After freezing the mix to a nice and creamy 22 degrees, we have a choice: if we’re just making chunkless flavors, like Vanilla or Chocolate, the ice cream is pumped directly to the pint-filling machinery, but if we’re making chunky flavors, the ice cream takes a turn through the Chunk Feeder.
Back in the days before Ben & Jerry’s, the only thing ice cream manufacturers ever put into their ice cream was fruit. That’s why the machine that “feeds” chunks into our ice cream is actually called a “Fruit Feeder.” But considering how many chunky things we have to feed the feeder with, from gobs of chocolate chip cookie dough to fudgy brownies, to cookies and candies and nuts and everything in between…in addition to fruit…we affectionately renamed it!
Quite simply, the Chunk Feeder “feeds” chunks into the ice cream stream. Chunks are top-loaded into the Chunk Feeder hopper, at the bottom of which an auger regulates a steady chunk-flow into a star-wheel. As the star-wheel turns, it pushes the chunks into the stream of frozen ice cream flowing through the feeder. The be-chunked ice cream finally passes through a special blender attachment, which mixes the chunks throughout the stream of ice cream, ensuring an even ”chunk dispersal”.
Favorite Flavor:
"Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough"
Best Part About Ben & Jerry's:
"I work with great people who care enough to do their best and we make the world’s best ice cream."
Pint Confessions:
"I mostly just dig out the chunks and swirls and leave the ice cream behind."
– Kathy Jochim
2nd / 3rd Shift Maintenance Supervisor