Two Scoops of Nostalgia

This popular ice cream flavor at Crank Boom tastes like the real thing

- TATE JACARUSO

Southerners know banana pudding by heart: the clear cup, the vanilla wafers stuck in the top,the dollop of whipped cream (or Cool Whip, depending). Toa Green, who co-owns and operates Crank & Boom Craft Ice Cream with her husband, Mike, in Lexington, Kentucky, is turning this beloved dessert on its head in the best way. “I think it’s really fun when you can take something like banana pudding, which is this classic dish, and then turn it into an ice cream,” says Green, “and it tastes literally like banana pudding with all the same components.”

Crank & Boom started in the back of Thai Orchid Café, Green’s previous restaurant in Lexington, where she made coconut ice cream inspired by the treat she ate as a kid in Thailand. The ice cream business has since grown into two brick-and-mortar locations in Lexington. The banana pudding recipe was born out of Small Batch Club, Crank & Boom’s fundraising program, where new flavors are released every month to benefit local nonprofits.

“It was the one flavor that we brought back the most because it would sell out the most,” says Green. “People loved it so much that we decided to put it in our regular lineup.”