About our Publix Premium Peppermint Stick Ice Cream
Many of our customers celebrate the holidays with this sweet treat. Peppermint stick ice cream has been a staple at Publix since the ‘80s. With every delicious bite, you can taste the combination of luscious vanilla ice cream and festive bits of peppermint candy.
We produce this flavor in half-gallon sizes. It is 1 of only 2 holiday flavors we’ve made since the beginning of our ice cream production line, the other being our Publix Premium Eggnog Ice Cream.
How we make it
We make our peppermint stick ice cream using a few steps. First, we combine milk, cream, liquid sucrose and other ingredients. We then pasteurize the mixture for food safety.
Next, the ice cream mix is placed in a refrigerated tank to age overnight. This step helps develop the overall texture of the mix to produce premier quality ice cream. The next day, we pump the liquid mix to a flavor stand, where we add the peppermint base flavor.
Then, the flavored mix is brought to 21 F, giving it the consistency of soft-serve ice cream. Next, we add the crushed red and green peppermint stick candies.
After that, half-gallon cartons are filled and placed in a blast freezer for 90 minutes. During that time, the temperature will drop from 21 F to 0 F. At this point, the product begins to freeze.
Finally, we remove the ice cream cartons from the blast freezer and they are bundled into cases of 6. The cases are then sent to our distribution centers before eventually making it to our stores.
About the Lakeland dairy plant
Publix has dairy plants in Lakeland and Deerfield Beach, Florida, and Atlanta.
Open since 1980, the Lakeland dairy plant is the sole producer of our Premium Peppermint Stick Ice Cream. The facility
- is 280,000 square feet
- employs 275 associates and
- has 12 production lines.
While the other 2 Publix dairy plants produce many of the same items, several categories only come from the Lakeland plant, including yogurt, sour cream and cottage cheese.
