Ben & Jerry's - Karamel Sutra

Karamel Sutra - Chocolate & Caramel Ice Creams with Fudge Chips & a Soft Caramel Core

Karamel Sutra returns the ice cream reviews to the "Core" line of Ben & Jerry's flavors.   In a core flavor, there is a central cylinder of a thick goopy mix-in such as fudge, jam or in this case caramel.  Most of the current line of core flavors was introduced last year, but Karamel Sutra comes from a previous generation of "core concoction" flavors which was introduced way back in 2002.

Opening the pint, you see standard core flavor view, the two bases on each side with the caramel core visible right away on top.   Digging into the pint, the caramel ice cream itself does not have a strong flavor -- but you can definitely tell that it is not vanilla.  The fudge chips are only on the chocolate side and they had a bit of a crunch to that side of the pint.  The caramel core itself is excellent.  It is thick, but still soft and gooey.  The standard way eating a core pint is to "eat around" the core.  That works really well this time but the caramel is quite good by itself.  My only quibble here may be why they chose a caramel base instead of vanilla for one of the halves of the pint  Vanilla, caramel & fudge has been a winning combination in the past and you could see this being another successful permutation of that.  

A successful core flavor nonetheless, I can see how this one survived multiple generations of core flavors as its the standard caramel core flavor.  It'll be interesting to see how this compared to the salted caramel core flavor which is slated to be reviewed in the next couple of months.

Ben & Jerry's - Vanilla Caramel Fudge

Vanilla Caramel Fudge - Vanilla Ice Cream with Swirls of Caramel & Fudge

Vanilla Caramel Fudge is rare simple flavor in the Ben & Jerry's catalog.  It was introduced back in 1994 but it feels like it could be an "original" flavor, it is so basic.

Opening the pint, you see a lot of caramel & fudge swirls right away.  Especially a lot of caramel caramel.  Eating into the pint the caramel & fudge swirls dominate the flavor.  Its funny how bright the  vanilla base can be when its by itself and how much it runs and hides when there is chocolate and caramel around.  The chocolate and caramel are quite good, though, so I cannot complain.  Its a very smooth pint.  All swirls and nothing chunky.  It seemed like equal parts caramel and fudge as well.  Other flavors which include both caramel and fudge seem heavier on the fudge, but there is plenty of caramel here.

A successful flavor -- a bit on the simple side but still successful.  It reminded me a bit of Americone Dream without the cone pieces and a bit more caramel.  Because it is such a simple flavor, it can be a bit hard to find but it is worth checking out if you just want a smooth pint of vanilla, caramel and fudge.

Ben & Jerry's - What A Cluster

What A Cluster - Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Caramel Cluster Pieces, Marshmallow Swirls & Peanut Buttery Swirls

What A Cluster is a flavor introduced by Ben & Jerry's in 2011 and it asks the question "What is a cluster?"  Just seeing the flavor title, it could be a cluster of anything.  My first guess from just the name would have included nuts or some sort of granola-like concoction, but here, the clusters are actually something quite simple.  They small clumps of chewy caramel about half the size of a pea.  Those caramel pieces are then contrasted against a primarily peanut butter base and swirls.

Opening the pint, I see the golden color of the peanut butter base with some clusters visible on the top.  Peanut butter makes for a thick and slow melting base which you can tell by how much the ice cream sticks to the lid when you take it off.  Eating my way into the pint, the peanut butter and peanut butter swirls provide a heavy peanut buttery flavor while the caramel clusters provide the occasional chewy sweetness.  One thing I did not notice was the marshmallow swirl.  If it was there it it was the thicker swirl rather than a gooey swirl.  In other flavors, the thicker marshmallow swirl acts to mute the base flavor and create a taffy-like consistency.  Although I didn't notice it, it might have acted to mute the peanut butter a bit, make it a bit less heavy.  I would have to eat another pint to find out.

All in all a very eclectic flavor.  Its also a fairly difficult flavor to find.  It might be the only flavor with peanut butter & caramel but no chocolate.  If that particular mix interests you, you could give it a try, but otherwise I think there are more interesting plays on peanut butter out there.   

McConnell's - Toasted Coconut Almond Chip

Toasted Coconut Almond Chip - Shredded coconut, toasted to caramelized perfection, crunchy, salt-roasted almonds and our signature, Guittard bittersweet, melted choclate chip, mated to fresh, California Central Coast, grass-fed milk & cream.

With the number of unreviewed Ben & Jerry's flavors dwindling, I took a break from that brand and tried another McConnell's flavor.  There is no coconut in the B&J line so I tried for Coconut Almond Chip.  Remember, McConnell's is the brand that loves their over-the top descriptions of their flavors.  The gushy ingredient list above is pasted word-for-word from their website and the Peterman-catalogue descriptions on the side of the pint is always a hoot.  This time, they spend fifteen words explaining why they didn't have room to repeat the four-word flavor.

Opening the pint, you see a yellowish base which lots of shredded mix-ins visible.  All of them appear to be about the same size and shape.  You seen the brown chocolate, the golden coconut and the brown almonds.  Digging into the pint, the coconut flavor is very strong but not overpowering.   You can indeed tell that it is toasted as you taste the caramelized flavor. That caramelized flavor almost seemed a bit nutty which helped it blend with the shredded almonds quite well.  The chocolate chip was the same as the previously reviewed Mint Chip flavor and was excellent.  As with that flavor, I was quite pleased with the variability of the density of each mix-in.  Nothing was at all clumped but some spoonfuls had a bit more coconut while others had a bit more chocolate.  It was mixed, but not quite homogenous.

I was pleasantly surprised by this flavor.  I'm not a coconut junkie -- Mounds bars are a bit much for me -- but the caramelization of the coconut via the toasting process made it quite tasty.  And of course, that melted chocolate chip is delicious.  So, if you like coconut and McConnells is available then give this flavor a try.

Ben & Jerry's - Truffle Trifecta (Walgreens Exclusive)

Truffle Trifecta - Chocolate Ice Cream with Marshmallow, Fudge & Caramel Truffles

I don't usually find myself at Walgreen's very often and when I am there, I'm usually not looking for food.  I'm usually on vacation and its a convenient nearby place to pick up wrapping paper or cold medication.  When I am at home, my closest drug store is a Rite-Aid though I usually end up buying drug-store-type things at Target.  So imagine my surprise when I found out that Walgreen's had an exclusive Ben & Jerry's flavor!  I didn't know they even had ice cream there, but sure enough almost every Walgreen's has a freezer case somewhere in the back.  There usually aren't more than a few flavors and the prices are always over five bucks, but indeed they do sell ice cream there.  It took a bit of hunting to find a store that had the exclusive flavor but I finally found one and got a pint of Truffle Trifecta home to my own freezer.

A chocolate base with marshmallow, fudge and caramel... that sounds a lot like Phish Food.  But instead of the fill-ins being swirled into a gooey pint, they are encapsulated into small chocolate-covered "truffles".

Opening the pint, I see the brown chocolate base with a hint of the truffles embedded within.  As you dig into the pint, the truffles appear to be the same shape as the mini-peanut butter cups which are included in other flavors, although instead of being filled with peanut butter they are filled with either fudge, caramel or marshmallow.  A picture of the truffles and a cross-section of one of them is included.  The truffles themselves are not a very efficient way of delivering marshmallow or caramel.  You do get a hint of those flavors when you bite into a truffle of each kind but you mostly taste the chocolate shell.  Also, when encased in the truffle, the pint stays solid and never gets gooey.

I definitely still prefer Phish Food as to way to deliver this set of ingredients, but if you are intrigued about a more solid and chunky version of Phish Food which you can only get at a drug store, then give this a shot -- if you can find it.

Ben & Jerry's - Half Baked

Half Baked - Chocolate & Vanilla Ice Creams mixed with Gobs of Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough & Fudge Brownies

The previous two reviewed flavors, Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough are among the top five most popular Ben & Jerry's Flavors.  What is number 1?  Half Baked.

http://www.benjerry.com/whats-new/top-ten-flavors-2014

Introduced in 2000 when memories of the 1998 Dave Chapelle stoner comedy flick were more fresh, Half Baked is really just Chocolate Fudge Brownie and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice creams swirled together into a single flavor.

Opening the pint, you see the swirled chocolate and vanilla bases right away on the top.  As you eat into the pint, the chocolate flavor definitely dominates the vanilla.  Vanilla can have such a bright flavor by itself but when you mix it with chocolate, it doesn't really stand a chance.  Then submerged in the pint are gobs of cookie dough and chocolate fudge brownies.  As mentioned in several flavors already, the brownies really are excellent.  Flavorful and full of chocolate plus managing to stay soft while frozen.  The cookie dough was quite good as well, although the chocolate chips in the cookie dough lose a bit of their effect with the chocolate base underneath it.  Still good though.

Combining two popular flavors does not always make another good flavor but here the bases and mix-ins complement each other quite well.  I think I prefer the further complexities of the Peanut Butter Half Baked or the Tonight Dough, but this flavor from fifteen years ago was the one that started the trend towards busy combinations of mix-ins.