VALPARAISO -- The recipes for Valpo Velvet's rich melt-in-your-mouth ice cream haven't changed in 61 years, and as far as the original owner's two grandsons are concerned, they won't change anytime in the future.

Those recipes blend real dairy cream, sugar, skimmed milk, corn syrup and gelatin into the basis for such Valpo Velvet ice cream flavors as vanilla, French vanilla, chocolate, butter pecan, moose tracks, peppermint, peanut butter cup and seasonal favorite pumpkin. The exact proportions of flavorings for each batch remain the same as when Herb Brown concocted them in 1947, the current owners say.

The company produces about 45,000 gallons of ice cream each year.

"We will not cheapen our recipes or make our portions smaller," said Mark Brown, who partners with his brother Mike to run the company in the same building their grandfather bought and converted into a dairy.

"That what's kept us in business. If we would have had an average product, we wouldn't have been in business this long," Mike Brown added.

It's the portions of basic ingredients that make Valpo Velvet treats so tasty, Mike Brown said.

To be called ice cream, a frozen treat must have at least 10 percent butter fat, said Mark Brown.

"Other companies aren't making ice cream," he said. "It's called frozen dairy dessert because it doesn't have at least 10 percent butter fat."

The 3,000-square foot facility at 55 Monroe St. began as a dairy that processed and delivered milk in glass bottles to area homes.

In 1974, the brothers' dad, Gordon, sold out the milk business to Dixie Dairy and remodeled the plant to include an ice cream parlor in which patrons could enjoy the creamy treat without going to the grocery store.

The Brown brothers create every ounce of Valpo Velvet's ice cream, sherbet and frozen yogurt on a weekly schedule.

On Tuesdays, the ingredients are mixed into a huge vat that pasteurizes the mixture at 155 degrees for 30 minutes. Then the mix is piped into a homogenizer that "beats up the fat to make it more viscous or smooth. It's like shifting flour," Mark Brown said. "This prevents ice crystals from forming."

After homogenizing, the mixture goes into a cooling tower that instantly drops the temperature from 155 degrees to 40 degrees. From there, the mixture journeys a short distance to a refrigerated storage vat where it will rest until the next day. Beginning Wednesday morning, the smooth creamy mixture goes from the storage container to the flavoring vat. Finally, it's piped into a freezing machine and pumped out into the containers.