the buzz log

For years, vanilla has been the favored flavor. Now, during the 25th anniversary of National Ice Cream Month, a Harris poll dares to declare chocolate as the ice cream choice of the American people.

Scandal! Upset! Could that sensuous hussy truly usurp the pure, comforting simplicity of the vanilla bean? Countless sources beg to differ, among them the NPD Group and the International Ice Cream Association (although, OK, that second list dates back to 2006).

Flavor Explosion
The real story isn't the favorite, but how many flavors exist nowadays. According to Country Living, the best-sellers from top brands are: Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia, Graeter's black raspberry chip, Baskin-Robbins Praline 'n' Cream, and Breyers vanilla.

Then you have taste-masters creating mixes like ginger wasabi (Cold Stone). In Boston, the trend includes bitter basil, salty caramel, spicy chocolate, and curried coconut. At the 2008 Yokohama Ice Cream Expo, where weird favors ruled, people couldn't get enough of the beef tongue. As if the milk from the cow wasn't enough.

Variations on a Cream
No bovine preferences among the ice cream flavors searched on Yahoo!, but trendy variations like basil did pop up, as did traditional standbys like butter brickle and oddities like Orange Crush. (Another soda maker, Dr. Pepper, appeared as among the topping choices, although peanut butter led the saucy searches.) 

Other notable trends: People want their ice cream in cupcake form, homemade, or fried (especially Mexican style).

Below, in time for National Ice Cream Day (Sunday, July 19), the most popular flavors: At least online, vanilla's place is assured, just like it was in 2006, 2007, and 2008. Sample for yourself, and weigh in below on your preferred pleasure. Oh, and since it is the 25th anniversary, knock yourself out and get a silver spoon to celebrate.

Filed under: Food, Ice Cream, Desserts

Today, a couple national chains offer more deals, with some altruistic twists. April 21 noon to 8 p.m. is the annual free cone day at Ben & Jerry's, purveyor of cheeky concoctions like Chubby Hubby, Jamaican Me Crazy and Karamel Sutra. (Naturally, we're intrigued by the Coffee, Coffee, BuzzBuzzBuzz.) Some locations will be doubling up with a good purpose, such as a blood drive, selling $1 waffle cones for a kids' club, or partnering with an advocacy center to bring attention to Child Awareness Month.

If dairy's not your treat, two quarters will score you an iced coffee at Dunkin' Donuts. That extra buzz will also help Homes For Our Troops, which gets a nickel for every cup sold.

Given the Search surge for both joints, expect long lines from people primed for their treats. Now if only fitness centers joined in and offered treadmill runs free up to 300 calories burned, it could really be a feel-good day.

Filed under: Business, Food, Coffee, Ice Cream, Charity

The inner workings of Indiana and North Carolina voters became national focus on the day after the primaries. As pundits and citizens rushed to make sense of these latest poll numbers, a dairy icon made his final farewell, a state benefited from crude behavior, and readers wondered if an "Idol" contestant may have plotted his own undoing.

Ice Cream Legacies ... Lasting?
Did ice cream explain Irvine Robbin's longevity? The second half of confectionary giant Baskin-Robbins died at age 90, nearly 63 years after opening his first store. According to the New York Times, a coin toss between him and brother-in-law Burton Baskin decided the order of their names in an enterprise that involved more than 1,000 flavors and nearly 6,000 stores.

Crude Oil Profits ... Excessive?
Texas has a reputation for flouting convention by doing things big. The Houston Chronicle's story on the Lone Star State's possible $10.7 billion surplus (billion with a "b") earned Buzz (Buzz with a "b") for the flabbergasting budgetary numbers. The state's largess, or what could be called in political parlance a windfall profit, stems from "record oil prices." Texas also managed to evade the housing debacle that has hobbled economies in California (which is carrying as much as $20 billion in debt) and Florida. Another state to benefit from crude oil and natural gas is New Mexico. In contrast, Connecticut may be staring at a shortfall of $67 million, Delaware $69 million, and Illinois anywhere from $395 to $750 million. Mebbe Texas should consider opening up a lending service.

"American Idol" Flubs ... Deliberate?
A dispiriting night among the four finalists had critics crabbing, but it was the readers who introduced the latest conspiracy theory: Did Jason Castro commit the well-known capital offense of forgetting his lines to get booted? Last week, the Texas competitor told Entertainment Weekly he was ready to go home because the price of fame was getting "weird." Readers commenting on EW's and Buzz Sugar's Tuesday recaps asked, "No mention of Jason mouthing 'DON'T VOTE' while Ryan was giving out his numbers?" and "Am I crazy or did Jason mouth, 'Don't vote' when his number went up?" Ultimately, Buzz eyerolling over lackadaisical performances and comparisons between "Idol" competition and the civil rights movement boiled down to blaming the Fox show's producers for running a musical "sweatshop."

Other news spiking in the Buzz ...

• Southwest Airlines unleashed the beast this week by selling energy drinks on flights, according to the Dallas Morning News, thereby creating a questionable airborne situation involving jittery passengers in an enclosed space.
• After a troubling past including two government investigations and condemnation for its sex mini-games, video game publisher Take-Two may have been tempted to say "take that" after publicizing a record $500 million in first-week sales of Grand Theft Auto IV. 
• Two studies presented during a recent American Society of Breast Surgeons gathering reiterated that the genetic test Oncotype DX could evaluate a cancer's recurrence rate to spare unnecessary chemotherapy treatments.

Filed under: American Idol, Recaps, Ice Cream, Economics, Daily Recap