s p o o c S o w T e s a e l P BY Julie Hauser Photos: Go! Marketing + Advertising
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We all know how quickly we can tackle one of those delicious Klein’s ice cream bars or ice pops, but how long does it take to create them? We spoke to Mr. Ari Klein, one of four grandsons now employed by the company, to find out M i s h p a c h a J r.
s p o o c S o w T e s a e l P BY Julie Hauser Photos: Go! Marketing + Advertising
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We all know how quickly we can tackle one of those delicious Klein’s ice cream bars or ice pops, but how long does it take to create them? We spoke to Mr. Ari Klein, one of four grandsons now employed by the company, to find out M i s h p a c h a J r.
“Before I explain how they’re made, I’d like to tell you a little of our family history,” Mr. Klein tells us. “My zeide, Reb Ephraim Klein a”h, survived the Holocaust and came to New York. There he married my bubbe, Golda a”h, and started producing chalav Yisrael ice cream. My zeide’s intention wasn’t to become rich or drive a fancy car, but just to support his family. “I remember Bubbe cooking supper with one hand while taking down phone orders on a paper bag with the other. The stretchy white phone cord snaked its way around the house as she worked at multiple tasks.” The small homegrown company that started with five products now has over 380 products and is celebrating its 60th anniversary this year.
First Things First
The process begins with a professional ice cream consultant. “We come up with recipes together, and through trial and error — involving a panel of taste-testing family members of every age — we’re ready to produce an item about eight or nine months later,” says Mr. Klein. “I like to watch the reactions of my children as they taste new creations.. The name Sour Swirl for our new product, Italian Ices , came from my daughter, Yitty, when I announced that we needed a name. It clicked, and that was it!” After developing the product, the next step is production, which includes the cooking, molding, freezing, and packaging. Mr. Klein admits that the secrets of this business aren’t the ingredients; those are clearly listed on the box. Quality ingredients make for a better product, of course, but “it’s more the temperature at which we cook it and produce it, and what goes in first and last. We’ve learned many tricks after so many years.”
Sour Swirls Italian ices, after being squirted into cups, before the lids are pressed on
Klein's ice cream truck 1955-1961
Klein’s Ice Cream truck Ari Klein outside one of the plants
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Some people claim that ice cream gives them a headache. They’re right. Called “brain freeze,” it happens when something very cold touches the palate (roof of the mouth).
How is the dry milk powder made?
One vital dairy ice cream ingredient is dry milk powder. This is how it’s made: 1) Between 4,000 and 10,000 cows and their milk are checked and watched by veterinarians and mashgichim to make sure the milk is 100 percent chalav Yisrael. 2) The milk is stored in a huge silo. 3) The fatty part (cream) is skimmed off the top. 4) A machine removes the water from the milk. 5) Depending on how much “fat” is wanted in the dry milk, some dried cream is added back in a solid form. 6) The dry milk powder is put into large bags. 7) The bags of powder are loaded on trucks and brought to where the ice cream is produced.
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Cooking, Mixing, and Packing
In the pasteurizing (mixing) room, recipe ingredients are combined in large vats to cook. The liquid or semi-frozen treat is then sent via pipes to a different, colder room, about 42°F (5.5°C). This temperature keeps everything fresh yet not too frozen. Next, the products are separated by flavor. Each flavor is pumped out, one portion at a time, onto a wooden stick or into a cup, tub, or cone. Mr. Klein compares this to someone getting coffee from a vending machine. “You put in a quarter, and then push a button for the coffee flavor. The machine then dispenses one portion of the flavor you chose, from a valve connected to that flavor inside the machine. Now imagine a machine 200 times larger, so instead of one portion of that flavor, 300 gallons at a time come out. But not only one portion of 300 gallons, but eight or nine portions of 300 gallons, coming out from different valves. The portion drops onto a conveyor belt, onto plastic wrappers, and is then cut and sent down the line. The computerized machines then send the products to be packaged. But they’re just machines, so we also have between five and ten people operating the machines at all times, to make sure nothing goes wrong, and if it does, to get it back on track. The production really goes fast, so if something goes wrong, it really goes wrong!”
Color Pops come down 16 at one shot and drop onto a belt that stops and starts every second. They have to be the right temperature; they’re frozen, but not too frozen because they expand. It takes six or seven hours to set up this machine, but after that, it can run for a week straight, making enough Color Pops to sell for about one month.
Color Pops moving along through plastic wrapping before getting cut to individual portioned wrappers
To the Stores
Got a throat infection? Had your tonsils taken out? Feeling nauseous? Enjoy ice cream and feel it soothe your poor throat.
Neat and Clean
The production facility is kept sparkling clean. Everyone who enters must wash his hands, then he puts a special white jumpsuit over his clothing, a hairnet on his head, and booties over his shoes. The floors are always clean and even the walls and ceilings are cleaned regularly.
John LeSauvage, nationally renowned ice cream scientist for over 40 years, gives a thumbs up to a pallet of ice cream ready to ship
Klein’s current ice cream truck
Mashgichim next to assembly line, in their special hygienic clothing
At the end of this quick-paced assembly line, the products pile onto 3,000 huge pallets, which are put in a huge freezer. A few hours later, there is a bacteria check and all kinds of quality-control tasting and testing procedures. These make sure kashrus and quality are 100 percent. Papers are signed to certify everything. Finally the ice cream is packed up to be sent to distribution houses via freezer trucks. “A product made Monday morning won’t leave the factory until Wednesday afternoon when all the documentation is done,” Mr. Klein says. Mr. Klein shares a perk of his job. “While a product is running, I love to grab one and taste it. I love ice cream, what can I tell you? I also want to make sure the texture and color and flavor is right, just like any chef tastes what he’s cooking before he serves it. There are so many varied products, but my favorite is good old-fashioned vanilla.”
If you have a great idea fo r a new ice cream flavor produ o r ct, Kle in’s wa to hea nts r from Send y you! our ide a to us Mishp at acha J r . and w will se e nd it to Klein’s .
M i s h p a c h a J r.
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Hey kids!
let’s talk
Hello Readers,
Imagine if your grandparents owned an ice cream factory. Wouldn’t that be fun! You’d get to visit the factory and watch the ingredients being mixed, heated, cooled, and frozen into molds. You’d get to hear the clackety-clack of the conveyor belts as the products are moved along to be packaged and transported to waiting trucks. And best of all, of course, you’d get to eat as much ice cream as you’d like! But since most of us (I write “most” because I’m sure some Klein grandchildren are reading this) don’t have grandparents who have ice cream factories, we will suffice with hearing from Mr. Klein about how the famous Klein frozen treats are made. It’s interesting that when Mr. Klein spoke to us about his grandfather, Reb Ephraim, founder of the Klein ice cream industry, he didn’t describe a person who rushed about with a clipboard, attending important meetings and answering urgent phone calls. Instead, he remembers him as a loving and generous zeidy who had 15–30 guests at his Shabbos table each week. He also fondly recalls his busy bubby who took orders while cooking for her eineklach in her family kitchen. Because at the end of the day, we’re remembered for who we are, and not for what we’ve done. Even if it’s ice cream! Yours, Tzira
In honor of Klein’s 60th anniversary
at r e h c u o v 0 5 $ win a I ce C r ! e s u ea m H o Take a snapshot to suit this caption: “That must be Klein’s ice cream!”
5 lucky winners! Send your photo by August 31 to “Klein’s Contest, c/o Mishpacha Junior” at Mishpacha’s address, shown below.
Remember to find me and Remember to make sure to find me and ask ansure adult make to before call! ask anyou adult
before you call! PUBLISHER: ELIYAHU PALEY
EDITOR: LIBBY T. TEEN EDITOR: DANIELA THALER COPY EDITOR: CINDY SCARR PRODUCTION: DALIYA SHAPIRO
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