I Don’t Travel to Central Tennessee Without Eating This Ice Cream

I scream. You scream. We all scream for ice cream. Actually, let me back up to the first sentence. I actually do not scream for ice cream, in general. It's actually not my favorite dessert; that would be strawberry short cake. But if it's a certain kind or brand of ice cream, yeah, I might holler a little.

In fact, I might even yell with delight if the ice cream is good enough, and the ice cream is ALWAYS good enough at Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.

The locations are known as "scoop shops," and there are six of them in Nashville, and they have simply redefined what I expect when I stick a spoon into a dish of ice cream. Yes, I am spoiled for most brands, now, on the strength of it, and that's all thanks to Jeni Britton Bauer opening her first location in Columbus OH in the mid-1990s.

By the way, I had no idea that making chocolate ice cream was a difficult process. I love learning about ice cream from a scientific standpoint.

And I love that Jeni has never been interested in just cranking out garden-variety ice cream. Her flavors are unique, to say the least. Also, I'm not sure what my favorite flavor would BE, but I do know that I have at least a scoop of Brambleberry Crisp and Gooey Butter Cake whenever I go. Those are among Jeni's regular scoop shop flavors, but the limited-edition varieties--like Mexican Hot Chocolate, Cranberry Crumble, and Boozy Eggnog--come and go at a rapid rate. And that's a good thing. By the way, the cranberry and eggnog flavors are ones I'd never seen before. That is ALSO a good thing.

I have to plug Sweet Cream Biscuits & Peach Jam, a summertime flavor that you can nevertheless find in pints in stores that carry Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams. Yes, they're not just available at the shops.

We missed out on one of Jeni's best...Sweet Potato & Torched Marshmallow. It is STUPID good, but, again, it's a limited-edition FALL flavor.

You can find the wide variety of amazing flavors on Jeni's website, but, again, they are not all there all the time. Those pints may be available; they just might not be in the big gallon tubs. Oh, I almost forgot. When you get there, the staff will let you sample any flavor you want. Seriously, you can stand there and try every single one of them, if you like. They don't care.

Yes, you might miss something you're looking for when you got to Jeni's, but when you get there, you'll find something else you didn't know you needed in your life. And then all is right with the world.