How Many Ben & Jerry's Flavors Are There?

Half-Baked, Milk & Cookies, Truffle Kerfuffle, and good old-fashioned Vanilla — these are only a few of the flavors offered by ice cream duo, co-founders Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, better known as Ben & Jerry. From humble beginnings selling ice cream out of a renovated gas station in Vermont to one of the most recognizable names in ice cream, the company is well-known for having a wide variety of unique flavors (with equally creative names) inspired by everything — from Grateful Dead frontman Jerry Garcia to late-night TV show hosts. Whether you've tested some of the more popular flavors or hold steadfast to your own personal favorite, have you ever wondered just how many flavors the company has in stock?

In 2018, The Daily Meal announced that Ben & Jerry's had 54 flavors of ice cream available. In 2020, Hesham Eissa and Lindsay Poulter, via DataViz, reported that 98 flavors of Ben & Jerry's are on the market — which means over 40 were created in under two years! How exactly could the company come up with such an enormous amount of flavors in such a relatively short time? The answer is rooted in the art of getting creative with a few classic base flavors.

Here's a simple question: If you had only three basic flavors of ice cream — vanilla, chocolate, and strawberry — and an enormous amount of toppings and mix-ins like cookie dough, cherries, and fudge, how many different flavors of ice cream can you make? According to Hesham Eissa and Lindsay Poulter's in-depth research, most of Ben and Jerry's flavors are simply a mixture of a base flavor with a less common ice cream flavor and a few mix-ins. Of the 98 flavors, 20 of them are simply a variation on chocolate ice cream, and 16 flavors are different types of vanilla ice cream. Only 22 flavors out of the 98 flavors — such as Mint Chocolate Cookie and Strawberry Cheesecake for example — can be classified as "unique" flavors. 

Of course, this is in no way saying that Ben & Jerry's ice cream isn't unique — it's impressive to make 98 flavors of ice cream using only a few flavors and some mix-ins, not to mention the fun names that come with them. In fact, these 98 flavors are only a small part of the company's frozen portfolio. The company has their own "Flavor Graveyard," where nearly 35 long-retired flavors lay at rest, waiting for a chance to one day be resurrected again. 

The company has recently released two new flavors, Chocolate Milk & Cookies and Dirt Cake, back in January, according to Thrillist, so we can safely say the 98 flavors is now 100, and counting.