Bob Bally and his family have been owners and operators of Uncle Bob’s Ice Cream since 1980.  This year, the family’s ice cream was named Illinois State Fair Grand Champion (Photo courtesy of Uncle Bob’s Ice Cream)

Paying $600 for a little less than a gallon of ice cream may not seem like a “fair” price, but that’s what University of Illinois-Springfield chancellor Susan Koch paid for three pounds of Uncle Bob’s Blackberry ice cream.

“Uncle Bob” Bally’s recipe was named the 2017 Illinois State Fair Grand Champion for ice cream, a portion of which was auctioned at the Governor’s Sale of Champions on Aug. 15. Koch plans to donate the ice cream to the university to be served at a special campus occasion.

For those not invited to that occasion, no worries. Including a Eureka storefront, Uncle Bob’s Ice Cream is sold at 21 local shops, restaurants and grocers, and a quart of the gourmet ice cream sells for $8.99.

Still a little pricey? Considering the quality of ingredients and comparing Uncle Bob’s products to others, like Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, that’s a fair price.

“If ice cream were sold by weight and not volume, Uncle Bob’s would be the deal,” Bob explained. “Here’s a little thought … take a gallon of (generic brand) ice cream, let it melt. Take a quart of Uncle Bob’s, let it melt and they’ll both weigh the same.”

It’s called “over-run”, and it’s the cheapest ingredient in most ice cream – air. Most non-premium ice cream brands are whipped to increase air cells, which increases volume. One scoop of premium ice cream often equals three of the lower quality brands.

“We use 14 percent butterfat cream and top ingredients,” he said of the ice cream he began making in 1977. “We have a very low profit margin. If we lowered our prices, we’d be out of business.”

Forty years ago, Bob was inspired by the Amish of Arthur, Ill. and the machines they used for making ice cream. For a few years, he made and sold ice cream for Mennonite Relief Sales with the same Amish gas-operated freezers, which produced around 10 gallons of ice cream every 15 minutes.

“By 1980 we realized the crowds were too big and we would run out of ice cream, so I took it upon myself to build two more machines like the Amish, but with electric motors,” he said.

Many of Uncle Bob’s Homemade Ice Cream recipes involve “inclusions”; ingredients added after the ice cream is finished. Here, a worker makes Almond Joy ice cream by adding coconut, almonds and chocolate by hand. The blends are then containerized, labeled and flash frozen for delivery to one of the many local retailers. (Photo courtesy of Uncle Bob’s Ice Cream)

It was then that he became a vendor at the Heart of Illinois Fair at Expo Gardens in Peoria, and slowly built his “hobby business” to include an ice cream truck. That, along with the concessions trailer, enabled Bob to continue with the Mennonite sales, the HOI Fair and other events where on-the-spot homemade ice cream is a hit.

And that’s the scoop on Bob’s hobby, until 2008 when the Ballys bought the old A & W Root Beer place at 409 E. Center St. in Eureka. After two years of renovations, he handed the business over to his son Ben, who’d just returned from Auburn University with a degree in business management.

“Dad was making ice cream for fun on the side. Family events and such,” Ben said. “It’s really blown up. We’ve been approached by six major stores this summer and I told each store that I just need to sit back and see which stores we want to go to. We’re a small business and we intend to keep it small.”

Small, meaning, distributing through around 30 local retailers, catering at least 70 weddings annually, while keeping up with around 60 other events during the summer season.

Ben’s favorite job is making the ice cream, he said. Uncle Bob’s now employs two sophisticated Carpigiani Italian ice cream machines, churning out around 750 gallons each week in more than 30 flavors.

Bob’s traditional 40-year-old flavors of strawberry, chocolate, vanilla, pumpkin pie and a few others, remain the same. Other, more gourmet blends, evolved from these base recipes; Rum Chata Salted Caramel, Blueberry Waffles, Coconut Almond Bliss.

The Pumpkin Pie ice cream really has pumpkin pie in it. Ben bakes crustless pies for this recipe, one of the many “inclusions” he adds after the ice cream is finished, such as nuts and berries and other ingredients that lose integrity if added during the mixing process.

The most popular blend, Ben said, are Sweet Georgia Peach and the award-winning Raspberry. When the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays arrive, he’ll make Peppermint Stick, Holiday Cherry Nut and Cinnamon.

According to Uncle Bob’s manager, Ben Bally, quarts are the big seller at retail locations about central Illinois. Each are hand-filled and custom labeled, and most retailers, such as local Hy-Vee and IGA grocers stock around 30 flavors. (Photo by Holly Eitenmiller / for Chronicle Media)

Among the more popular, unusual flavors are Fruit Loop, Nerdy Swirl and Washington Strong.

“There was Uncle Bob’s Favorite, with everything from Oreo cookie dough, to caramel, you name it,” Bob said. “Then Ben changed the name because it looks like a tornado went through it, and we give the proceeds to the tornado fund for the Washington Strong group. It’s our gift to Washington.”

Funny thing; Wedding Cake has been eliminated as a standard flavor at weddings. Common sense, Ben said, would dictate that the flavor would be

Around 17 employees label, stamp and hand fill each container, which are flash frozen, then delivered by van in thermal bags of 24 quarts each. In the hot summer months, Ben said he tosses a little dry ice in the bags to keep the ice cream “rock solid.”

“We have a system, and we’ve fined tuned it over the years, and it works for us,” he said. “I think it’s really cool that everything is hand labeled and stamped and made a batch at a time. It stands out when it’s in the cooler next to Ben & Jerry’s.”

And Uncle Bob’s is priced lower than the popular national brand.

For a list of flavors, as well as that of all of the retailers that sell Uncle Bob’s Ice Cream, which include several IGA and Hy-Vee grocers, visit the company’s website atwww.unclebobsicecream.com.

Or stop in at their store in Eureka from March through Thanksgiving. If you don’t recognize the bright red and white Uncle Bob’s logo, you’ll know the building by the mammoth spoon that serves as its door handle.

— Eureka’s own Uncle Bob’s named Illinois grand champion ice cream  —-