DeRusha Eats: David's Famous Frozen Custard
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As the weather gets warmer, nothing beats a giant scoop of ice cream. Except maybe a giant scoop of frozen custard.
A stockbroker had a dream, but was told he couldn't do it -- until he called the University of Minnesota.
So, Thursday morning Jason DeRusha eats David's Famous Frozen Custard.
It is an unlikely pairing: the stockbroker and the dairy scientist. Ray Miller made cheese and David Gott made trades.
"I knew nothing about ice cream," Gott said, laughing.
He knew nothing.
Now, David's Famous Frozen Custard is in hundreds of stores throughout the Midwest.
What's more impressive: Frozen custard is hard to make because it uses so much fat.
"They all said it would turn to butter as it went through the process. (Whip it too much and) it turns to butter," Gott said.
Miller was skeptical, as head of the University of Minnesota's Dairy Pilot Lab, the recipe looked impossible.
"The thought was, no, this isn't gonna work," Miller said.
But part of what a lab does is to take risks and try things. It's led to breakthroughs in cheese production and now a breakthrough in frozen custard.
"We have 50 percent more butterfat than anyone. And we have at least twice as many egg yolk solids as anyone," Gott said.
It took three days of testing, but it worked. The results: An incredibly creamy and smooth Dutch Chocalate and Gourmet Vanilla that tastes like real vanilla.
It's now a custard famous for its taste, but also for the guys behind it who wouldn't take no for an answer.
"We're about taking on challenges, even sometimes when they don't seem like they have a chance, and being willing to discover something new," Miller said.
"If you make the best product you can make that can be made, and you sell it at a reasonable price with a fair profit, you'll be successful," Gott said.
