When the owners of Franklin Fountain ice cream and soda shop, Ryan and Eric Berley, were recently called upon to create a special dessert for Pope Francis, they were honored.  They also wanted to create something special for the pope to enjoy while he was staying at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Lower Merion Township this past weekend.

        From their Old City, Philadelphia location, they decided to do something special and found out from a Vatican source that Pope Francis' favorite flavor was caramelized banana.  The decadent dessert was to be formed in a 1940's era ice-cream mold of the St. Charles Seminary.

        It was a flavor not on their normal menu of goodies.  So, the brothers put together the right ingredients to create the flavor, mixed it into ice cream, and poured it into the molds, creating 12 ice cream bars they delivered to the seminary; one for each of the apostles.

        The unused caramelized banana-flavored ice cream will be on sale at Franklin Fountain while it lasts.  Long after the supply of the ice cream served to the pope is gone, though, the local dairy that supplied the ice cream base used for the dessert will be here, along with its more than 30 flavors to keep pleasing the rest of their customers.

        Longacre's Modern Dairy, located just across the Bally borough line in Barto, has been owned and operated by the Longacre family since 1920 and they have been making their all-natural "homemade" ice cream since the 1940's (around the same time the St. Charles ice cream mold was made).

        It wasn't long after that when Longacre's began supplying hard and soft ice cream mixes to ice cream parlors, soft-serve ice cream stands, and ice cream companies to mix and produce their own.

        The business operates a dairy bar and ice cream parlor, and retail outlet adjacent to the plant and it has been a favorite of area residents and visitors for decades.  Ice cream lovers enjoy cones or dishes full of the creamy goodness inside the parlor or sitting on park benches and picnic tables under a spacious roof.  Few nights or weekends go by when the parking lot isn't filled with the cars of customers looking to enjoy their favorite flavor of ice cream or try a new one.

        Franklin Fountain has been a longstanding customer of Longacre's and when the local dairy officials found out their ice cream would be the base for Pope Francis' dessert, they were honored.

        Smiling proudly, Newton Longacre said, "We prepare the mix, they add the flavors … we're excited that our mix will be the base for the ice cream served to the pope."

        The genius behind the multitude of Longacre's ice cream flavors is Daniel Longacre, who added, "the opportunity to make ice cream for the pope is one I'll never forget."

        Perhaps we may see a version of the caramelized-banana ice cream served to the pope at Longacre's Dairy and Ice Cream Parlor in the future. 

        This writer can hardly wait.