Bassetts Ice Cream, America's oldest ice cream brand, calls Philadelphia home

From CBSnews.com:

Alex Bassett Strange at the Reading Terminal Market

For ice cream lovers, Philadelphia is home to what's now considered America's oldest ice cream brand.

Bassetts Ice Cream is an original tenant of the Reading Terminal Market. No matter what the temperature is outside, customers line up inside to see what they're scooping up.

"It's always busy," customer Virginia Powell of West Philadelphia said. "Every Wednesday, we do our weekly shopping."

Powell said, depending on how fast the ice cream goes, they will pick up some Bassetts.

It can be a tough choice, especially when you're choosing from a list nearly 40 flavors long.

"We've got banana, butter pecan, butterscotch, chocolate," Alex Bassett Strange said.

"It's my great-grandfather's recipe, and we haven't changed anything," Bassett Strange said. "We're committed to a high butterfat, 16.4% milk fat recipe. It's Philadelphia style, and we're not chasing the trends."

Bassett Strange is the sixth generation at the helm of what's considered America's oldest ice cream brand.

"Each generation that works in it is really a steward of the brand and the recipe," Bassett Strange said.

Also, for generations, the family's been serving ice cream in the exact same spot.

Bassetts came to the Reading Terminal Market when it opened in 1893.

"We've been serving ice cream over this counter for 132, 133 years," Bassett Strange said.

Incredibly, its history extends beyond that.

"In 1861, my great, great, great-grandfather started our company," Bassett Strange said. "He was making ice cream on his farm in Salem, New Jersey, and he would cart that in via horse and buggy and sell it in farmers' markets along Philadelphia's Market Street."

While early flavors like "green tomato" haven't stuck around, the classics are still sprinkled in.

"Our No. 1 seller is our classic, Philadelphia-style vanilla ice cream," Bassett Strange said.

Cindy Coppola isn't a Pennsylvania native but quickly discovered Bassetts after moving to Bucks County.

"Every flavor is so good," Coppola said. "I think maybe just the attention they give to it, maybe the milk they use?"

For Bassett Strange, it's all about tradition.

"One of the things that we focus on is consistency," Bassett Strange said. "We want to make sure that the ice cream that someone's grandparents have enjoyed is the same ice cream people can enjoy with their grandchildren."

Bassetts is debuting an America 250-inspired new ice cream flavor in the spring, appropriately called "Red, White and Blueberry."