White coat, gold spoon, a job made in heaven

John Harrison spends his workdays clad in a white lab coat, dipping an 18-karat gold spoon into tubs of ice cream. His mission: Ensure all that dessert looks great, tastes great and is smooth and creamy before it heads to stores and homes to get scooped into cups and cones.

As the official taste tester for Dreyer's Grand Ice Cream, he travels the globe promoting the brand and training fellow tasters at the company's six ice-cream plants across the country. He started with Dreyer's 25 years ago as a flavor developer and names cookies 'n' cream his most popular concoction.

We caught up with him as he criss-crossed the nation promoting the latest Dreyer's treat, bite-size, chocolate-covered ice-cream snacks called Dibs. He gave us the scoop on his family's sweet tradition, his tasting technique and why he never tires of eating ice cream.

Q: Does ice cream run in your family?

A: Harrison's uncle owned an ice-cream factory in his home state of Tennessee. His father supplied flavors to ice-cream makers and his grandfather also worked in the industry. At age 64, he hopes one of his three grandsons will take up the mantle. "I know ice cream backwards and forwards," Harrison said. "I learned at an early age how to formulate ice cream, and the nuances of flavor."

Q: Are there foods you give up to avoid compromising your taste buds?

A: "During the week I avoid eating peppers, onions and garlic — anything that could clog the taste buds. It's a whole lifestyle for me." Harrison also foregoes coffee for herbal tea. But on Friday nights he enjoys his favorites, like pepperoni pizza.

Q: How do you keep your taste buds fresh during a day of tasting?

A: Harrison moves from the lightest flavors (the vanillas) to the heaviest (the chocolates, coffees and mints). If he can't eliminate a taste, he rinses his mouth with lukewarm water or eats an unsalted cracker. It takes four to five hours to sample 60 packages of ice cream, a typical day. He uses a gold spoon to avoid any aftertaste.

Q: So what's your favorite flavor?

A: Vanilla. "It goes with everything." And in Harrison's case, he likes his in a bowl, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.

Q: Do you ever get tired of ice cream?

A: "I don't get tired of quality," Harrison says, "We all have something we eat frequently, just because we enjoy it so much. And while he tastes gallon upon gallon of mint chocolate chip and dulce de leche, he actually doesn't consume all that much. He employs a method akin to wine tasting: He swirls the bite of ice cream over his taste buds, smacks his lips to fully absorb its flavors, then spits it into the 55-gallon plastic trash can that follows him in the lab.

Q: What's your advice for people who dream of having your job?

A: "For any readers who want to become a taster, go to college and earn a dairy-science or food- science degree."

Karen Gaudette: 206-515-5618 or kgaudette@seattletimes.com