Baskin-Robbins Introduces Newest Flavor - Dirt And Worm Ice Cream

This week I reached out for a double dip of Baskin-Robbins’ newest flavor, Liar Liar Dirt and Worms.

Here’s the blueprint: creamy vanilla ice cream laced with chocolate cookie crumbs and fudge and chock-full of squiggly wormy jelly thingies.

Total calories: 320. Fat grams: 16.

Surprisingly, Liar Liar Dirt and Worms was not the winner of a “Most Disgusting Name for an Ice Cream” contest. Instead, it’s a tie-in to the Jim Carrey comedy, “Liar Liar.” (There are no plans for a “Booty Call” ice cream, although I’d be there at 10 a.m. opening day if there were.)

“Liar Liar” is not the first movie to be immortalized by Baskin-Robbins. Back in 1965, the company created the 0031 Bonded flavor to hype the James Bond craze.

A year before that, it had Beatle Nut to welcome the Beatles to America. The flavor was so popular that it’s still on the menu, qualifying it as a golden oldie.

In 1968, the biggest hit on TV was “Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In,” and Baskin-Robbins stole the show with Here Comes the Fudge. Baskin-Robbins’ wacky flavor names generally are thought up by employees in the Glendale, Calif., corporate office. They put a notice on the company bulletin board describing an upcoming flavor. Then the workers submit names for the ice cream. Usually the winner gets a $50 cash bonus.

In the case of Liar Liar Dirt and Worms, the winner should have gotten $50 worth of therapy. Dirt and Worms? What’s next? Kaopectate and Cream? Rat Guts au Gratin?

Actually, I like the Liar Liar ice cream more than the movie. I gave the ice cream two thumbs up. It’s extremely chocolaty, and the gummy mix-ins are pleasantly chewy. (Watch out for loose fillings; they should put the name and number of a licensed dentist on the spoon.)

The movie gets a big thumbs down. I just don’t get the joke with Jim Carrey. He’s like Jerry Lewis at 3 a.m. on the telethon back when he smoked five packs a day and Sinatra was dragging Deano onstage.

Some Baskin-Robbins trivia: The slogan may be “31 Flavors,” but that’s not how many flavors they carry. Each store packs a minimum of 34 flavors (vanilla, chocolate and strawberry, plus at least 31 more).

Since Irv Robbins joined forces with brother-in-law Burt Baskin in 1947, the ice cream chain has created 700 flavors. The most popular is vanilla, followed by Pralines and Cream, Mint Chocolate Chip, Cookies ‘n’ Cream and Jamoca Almond Fudge.

Riding the diet wave, Baskin-Robbins has introduced low-calorie, low-fat, cholesterol-free and sugar-free flavors.

One new flavor is so healthy that when I ordered a dish of it, all I got was a spoon and a napkin.

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