The Flavor Graveyard

We all know that Ben & Jerry's are well-known for their funky flavors, not to mention some that are simply outrageous. 

Many of these ice cream flavors have colorful names, e.g. ‘Fossil Fuel’, ‘Vermonty Python’, ‘Turtle Soup’, 'Bovinity Divinity’, ‘Chunky Monkey’, ‘Sofa So Good Together’, and ‘Schweddy Balls’. 

Anyway, not every flavor that they come up with stays on the shelves forever. Some are eventually discontinued. However, those fallen flavors don’t just become forgotten treats. 

The company commemorates them in a way normal for people – but significantly less common for food products. Ben & Jerry’s have an actual “Flavor Graveyard” for their “dearly de-pinted” ice creams. 

Seriously, they have an actual cemetery you can visit in Waterbury, Vermont in the US of A. The memorial site is located at Ben & Jerry’s first factory, which opened in 1985. 

It features granite headstones for retired ice cream flavors. Each grave lists the late dessert’s year of “birth” and “death”. They also include a funny little poem about the fallen foodstuff, which typically include information about the flavor combination and how it ended up six-feet under. 

The tongue-in-cheek graveyard offers diehard fans the opportunity to shed a tear or two in memoriam of their favourite scoops. 

[You can also find all of the terminated ice creams at the virtual Flavor Graveyard online. And that’s where you can find a miracle because Ben & Jerry’s let customers vote on what flavors should be resurrected].

The physical graveyard came to life in 1997 and initially contained just four flavours: 'Dastardly Mash', 'Economic Crunch', 'Ethan Almond' and 'Tuskegee Chunk'. Since then, dozens and dozens of “not-so-bestsellers” have made their way to the cemetery. 

In fact, in 2015, Ben & Jerry’s took it a step further by hosting an actual funeral at the graveyard for the US flavour, ‘What a Cluster’, attracting mourners from miles away for the memorial. 

Never let it be said that ice cream isn’t a passionate subject!