Hopkins gets its own ice cream flavor

In coalition with the Hopkins Organization for Programming (the HOP), local ice cream parlor Dominion Ice Cream released a brand new ice cream flavor that is sweeping the Hopkins community: Blue Jay Batter. The new flavor debuted this past Tuesday at a special event on the upper quad of the Homewood Campus. Those who attended the event received free samples of the blueberry cheesecake-flavored ice cream along with custom designed Blue Jay Batter t-shirts.

Senior Jon Hunt, co-chair of the HOP, praised the efforts of the group in thinking of a creative t-shirt design, which eventually sparked the new idea of an official Hopkins ice cream flavor. “When we came up with the fall semester’s HOP t-shirt, we wanted to play off of the classic Ben and Jerry’s ice cream cartoon,” Hunt said. “After noticing the similarities of the design with that of Ben and Jerry’s, someone in passing mentioned the idea of trademarking an enjoyable flavor of ice cream in honor of Hopkins athletics. One idea led to another and now we’ve introduced what we believe to be a winning flavor.”

When asked about the success of the debut, Hunt only had positive things to say. “From what I could tell, the entire crowd that came out to taste Blue Jay Batter thoroughly enjoyed the event,” Hunt said. “People enjoyed the taste of the ice cream and mingling with the school community.” According to Hunt, the entirety of the Upper Quad was packed with a mixture of Hopkins students, faculty and staff, all eagerly waiting for the revelation of the new flavor.

Shortly after the debut, the new flavor was immediately stocked at Dominion Ice Cream, a parlor just across the street from Homewood campus, located on the corner of North Charles and 33rd Street.

“Dominion Ice Cream has been a huge source for our success,” Hunt said. “They coordinated the debut with us and have agreed to be the official provider of Blue Jay batter at their parlor.”

While the eclectic ice cream shop is known more for its classic vegetable flavors such as sweet potato, spinach, sweet corn and beet, Dominion offers a variety of sundaes, milkshakes, malts and traditional flavors of ice cream. In addition, the local ice cream branch has been featured on the Food Network Channel, specifically on the show Chef vs. City in August of 2010. In addition, Dominion has been awarded best vegetable ice cream in the greater Baltimore County area and has been featured in several magazines and newspapers such as the Baltimore Sun, Baltimore Magazine, Baltimore City Paper, Baltimore Child Magazine, Towson University, and several more. Dominion believes the addition of Blue Jay Batter will only help to increase the store’s popularity and expand upon the already broad and delectable selection. Finally, Dominion has been rated the best ice cream in Baltimore as voted on by Baltimore Magazine in 2012.

The name of the ice cream flavor originated in honor of Hopkins intercollegiate sports teams. In fact, Donna Calloway, owner and operator of Dominion Ice Cream, spent countless hours preparing batches of Blue Jay Batter and gave out samples to her fellow employees to test the flavors. After several trials, she was able to create the perfect shade of black and blue in honor of the university colors.

While the availability of the new flavor has been brief, the local Charles village community has had encouraging opinions of the new flavor. “I have only heard great things about the flavor so far,” Hunt said. “With Dominion stocking their store, we expect the popularity of Blue Jay Batter to skyrocket. I, for one, plan on visiting Dominion several times to grab a cup before class.”

With blueberry meeting cake batter and a hint of cheesecake coupled with the obvious success of the debut, Blue Jay Batter is sure to be an automatic staple in the Hopkins community. As the word continues to spread about this innovative flavor, Dominion will soon be packed with enthusiastic members of the community, eager to try a scoop of this new delicious creation.