At ice cream shops around the country, customers inquiring about their favorite flavors of yore is a near-daily, if not near-hourly, experience. This is especially true at Ben & Jerry’s, which rotates flavors out constantly. In fact, there’s an actual graveyard at the Vermont factory where fans can go and pay their last respects to dozens of discontinued flavors. Sounds extreme, but in this food-obsessed nation, we’re steadfastly loyal to all kinds of edibles, from fast food to anything with bacon. And when our favorites are ripped from the shelves too soon, we lament the loss for a long time afterward. That’s why even having a physical place to mourn isn’t enough for some Ben & Jerry’s enthusiasts. There are some flavors in their final resting place that fans still haven’t let go of and probably never will.
Wavy Gravy
A few years ago, Ben & Jerry’s offered to bring one flavor back from the graveyard. Wavy Gravy—caramel, cashew, and Brazil-nut ice cream with almonds and a chocolate-hazelnut swirl—won hands down, but reappeared in shops for a limited time only.Rainforest Crunch
This flavor—vanilla ice cream with cashew and Brazil-nut buttercrunch chunks—is one of the most missed and one of the most controversial. The company rolled this out in 1989, along with the promise that some of the sales would go toward saving the rainforests, then retracted that statement (along with the claim that the nuts were sourced from cooperatives) in the mid-1990s. Despite its being a good seller, they took it off the market soon after.Holy Cannoli
This flavor was around for only a year, but fans continue to speak of it nostalgically in online forums and articles related to Ben & Jerry’s. “I still dream of Holy Cannoli,” wrote one commenter in a Serious Eats story about the Flavor Graveyard. “My heart was so broken when it went away I drowned my sorrows in Häagen-Dazs.” Its unique blend of ingredients—vanilla-pistachio ice cream, ricotta, pistachios, and cannoli pieces—makes the loss particularly hard.From Russia with Buzz/Coffee Coffee Buzz Buzz Buzz
Two names, one flavor: dark coffee ice cream with espresso-fudge chips. Both are in the graveyard, though the latter’s still available in some scoop shops. Caffeine addicts who don’t live near a shop have to make do with Coffee Heath Bar Crunch, which doesn’t offer nearly as much buzz.
