In-Shane-ly Chocolate ice cream made its debut at BYU Creameries on Sept. 21.
The new flavor consists of Dutch chocolate ice cream with marshmallow swirls and brownie pieces.
The ice cream was created for BYU’s recently inaugurated President C. Shane Reese, who decided on the ice cream flavor with support from BYU chefs and President Reese’s family. The flavor was announced on BYU Creamery’s Instagram.
Bryon Reese, BYU sophomore and son of President Reese, said he received a phone call from his parents saying, “We’re getting an ice cream flavor, and we want you guys to help us decide what it is.”
The call came as a surprise to Bryon Reese, who said he was expecting a call like, “Hey, come home and take care of the dog,” rather than choosing a new ice cream flavor.
Although the opportunity to help his dad come up with a new ice cream flavor was unexpected, President Reese’s decision came as no surprise to Bryon Reese.
“My dad loves Dutch chocolate,” Bryon Reese said.
BYU Dining Services executive chef John McDonald said there were many steps that went into bringing the In-Shane-ly Chocolate ice cream flavor to life. The first step in the process: choosing what flavor for the ice cream base.
“The way we go about it is, we look at the ice cream base whether it’s going to be a vanilla, a chocolate, a fruit base, a flavored base of some sort,” McDonald said. “That’s kind of the foundation of the ice cream.”
In-Shane-ly Chocolate features a Dutch chocolate base which is a “richer, darker cocoa.”
The chocolate base has undergone a treatment known as the Dutch process, McDonald explained, and treated with an alkali that helps neutralize cocoa.
After deciding the base flavor of Dutch chocolate, the next decision was which inclusions and ice cream variegates should be a part of the final product.
“I had the idea to put Reese’s Puffs in it, which I thought would have been good,” Bryon Reese said. “But they got kind of soggy in the ice cream, so it wasn’t very good.”
Different profiles that were tested included different variations of salted caramel, waffle cones and brownie pieces.
“After our meeting with (the Reeses), we decided on six different profiles we were going to do,” McDonald said.
Following the six taste tests, the Dutch chocolate with brownie chunks and marshmallow swirl was chosen as President Reese’s new ice cream flavor.
The Reese family are not the only fans of the new ice cream flavor.
“It’s the only ice cream flavor that we’ve had that people have come in and they’ve been telling me about it saying that they want it. It’s very popular,” Nathan Talcott, a BYU student employee at the BYU Creamery on Ninth, said.
Other BYU students enjoy the involvement of President Reese in the creation of the In-Shane-ly Chocolate ice cream.
“Out of all the things President Reese could have done, I think making an ice cream flavor was a good choice,” BYU freshman Jacob Whipple said.
Talcott said the new flavor’s combination of brownie, chocolate and marshmallow makes the new flavor a “great mix” for any ice cream lover.
In-Shane-ly Chocolate can be found at all BYU Creamery locations.
