If you follow us on Twitter, @JarlingsCU, you’ve seen a particular type of tweet that goes out that may inquire your taste buds to stop in and try! Tweets titled ‘Hacks’ that give you the inside scoop into flavors of mix-ins for snowstorms, toppings for sundaes, and shakes that aren’t on the menu board, but can quickly become one of your daily favorites! A little secret menu from The Cup to showcase the endless combinations!

A flavor that only comes once a year for two weeks is the favorite holiday flavor Peppermint! You all love and can’t wait for it just like Christmas! Remember this was the first hack with a little secret on how to get it anytime making every day taste like Christmas! A little secret on how we make our refreshing peppermint ice cream is folding blended peppermint into our smooth vanilla!  Do you want to add a little extra taste to your Peppermint?  Just add Brownie, Oreos, or even Crackle to give it that little extra! You can even get a cone on the side to have your waffles and eat them too.  You probably never thought of that?!

Another popular one I’ve heard quite a few people talk about is the S’mores Snowstorm! Who doesn’t like a good s’mores and it’s perfect anytime even the winter! No fire needed, just ask for teddy grahams, any type of marshmallow (minis or crème, whichever you prefer) and your choice of chocolate! With one bite, you’ll surely want s’more and try some of our other hack creations!

Come to the Cup for a sandwich?!  What?  Who would have  thought you could combine the idea of sandwiches and ice cream together? I surely didn’t until one of my co-workers told me about it and I fell in love with the idea of the Peanut Butter and Jelly Snowstorm! Any good PB&J starts with classic Peanut Butter and then, pick any of our fruits as the jelly! I’ve heard strawberry is the “go to” for this one!  Finally, add waffle cone pieces to represent a sweet bread and blend it all up! That’s something to tell your friends about so they can be jelly about it and they will have to come try it out!  The PB&J Snowstorm -> A new twist on an old-fashioned favorite much like how many of our older menu items are still around today!

Depending upon when your interest in Custard Cup started, you might not have ever heard of these classics, but many Cup Lovers have and they’ll all say they’re something to try! You can get them as a snowstorm or even a sundae! It is a throwback to past menu items still ordered and enjoyed today that have made to the hack menu:

Bumblebee: Butterscotch over Chocolate Custard!

Devil’s Food:  Marshmallow over Chocolate Custard!

Dusty Devil:  Devil’s Food topped with Malt Powder!

Fruit Cup:  Pineapple, Raspberry, and Banana!

Macaroon: Vanilla Wafers, Coconut, and Almonds!

Old-Fashioned Peanut Butter Cup:  Peanut Butter, Chopped Peanuts, and Crackle!

Hawaiian:  Pineapple, Coconut, and Banana!

Tin Roof: Whole Peanuts with Hershey Syrup!

Tropical:  Almonds, Coconut, and Banana!

Just for our readers I’ve included a secret hack here that you’ll get the first sneak peek into before it even goes up on Twitter! I’m introducing you to the Pineapple Upside Down Cake! Just ask for pineapple, apples/peaches, cherries, and your choice of cake in your snowstorm! Whether it is cheesecake, oatmeal cookie, waffle pieces, or vanilla wafers, it is your choice!  It’s a piece of cake to order! Maybe this list will turn your favorites upside down, too!

Any of these hacks are a great original twist on traditional favorite treats! Be on the lookout for future hacks on our Twitter feed! Maybe there you’ll find your next favorite “go to” combination! If you figure out any for yourself, let us know @JarlingsCU and we’ll give you a tweet out! You’re only limited by your imagination and here at The Cup, the combinations are endless with all of our choices of topping, mix-ins, and flavors!

Winter season is coming and that means so are the holidays! Along with the season comes the cold weather when you like to stay indoors cuddled in blanket. Some of us are rushing to get to Jarling’s because there is a rumor we close for the winter. That was true in years gone by at 309 W. Kirby, but that is no longer the case!  If you didn’t hear, we’re open 362 days a year. The three days we’re closed are Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. We understand that during those cold months coming out here on Kirby is rather difficult. However, don’t worry; we have you covered for the holidays to shovel your way through the winter season!  Your local Jarling’s right here on Kirby isn’t closing unless it’s after ten or eleven at night.

As you know, we have our daily flavors of Vanilla, Chocolate, Lemon, and Strawberry, but we also have our flavors of the week that rotate each week. Those include Cherry, Cold Fudge, Mint, Orange, Cappuccino, and Peppermint just to name a few! We have so many more that you’ll just have stop by or check us out on social media to see what the flavor is that week. As you know as Cup Followers, we have all these flavors in bulk packaged in quarts and pints for anytime you want your favorite flavors! The question is what to do with them? Just a spoon and the container is a great way no doubt, but what if you want a little more? Don’t worry, here at Custard Cup we thought of that too! Here are just a few combinations you can try here at the store or even in your own home!

Here are some simple ideas for you all who stock up in the winter and want to try something new.

When I think holiday flavors one of the top ones I think of is eggnog. An eggnog float sounds amazing! Put it with vanilla or even peppermint custard to make a punch that is perfect for parties! Or, you can even get a pint of several of our flavors to have a tasting party to see what works best with such iconic festive flavor. I bet a little bit of cinnamon would probably taste spice-tacular with it as well!

Speaking of cinnamon, I’ve seen that coconut and pecans go great together with it! There are two different combinations you could do! Coconut custard, cinnamon, and chopped pecans are one way and the other is butter pecan custard, coconut flakes, and cinnamon. Don’t worry, before you lock up for the winter you can get both coconut and pecans here at the store too.

So, I’ve mentioned what all you could do in the warmth of your own home these coming winters, but what if you’re feeling adventurous and decides to brave the incoming frozen tundra and pay us a visit? Well, I’ve got you covered on some holiday themed combinations you can put on your wish list that you can use all year around even!

Hot chocolate is another go to drink for the winter and holidays so why not have it as frozen custard. Our chocolate custard combined with either marshmallow fluff or mini marshmallows in either shake or snowstorm sounds delightful! My recommendation for that real hot chocolate feeling would be to use the fluff marshmallow for the inside and request to get mini ones sprinkled on top!

Even some of your favorite regular menu items are holiday themed for year round joy like our Chocolate Chip Mint Snowstorms or Peppermint! A nickname on one of our regularly featured items is a ‘Milk & Cookies’ shake! A ‘Milk & Cookies’ shake is your choice of cookie being chocolate chip, oatmeal, or even cookie dough mixed in with our house made milk and custard. You can even do a sundae! Any time is a great time to spread the cheer!

I hope you’ll try and like some these new combinations we’ve come up with and come tell us what combination you’ve come up with! Even come tell us how the tasting went!? We’d love to hear from you and share with everyone the magical flavors we can come up with to get through the winter season! I’m not ready for the snow, but I am ready to try these new ideas!

Until then I hope you’ll carol along with our custard cup parody:  Tis the season for Jarling’s Custard Cup! Vanilla, Chocolate, Lemon, and Strawberry! Have a good holiday and winter season from us here at The Cup!

Back before McDonald’s sold breakfast all day there was a magical moment between the breakfast and lunch menus crossed over. You could walk into almost any location and order a sandwich known as the “Mc10:35”, it was a combination of Egg McMuffin and McDouble. It’s a tasty sandwich and you can still get it. What made it a BIT more enjoyable back then, was knowing you had to be in the right place at the right time. Knowing you had the opportunity to order it, meant you had mental access to the “secret menu”. This was never in a commercial, it was never on the big board you stared at before approaching the cashier, this sandwich combination was created internally. This sandwich was created by a maverick that decided that an egg MUST go on this burger. They wanted brunch on a bun. It’s that kind of culinary genius that inspires others and reaches new levels of taste buds.

 

You have possibly heard various stories of these types of creations. There are rumors all over the internet of meat mountains, items stuffed inside of each other, and even double or triple grilling techniques. I think “In and Out Burger” might have more secret items than regular menu items. You may have even been too nervous to ask about them, because it’s technically not following the rules. Maybe THIS location doesn’t know about it they look at you funny. It’s OK to ask here at The Cup, everyone is invited to play. Let’s throw the rules out and have some fun. We want to leave no stone unturned. You see articles all over your social media feeds of “food hacks”, and now it’s time we hacked our menu a bit and put on our mad scientist lab coat. In this case it is our signature apron, but you get the meaning…

 

As you probably know, we have over 50 ingredients you can add to your favorite frozen treat, plus a rotating special flavor of the week. We offer some favorite suggestions and classic combinations on our menu board, but the list would be too long to cover ALL the variations. We work a lot of hours and have “sampled” many many many amazing combinations here at The Cup. It’s really tough, but we soldier on, for you, and for science. We don’t have a one hundred percent success rate…someone has to prove that Strawberry Coffee Coconut is NOT a thing…So you loyal blog readers will be treated to some of our favorite “Double Secret Cup Menu” combos. From time to time we’ll post a special sundae or snowstorm we order here at the shop, and maybe you’ll love it too. Just come in and ask for it by name and we’ll make it fresh for you. Maybe we will feature toppings that are only available for a limited time. We just had a run of Candy Corn leading up to Halloween. Who knows what will come up next…Red Hots? Peeps? Bacon? Again, the rules are gone!

 

You may have already been doing this for years. Feel free to share your original creations with us on Facebook, Twitter, or throw a picture on our Instagram feed. Maybe one day we’ll even name one after you! You can tell your friends that you were the collaborator of their new ‘go to’ item.

 

Don’t be nervous to ask when you come in. There is no password, no handshake, just keep checking the website for upcoming blog posts, and you are in the club of knowing the names of the “Double Secret Cup Menu.”

THE HISTORY OF ICE CREAM

Do you know how ice cream as we know it came to be? – It may surprise you!

While there is not one specific inventor or birthplace of ice cream, historical references imply that consuming ice cream dates back as far as 200 B.C.!  The beginnings of modern ice cream were more along the lines of today’s snow cones.  Roman emperors would send runners into the mountains for snow, and then flavor it with fruits, juices, or honey.

Fast forward a thousand years and Marco Polo brings a recipe from the Far East back to Italy that closely resembled what is now called sherbet.  It is estimated that this was the beginning of ice cream as we know it, which was formulated sometime during the 1500s.  Around 1660, ice cream was finally made available to the general public.  The first café in Paris, called Café Procope, featured a recipe of blended milk, cream, butter, and eggs.  Café Procope is actually still in operation today, and is the oldest continuously run restaurant in Paris!

ICE CREAM IN AMERICA

It is not determined when exactly ice cream was brought over to the United States, but one of the first mentions of ice cream in America was in 1744 by a Scottish colonist who wrote about the delicious strawberry ice cream he had while visiting the house of Maryland Governor Thomas Bladen.  In 1777, confectioner Philip Lenzi released the very first advertisement for ice cream in the U.S. in the New York Gazette, announcing that ice cream was available ‘almost every day’ at his shop.  New York records show that President George Washington spent approximately $200 on ice cream the summer of 1790.  Today, that equals about $5,000!!

For many years, ice cream was a rare delicacy enjoyed only by the elite.  It required a sufficient amount of money to own at least one cow as well as to afford not selling its milk and cream.  It would require large quantities of sugar and salt, which were imported commodities.  Ice was also a luxury, which had to be cut from a river or lake during and winter and stored in an ice house (another luxury), in hopes that it would last until the summer.  Ice cream at this time was made using the ‘pot freezer’ method, which consisted of placing a bowl of cream inside a bucket of ice and salt.  Thank goodness for modern drive-thru windows!

THE BOOMING ICE CREAM BUSINESS

In 1843, Nancy Johnson patented the hand-cranked churn, creating smoother ice cream than the pot freezer method.  By 1851, a milk dealer by the name of Jacob Fussell had built an ice cream factory in Pennsylvania.  An unstable demand for milk and cream left Fussell with large amounts of surplus, which he utilized to produce ice cream.  His business was so successful that he opened up several other factories.  Mass production cut the cost significantly, opening up the market to people of lower classes and boosting popularity.

In the 1870s, the momentum of the ice cream market was again boosted with the invention of industrial refrigeration by Carl von Linde of Germany.   Like most other American industries, ice cream production boomed because of technological innovations, including steam power, mechanical refrigeration, the homogenizer, electric power and motors, packing machines, new freezing processes and equipment, and motorized delivery vehicles.  Each of these advancements made ice cream even easier to produce, package, transport, and store.

Soda fountains emerged in 1874, and with them came the invention of the ice cream soda.  Religious criticism surfaced for indulging in sinfully rich ice cream sodas on Sundays.  In response, ice cream merchants in the late 1890s left out the carbonated water from the ice cream sodas and invented the ice cream ‘Sunday’, eventually changed to ‘sundae’ to remove any connection with the Sabbath.

By the 1930s, grocery stores were first starting to sell ice cream.  World War II popularized ice cream as a way to boost troop morale and it grew to become a symbol of America at that time, so much so that Italian Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini banned ice cream in order to avoid any association.

THE START OF CUSTARD CUP