Ben & Jerry's Introduces 'Schweddy Balls' Ice Cream Flavor

September 7, 2011
Eyder Peralta
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2011/09/07/140266537/yes-its-true-ben-jerrys-introduces-schweddy-balls-ice-cream-flavor
We thought it would never happen. When we reported that comedian Ana Gasteyer had spilled the beans on a new Ben & Jerry's ice cream flavor based on a Saturday Night Live skit that pokes fun at NPR, we thought it would never happen.

But we were wrong. Ben & Jerry's announced today that "Schweddy Balls" ice cream is on its way to store shelves across the country.

As we explained in June, "in case you don't get the reference, the skit is a hilarious commentary on NPR's, um, uniquely soothing sound. [Alec] Baldwin plays Pete Schweddy, a guest on a fake NPR show called Delicious Dish. Pete makes holiday treats like cheese balls, popcorn balls, rum balls and his famous Schweddy balls. The skit is an exercise in double entendres."

We talked to Ben & Jerry's spokesman Sean Greenwood and asked him, "What are you guys thinking?" We were imagining someone who's never seen the skit walking the grocery aisles and stumbling on the flavor.

Greenwood laughed.

"We've always been a company that has had a sense of humor," he said. Sometimes, he said, they spend time discussing serious business and other times "we just do fun."

"This is just plain silly," he said. And it tastes pretty good, he promised.

The flavor is made up of "vanilla ice cream with a hint of rum and is loaded with fudge covered rum balls and milk chocolate malt balls."

It'll be available for a limited time in about 30 percent of stores that carry Ben & Jerry's ice cream.