as the quantities involved would have forced them to compromise their small-batch technique. Because of the small batches and high amount of labor involved, Graeter's pints are more expensive than other brands of premium ice cream, such as Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs. Its sales are small compared to the leading ice cream makers. In 2010, the NY Times listed the company's sales at $20 million.
Like most super-premium ice creams, Graeter’s has a high butter fat content, between 16 and 18%. It also has no air whipped in, and so is extremely dense, which adds to its rich flavor. On her show in July 2002, Oprah Winfrey said: "You haven't had ice cream till you've had Graeter's. The butter pecan is Stedman's favorite, and mine, too." The company was then overwhelmed with 800,000 phone and Internet orders, which overwhelmed and brought down the local Cincinnati Bell phone company switch. Today, Graeter's ships about 40,000 packages of ice cream to fans across the country every year.
Graeter's stores also receive ice cream in two-gallon tubs, which they scoop to make ice cream cones, ice cream sodas, and milkshakes. Graeter's also sells its ice cream online, and offers fresh baked-goods and hand-dipped chocolate.
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