Ben & Jerry's - Strawberry Cheesecake

Strawberry Cheesecake - Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream with Strawberries & a Thick Graham Cracker Swirl

The Strawberry Cheesecake flavor was introduced by Ben & Jerry's in 2005.  Many of the recent reviews have focused on chocolate & peanut butter, but this contains neither.  Its a slice of strawberry cheesecake in ice cream format.  The graham cracker swirl even simulates the cheesecake's crust. 

Opening the pint, I see the light pink color of the strawberry cheesecake ice cream with small views of the strawberry pieces and the graham cracker swirls below.  I was curious about the strawberry cheesecake ice cream base.   Cheesecake is already a thick and heavy dairy dessert and they're going to make ice cream out of it?  Well, it still tasted like ice cream and not cheesecake. Checking the side of the pint, there is indeed cream cheese on the ingredient list but what it does here is soften the strawberry flavor.  Strawberry can be a very strong and sweet flavor that it can be too much.  I've seen some places cut it with sour cream but here the cream cheese has that same effect.  It's not that heavy of a base either.  Cheesecake by its nature is super rich and filling, but checking the side of the pint, this pint was "only" 260 calories per four oz serving which is about average by Ben & Jerry's standards.  The chocolate and peanut butter flavors are often 20% more.

The strawberry pieces are lightly dispersed through the pint and give that occasional unmuted punch of strong strawberry flavor.  As I've mentioned in previous reviews, frozen strawberry pieces are very unpleasant to bite into, but this pint contains nothing that is crunchy so I was able to eat the whole pint without using my teeth.  With that strategy in place, the strawberry pieces were quite delicious.  I was expecting a little bit more of the graham cracker swirl, but when I did encounter it, it was a tasty compliment to the cheesecake ice cream base. 

I enjoyed this pint.  Its a rare flavor that contains neither chocolate nor peanut butter so the flavor can be a nice break from those common ingredients.  And of course, if you like strawberries, this flavor is a must try for you.