Graphic by Aspen Pearson ’28
BY ASPEN PEARSON ’28
STAFF WRITER
One of the most popular items at Blanchard Dining Commons is the ice cream. With warm weather right around the corner, I polled the Mount Holyoke community on ice cream preferences. The Dining Commons cycles through a wide range of flavors throughout the year, but a few clear favorites stood out in student responses.
The most popular picks were Graham Central Station and green tea ice cream. Graham Central Station is a creamy graham cracker-flavored ice cream with notes of brown sugar. This is one of the more common flavors in the Dining Commons, popping up often in the coolers and usually disappearing quickly once people notice it’s there. It’s a pretty reliable choice if you want something classic and sweet after dinner.
Green tea is a more rare occurrence in the freezer. When it does appear, it tends to generate excitement among students who enjoy its lighter, more subtle flavor. Emily Berg ’28 noted in a survey conducted by Mount Holyoke News: “Part of me wishes the green tea flavor was around in the winter, but perhaps it would be less special … something to look forward to for spring/summer.”
Green tea is a pale green, creamy ice cream with a light matcha flavor that isn’t overly sweet. It also pairs surprisingly well with other flavors if you’re the type of person who mixes scoops. Green tea and strawberry together is a popular combination, but it also works well with vanilla.
Another campus favorite seems to be strawberry cheesecake, a spring flavor that's been out the last couple of weeks.
The ice cream comes directly from Maple Valley Creamery, just down the road in Hadley, Massachusetts. The Dining Commons rotates its flavors often, and over the course of the year students might see flavors that feel tied to different parts of the semester. Some of these seasonal flavors include my favorite, eggnog, along with apple, pumpkin oreo, and peppermint.
For some students, these seasonal flavors become tied to specific memories on campus. McKenzie Phelan ’28 wrote about her favorite, peppermint: “I first found out about this flavor in December during finals week, and it became a kind of coping mechanism for me. The candy cane vibes of it all reminded me that Christmas was soon, and I needed that hope of something beyond my next essay.”
Ice cream seems to provide a common comfort to the Mount Holyoke community. Whether you are stressed from a long week of classes, grabbing dessert after dinner with friends, or just wandering through the Dining Commons looking for something sweet, a scoop from the freezer has become a small but familiar ritual.
Barrie Ashby ’28 summarized these sentiments in words I’m sure all of us can relate to: “I love Blanch ice cream.”
Madeleine Diesl ’28 contributed fact checking.
