Who’d have thought that the strength of a brand and a few chocolate fishes could transform my dislike of ice cream into a full-blown, cool and creamy love affair?

Having spent an entire summer working in a path-lab testing ice cream for the bacteria that cause food poisoning, it’s fair to say that I went off the stuff for a good while.

Yup, for one long hot summer as you were reaching for the tropical Solero in the heat of the midday sun, I was reaching for the agar, breaking off a chunk of supermarket own brand choc-ice and placing it in a petri dish in a rather whiffy incubator for a week to test for e-coli.

The things you do for money as a student.

So for a number of years, the sight of ice cream in any of its many guises turned my stomach. That was until I discovered Phish Food – a genius creation from the ice cream gods that are Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield.

From the very first day I crunched through one of those delightfully rich fudge fishes buried deep in the swirls of chocolate ice cream, squishy marshmallows and sticky caramel, I was hooked.

And since that day, my love for Ben and Jerry’s – the brand and the ice cream – has grown and grown.

I love far too many of their ice cream flavours than is good for my diet, I love the concept of the ‘flavor [sic] graveyard’ and I love their approach to socially and environmentally responsible business.

Ben and Jerry’s is a company that doesn’t mess about when it comes to green business (or managing its ‘eco-hoofprint’, as they call it).

Their packaging is made from 90% renewable materials and is recyclable, they use sustainable transport and source locally wherever possible and they’re even working to help cows become less windy.

But they don’t stop at reducing their own carbon footprint. In 2005, the Ben and Jerry’s Climate Change College was launched under the ingenious banner of “If it’s melted, it’s ruined.”

The idea behind the college was to build up an international network of climate conscious citizens and to inspire grass-roots practical action on climate change. Each year, one young adult from every participating country wins a place in the college where they receive nine months of business mentoring and get to implement their own solution to climate change.

The college is a great way of nurturing the green business minds of the future so that more and more of the products on sale are environmentally friendly and business activity has less and less of an impact on the planet.

Ben and Jerry’s is a great role model for any business of any size wanting to do more to protect the environment.

Their proactive, transparent approach to environmentally responsible business and preventing further global warming is a real credit to a company whose sales go through the roof when the sun shines!

For me, there is no udder ice cream than Ben and Jerry’s.

Now that’s brand power.

Add it!