Raspberry grand ice cream flavor back at Tom's

ZANESVILLE – With the arrival of spring also comes a host of seasonal flavors at Tom's Ice Cream Bowl, including the wildly popular raspberry grand ice cream.

Grand raspberry has been on the spring/summer seasonal menu for the past five years, about half the time the seasonal menu has existed at all, said Bill Sullivan, Tom's owner. The season begins around the middle of March every year.

Staff will take suggestions from customers from time to time, about what flavors should be added to the menu, but raspberry grand wasn't one of those suggestions.

"We came up with that one," Sullivan said.

All the ice cream at Tom's is made in-house from 14 percent butterfat ice cream mix. Staff adds the flavor themselves after the ice cream is mix, whipped and frozen. For the raspberry grand, a quart of white chocolate flavor is added for every five-gallon mix, and the red raspberry and chocolate chips are swirled into the ice cream as it's coming out.

The most popular way to eat it is in a sundae, with hot fudge sauce or nuts (or both), Sullivan said, but cones are up there, too.

The restaurant makes about 25,000 gallons of ice cream each year, which comes out to an average of 400 to 450 gallons each week. Of that, about nine or 10 gallons will become raspberry grand.

"We got the idea (for raspberry grand) just by looking around," he said. "We travel around a little bit and look at different ice cream flavors."

One of the managers discovered a raspberry ice cream flavor and decided to give it a try at Tom's.

"We made it, and it's really a big hit," Sullivan said. "It really goes over (well)."

Raspberry grand will be on the menu until Labor Day. Then, the winter season of flavors will begin.

ksnyder2@zanesvilletimesrecorder.com

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Twitter: @KL_Snyder

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Tom's Ice Cream Bowl — Location and Hours

532 McIntire Ave, Zanesville

740-452-5267

Sunday through Thursday: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Friday and Saturday: 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.