On Second Scoop

by Matt
(On Second Scoop)

On Second Scoop...because sometimes you have to go back for more.

Name: Matt
Favorite Homemade Ice Cream: still learning (but having fun!)
Favorite Ice Cream Brand: Tough call
Favorite Ice Cream Store: Uhlman's in Westboro, MA (they serve Puritan Ice Cream)
Most Exotic Ice Cream Flavor You've Ever Tried: Maine Survivor (it may not be your standard exotic flavor, but the person who decided to shove gigantic fresh cookies into an ice cream mixer is my kind of crazy)

What is the background of your blog?

I have been addicted to ice cream for as long as I can remember. I just couldn't get enough of it as a kid. If I wasn't making myself a sundae, I was messing with my ice cream blender making myself a shake. I had ice cream every night for years and years. The portions are a bit smaller nowadays, but I just don't know how to leave a grocery store without stopping in the freezer section and picking up a fresh container of ice cream. My wife shares my passion for ice cream, as does our daughter.

As far as blogging goes, well, I actually posted my first web page in early 1995 and have been messing around ever since. Actually, I always wanted to start a movie review site. As the internet exploded, my little site got left in the dust, but I still wanted to be a reviewer. Over the last year, I've been finding myself talking more and more about ice cream, and then a buddy joked that I should start the Dubba Ice Cream Kompany and for whatever reason, it got the blog wheels turning. So I started the site, mainly for friends at first. After a few months, I decided to take things up a notch. I had a real hard time picking a name for the site, I'm just not that creative, but then I came up with "On Second Scoop", basically a play on "On Second Thought". The domain was available, and off I went.

What sets On Second Scoop apart from other blogs on ice cream?

It may sound corny, but the blog isn't just about appreciating new flavors, it's about appreciating the break that a bowl of ice cream gives us during our crazy busy lives.

So with adailyscoop.com and twodips.com on hiatus, we move on with On Second Scoop. To keep the site interesting (and since I can't afford to buy or eat a fresh container of ice cream everyday), I've tried to keep my posts somewhat diverse but without straying to far from the freezer.

To be honest, journalistic writing is not my strong suit, my style is more of a conversation. I'm not a man of many words, but I try to elaborate as best I can. I don't expect people to agree with me, I just hope they understand what I'm thinking so they can go and make their own decisions.

You do a lot of ice cream reviews. In your opinion, what makes an ice cream good?

Texture is important, but I think it is easy to make decent texture than to make decent flavor. There's flavor overkill, there's lack of flavor, and then they're always low quality flavor. Plus if you do mix-ins, you really gotta nail the consistency down. Nothing worse than loving an ice cream one night, and being bored to tears the next.

Going that extra mile to keep an ice cream all natural is always appreciated as well.

On Second Scoop contains a lot of ice cream and topping reviews. What ice cream and topping combinations do you recommend?

I recommend going to a sundae bar and going crazy! But seriously, tough call. There are so many flavors nowadays that toppings aren't nearly as important as they use to be.

If I have to be specific, I guess a Reese's Sundae is my favorite with whip cream, hot fudge, and peanut butter. I could have one every day.

You ask your readers how many times they eat ice cream - so the big question is how many times a week do you eat ice cream?

Oh man, loaded question: I am a snacker by nature. I'd say I eat ice cream 4 or 5 times a week. On the days I don't have ice cream, it's usually because I've already gone and eaten something else (sherbet, cake, candy bar,
pudding, big glass of chocolate milk, well, you get the idea).

Any tips you can share with us about making, serving, or selling ice cream?

Experiment, Experiment, Experiment!
And, love what you do!

How lucky are the people who get to come up with new flavors and share them with the world? Ice cream makes people happy, plain and simple.



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