mail order delight: graeter’s ice cream
If you really want to wow ‘em at one of your summer socials, three words: Graeter’s Ice Cream. If there’s a Mobil Five-Star rating for ice cream, insanely creamy and sweet Graeter’s deserves it — take it from a girl who grew up mainlining the stuff. (Even Oprah once devoted a segment of her show to it.) Graeter’s still makes ice cream in small, hand-stirred batches, yet somehow they manage to ship orders to the continental United States. Their signature is the gigantic chocolate “chips” (more like chocolate icebergs) in their chip flavors, which occur as melted chocolate is stirred into their batches as they freeze. Whatever you order, make sure to include at least one pint of Black Raspberry Chip. It’s the all-time best-seller for a reason. Trust me. - Mary T.
June 20th, 2007 at 9:58 am
I’m sure it’s yummy, but my goodness… did you see how much it costs to ship? $50 for six pints of ice cream, in shipping costs alone.
June 20th, 2007 at 10:01 am
Hey, DJ? You know what? IT’S WORTH IT.
June 20th, 2007 at 11:01 am
trust me, the $50 is worth it. i grew up on graeter’s living in cincinnati and miss it so now that i’m in new york. but the good news - edward’s in tribeca has a cincinnati night once a month and black raspberry chip is always one of the featured flavors they have flown in…
June 20th, 2007 at 11:19 am
Oh how i miss Graeter’s! You forgot to mention that it is MILK CHOCOLATE that is mixed in the ice cream. Peanut butter chocolate chip is the best.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
oh goodness, i have missed graeter’s so much since moving to chicago from columbus. i agree, black raspberry chip is the best. my mom always has a pint of it waiting in the freezer when i come home to visit.
if you can’t get to ohio, the shipping cost is worth every penny. this is the greatest ice cream in the universe.
June 20th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
i went to college in delaware, OH and taking a trip to graeters was always our well deserved treat for hard studying. see the picture, i miss it so much. thanks for bringing up that fond memory!
June 20th, 2007 at 2:02 pm
Chad is from Columbus and loves Graeter’s. Can’t believe he’s never taken me there, but you can bet it is on the top of our next Ohio list!
June 20th, 2007 at 2:17 pm
Um…it’s $90 to ship to NJ. I would have paid $50…but not $15 per pint!
June 20th, 2007 at 3:28 pm
Yes, no doubt prices have risen. I’m sure packing it in dry ice isn’t cheap. But if you’re ever in Ohio or thereabouts (Northern Kentucky has locations too and no doubt some other close-by areas), do check it out. And Angela, if you go twice, get a turtle sundae once with plain old vanilla ice cream. Now that’s something I am suddenly missing like crazy. WAH!
June 20th, 2007 at 3:33 pm
oh man - that picture makes me want some graeter’s so badly! and yes, it is so worth the money - although if i’m going to order, i’m tempted to wait until the fall when i can get some cinnamon along with my black raspberry chip. in the meantime, thanks *so much* to sara, for the tip about edward’s!
June 20th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Pumpkin is my favorite seasonal flavor. (Dammit, why did I even post about this?)
June 21st, 2007 at 3:56 pm
Seriously–forget Graeter’s. The Cincinnati ice cream truly worth the price of dry-ice shipping is Aglamesis Bros. There are only two stores and it’s still in the Greek family that started it. I worked there in high school; I’ve lived in Chicago since 1991 and still have my parents bring it whenever they come to visit. That picture on the homepage? Last time I visited the main store still pretty much looked like this.
http://www.aglamesis.com/
June 26th, 2007 at 1:32 pm
OMG! thats so funny that you guys are talking about Graeter’s. I worked there for nearly 3 years when i was a youth. And thats all that I ate for those entire 3 years. blarg. I still go there as soon as i return home each time. mmmmmmm Oh- and those chips- They were HUGE and Really good dark chocolate. I’m sorry Kiki- Aglamesis Bros is just plain compared to Graeters.
And thank you for the reminder, my sis is coming to visit me and she just agreed to bring some with her and some Skyline chili!!!! Glee….
June 26th, 2007 at 2:01 pm
If only I’d known how much play this would get, I would have written this post long ago! : )
And KiKi, I also have love for Aglamesis. Now stop making me homesick!
June 30th, 2007 at 1:11 pm
The chips at Aglamesis are similar, actually. They made candy also, upstairs at the Oakley store, and used the same quality dark chocolate to make the chips, pouring it into the vat and letting it freeze on contact, then breaking it up by hand with the paddle. I wonder if it’s possible to do this in a home ice cream maker somehow . . .
May 20th, 2008 at 5:00 am
[...] have a special fondness for things from Columbus, OH (like Buckeye candy and Graeter’s ice-cream), but the goods at [...]