There’s A Creamery At Texas A&M Again – This Time At Aggie Park
When plans started to take shape a few years ago for a green space and park in the heart of campus, Kent Moore ’72 joked to his family that it could be their chance to have some restrooms named after them. But after speaking with The Association of Former Students about fundraising opportunities, the proposed project that jumped out from the list was a creamery.
Moore remembered hearing about the old creamery on the Texas A&M University campus back when he was a student, but had never stopped by for a cone.
“When we started reading through the list of what they were hoping to do with the park, my son Casey and I both decided on the creamery because it sounded like to was going to be a fun place,” Moore said. “I always had gotten a good impression of peoples’ memory of the creamery before it closed. It fit what we had in mind, and we got some nice restrooms along with it.”
The Debbie ’74 and Kent ’72 Moore Family Creamery has been serving up scoops at the new Aggie Park since September, and this week held an official grand opening celebration. Marty Holmes ’87, vice president for The Association, said when the need for a food and beverage option in the park was brought up during the development phase, the idea of bringing back a creamery was a “no brainer.”
Located next to Evans Library, the old creamery was a popular spot for A&M students to get a shake or a malt on the way to or from class, Holmes said. In 1981, the creamery was making and selling more than 300 gallons of ice cream per week, according to the university’s student newspaper, The Battalion. Students could buy an ice cream cone, made using milk from Texas A&M’s dairy herd, for 35 cents.
Battalion archives say the creamery opened in 1956, and remained popular throughout the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s before it closed in 1995.
The menu at the creamery in Aggie Park looks a bit different. Instead of homemade ice cream, customers can buy classic flavors from Blue Bell, as well as ice cream sandwiches, shakes and other treats. Moore doesn’t have a favorite item yet – he’s a fan of all things Blue Bell – but noted he’s already gotten some inquiries from Aggies wanting to know about one flavor in particular.
For the record: Moore does not have the recipe for French Silk.
“I don’t know what that is, but apparently it was very popular years ago,” Moore said.
A line from a Sept. 21, 1999 Battalion article appears to confirm this: “Texas A&M closed its creamery several years ago, and lovers of French Silk Ice Cream haven’t been the same since.”
According to a creamery technician interviewed for the Aug. 9, 1984 edition of the paper, French Silk was a blend of “rich sweet and bittersweet chocolate flakes.” The low melting point of the bittersweet flakes made them melt in the mouth, “leaving a rich chocolate flavor not found in ordinary chocolate chip ice cream.”
While French Silk isn’t back on the menu, Moore is confident the creamery will become a special place for students and community members, like his three kids and 10 grandchildren – one of whom is a sophomore at A&M.
Moore and his wife, Debbie, never went on a date at the creamery while they were students, but he has an idea for amorous Aggies.
“This would be a great first date, coming in for two ice cream cones and walking around Aggie Park and getting to know somebody, and then come back and get one cone with two scoops – and maybe put a ring on top of it,” Moore said. “Fond memories will be made here. This is going to be a very special place as it matures, and it’s something that A&M needed.”
