By Bella English, Globe Staff, 09/15/02

WATERBURY, Vt. — Want the scoop on a great trip with the kids? Go to Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Factory in Vermont's Green Mountains and take a guided tour. It's only 30 minutes long — most children's limit — and you can eat ice cream before, during, and after. (Only the "during" is free). From the classic Cherry Garcia to the brand-new Makin' Whoopie Pie, every flavor the company makes can be had at the walk-up window.

You start in the Cow Over the Moon Theater with a short documentary. The seven-minute "moovie" describes how two childhood friends turned a $5 correspondence course on ice cream into one of the country's hottest ice cream businesses. "Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield met in a seventh-grade gym class. They were the kids at the back of the pack on the track," says the narrator. What other CEOs' resumes would boast that they were "the two slowest, fattest kids in gym class"?

After college, in 1977, the pair decided that ice cream was their medium. They took a correspondence course from Penn State and aced the exam ("It was open book"). In 1978, they opened their first shop in a renovated gas station in Burlington. The film tells you why Ben & Jerry's ice cream is so wonderfully decadent: There's a small amount of air in it, and a huge amount of cream. It goes on to say that the ingredients are all natural, with no growth hormones used on the cows — which may make all those calories slightly less guilt-producing among some consumers. The film also talks about the company's earth-friendly policies and its philanthropic endeavors, sharing profits with its employees and the community. Cohen and Greenfield, despite their international success, in many ways remain the quintessential '60s hippies.

After the film, the crowd — limited to 40 — goes to the mezzanine for a bird's-eye view of the ice-cream making process. Only two flavors are made a day, during two shifts. Jay, our friendly guide who is also a college student, points out the various stages: the mixing of the cream, egg yolks, milk and sugar, with 300 pounds of Dutch cocoa for chocolate fudge brownie and cherry extract for Cherry Garcia and monkey extract for Chunky Monkey.

Huh? "Just kidding," says Jay. "We used to use monkey extract, but the FDA cracked down on us." The crowd laughs. Then there's the mixing process, where the good stuff such as chocolate chips, Heath bars, nuts, and cookie dough are added. Finally, there's packing the finished product into pints. When the factory opened in 1986, pints were packed by hand. Now, Jay tells us, machines pack up to 200 pints per minute.

There's also a quality control person on hand, and his job is the envy of the crowd: He gets to sample up to 16 pints a day, to make sure the products meet the Ben & Jerry's standards. Are there enough chunks in Chunky Monkey? Too many? Is the caramel swirled properly in Karamel Sutra? Is the fudge fudgy enough in New York Super Fudge Chunk?

What happens, someone asks, if a pint fails the taste test? It goes to a compost pile, Jay says. There's a collective shudder through the crowd. Someone asks where the compost pile is, exactly. But it's a trade secret.

The final — and best — stop is the FlavoRoom. Behind the counter, workers set out small cups of two flavors: today, it's Cherry Garcia and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough. As we savor it, Jay tells us about the newest flavors. There's The Full Vermonty, Vermont maple ice cream with praline pecans and caramel swirl. Makin' Whoopie Pie is chocolate ice cream with a mixture of marshmallow and devil's food cookies. Karamel Sutra is soft caramel with chocolate and caramel ice creams and fudge chips.

Jay is ready to give away some Ben & Jerry stuff: key chains, coupons, and the like. "What state are we in?" he hollers. A teenager raises her hand and is called upon. "Vermont," she says, with confidence.

"Wrong!" says Jay. "We are in the state of euphoria." He gives her the key chain anyway.

When we are finished with his trivia questions and our samples, we exit via the Hall of Fame, whose walls are lined with Ben & Jerry memorabilia. There are posters of past events, such as Dog Days. ("Buy a cone and get a free dish of ice cream for your dog. Proof of pooch required.") There's a press release from the 1994 chief executive search, when applicants could write in and state in 100 words or less why they would make a great CEO. "Yo, I'm Your CEO," wrote one. There are posters of the old Mother's Day promotion, when moms would get a free cone. ("Acceptable Proof of Motherhood: your own kids, birth certificates, gray hair.")

The hall empties into, of course, the gift shop. Here, the Ben & Jerry's logo, the black and white cow, is everywhere: on socks, postcards, T-shirts, mugs, and the like. You can also buy pints that are right off the assembly line.

Best of all is the outside ice cream stand, or scoop shop as it is called. You can get any flavor here, cup or cone, sundae, shake, and more. This is where my family started the pre-tour warm-up, and where we ended for a post-tour treat. Why not? With all those natural ingredients, we left feeling perfectly healthy.