Blue Bell Ice Cream: A Century at the Little Creamery in Brenham, Texas 1907-2007 Hardcover – December 21, 2006

Beautiful book and very educational as well as entertaining. Old photos, current photography,personal detail about the Kruse family, fun facts, a parallel to US,Texas history-this book has it all.Fun coffee table book.

I thought it was ice cream, not a book. I returned it

Bluebell icecream is a Texas tradition that has spread throughout about half of the US. This book chronicles the history of this great company, and was published in honor of their 100th anniversary. From humble beginnings as a rural creamery, the company grew and now is a dominant manufacturer in this product. I loved the pictures of the old production equipment, the horse drawn wagons to deliver ice cream door to door, and snippets of inside stories that were priceless. I keep it on my coffee table and peruse as I enjoy my daily dose of their wonderful product.

This is a GREAT view into the world of BlueBell! And that's coming from someone who lives in Brenham Texas! I gave this to my Grandfather, who moved to Brenham about 8 years ago, and he loves it! He has a total sweet tooth, and this was such a treat for him to get to read up and see historic photos about the ice cream he knows and loves so much now.

Bluebell is the best ice cream in the country. This book is all about Bluebell for over 100 years.

Bought as a gift for my mom, who loves coffee table books and blue bell! Must have for any texan, very good info.

Great coffee table book! Everyone sees it and has to open it!!

In the late 1980s, my family moved to Brenham where we lived for three years. Blue Bell Ice Cream was just beginning its tremendous expansion through Texas at that time, and we were excited to be moving to Blue Bell country. As we quickly found out, Blue Bell ice cream defines Brenham. Whenever the Creamery comes out with a new flavor, it makes the front page banner headline of the local newspaper. And in Brenham you can get ALL the flavors, many that you've never even heard of before.The schools serve hand-dipped Blue Bell in their cafeterias. So do all the restaurants, and even some of the gas stations. To us, it seemed there were buckets of hand-dipped Blue Bell just about anywhere we looked. We once counted 28 places that served hand-scooped Blue Bell in Brenham, which at that time had a population of only 12,000. And then one day, during a rainy football game, as we sat in the high school stadium right across the street from the Creamery, out came a rainbow and arched right into the top of the Blue Bell factory.This year, Blue Bell Ice Cream celebrates 100 years of production, with a handsome picture book in commemoration. It is filled with gorgeous color and black-and-white photographs, but also laden with historic ads, some extraordinary engineering information, and lots of just plain gee-whiz facts, the kind that will be so much fun to tell other Blue Bell Ice Cream fans.For instance, in 1907, the ice cream was made in hand-cranked freezers just like your grandma's. On a good day they could coax out almost two whole gallons. Then delivery boys would hitch up a horse and buggy and rush the ice cream to nearby families where they ate quickly, before it melted!Even up into the 1940s, ice cream sandwiches were made by hand slicing slabs from a 64-ounce ice cream block, and fixing the slab between two chocolate wafers. Automation came later, in the late 60s, but by 2006, Blue Bell had expanded from the single little creamery in Brenham, Texas into sixteen states, with forty-four creameries churning out Homemade Vanilla, Buttered Pecan, Cookies `n Cream, and Moo-liennium Crunch.Also included in the book are some of the flavors that didn't make it, like Jelly Terror, Dill Pickles `n Cream, and Licorice which turned a consumer's mouth black. At the end of the book are letters from people, mostly funny letters, most requesting that Blue Bell hurry to their towns.There used to an Apple Tree store on Market Street in Brenham. On weekends they often had demonstrators handing out samples. One Saturday, a lady was offering tastes of a startup ice cream brand from the Valley. She gave her pitch to everyone who walked by her table. People were polite, but they were also declining, and by the time we arrived, the poor lady was desperate. My younger son, feeling sorry for her, went over to take one of the small cups of melting vanilla. She watched gratefully as he ate the single scoop in one bite. He shook his head at her, and with pity, said, "Lady, this is Blue Bell country.""I know," she answered. I can still hear the surrender in her voice.Blue Bell has a lively web site: [...]. Go there to find out about the factory tours, (a terrific idea for Spring Break), to enter flavor-naming contests, and to learn all about the 100-Year Celebration planned for June 19-12 in Brenham.