Jeni's - Green Mint Chip

Green Mint Chip - Peppermint Ice Cream and Chocolate Chips, with Spirulina added for Color

For the sixth and final pint of my Jeni's shipment -- and my last pint of 2017 -- I chose Green Mint Chip.  Long-time readers know that mint chocolate chip is my favorite ice cream flavor so I am quite curious to know how a super-premium brand like Jeni's handles their implementation.

Jeni's has an interesting blog post about this flavor.  Evidently, mint chocolate chip ice cream is a relatively recent invention.  There was an ice cream flavor contest to decide what to serve at the royal wedding of Princess Anne and Mark Phillips in 1973.  "Mint Royale" by Marilyn Ricketts was the winning flavor and the flavor become an instant success.  I would have guessed the flavor was much older -- it seems like an old-fashioned flavor combination.

Also from the blog-post, Jeni seems sold on green color for mint cream as "color has a big impact on how we perceive flavor".  She won't use artificial colors though, so she came up with the idea of using spirulina.  The pictures at wikipedia and google-image search make it look like soylent green, but I have been assured that spirulina is not made out of people.  Spirulina is a cynobacteria or blue-green algae with a surprising amount of health benefits.  Leave it to Jeni's to use "perhaps the world's healthiest food" as a coloring agent.

Enough talk, lets eat.  The top of the pint is bright green with small chocolate specks visible.  Digging in, the ice cream is a bit hard.  The base has a fairly potent peppermint flavor.  The spirulina adds color, but not flavor.  The chocolate chips are quite crunchy and very chocolatey.  Coupled with the hard ice cream, the chips help create a crunchy texture to the whole pint.  It reminds me of hard-packed scoop that you might get an old-fashioned ice cream scoop shop -- only with top-shelf Jeni's-caliber ingredients.


I really enjoyed this pint of ice cream. It is bold and unique yet with a not to the old-fashioned crunchy green ice creams of childhood.  My favorite mint chip pints are still Graeter's and McConnell's but this one is very close.  Those both have softer chocolate chips, though, so it is not an apples to apples comparison, though.  I can see someone preferring this one for the crunchy chips.

  

Graeter's - Pumpkin

Pumpkin - Pumpkin Ice Cream with Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Ginger & Cloves

I was at Whole Foods last week and I found another seasonal flavor -- Graeter's Pumpkin ice cream.  It looks like a standard pumpkin-spice base with no mix-ins.  Since it is a seasonal flavor and I am running out of time before Christmas, I figured I should sneak it in.

Opening the pint, the pumpkin base is the expected orange color.  In the first spoonful, I taste the pumpkin and quite a bit of spice -- though I wouldn't say the spice flavor is strong enough to say that it was 'spicy'.  It is a good spice blend.  Very similar to our family pumpkin bread recipe.  We use allspice instead of ginger but the other three spices (cinnamon, nutmeg & cloves) are the same.  The spices are enough to keep it interesting as you eat the whole pint.

Almost every brand does a pumpkin implementation and they are all fairly straightforward.  The most interesting pumpkin flavors have come from Jeni's and Sweet Science because they use five-spice powder, but this is still a very solid implementation of a pumpkin ice cream.  Pumpkin is a fun seasonal flavor but you don't want to overdose on it, so it might be helpful to split this pint with a friend.

  

Jeni's - Boozy Eggnog

Boozy Eggnog - Egg Custard and Nutmeg Ice Cream with Middle West Spirits Bourbon Whiskey

The fifth pint of my Jeni's shipment is Boozy Eggnog.  It is the last of the 2017 Holiday flavors (the sixth pint is a standard flavor) and so I am excited to eat it before Christmas.  As mentioned in a previous review, I am not a big fan of eggnog as a beverage, but it makes for good ice cream.  Adding eggs to milk is an acquired taste, but adding eggs to ice cream makes custard and who does not like custard?  Here, Jeni's adds the usual nutmeg to spice it up and she uses bourbon whiskey instead of the usual rum.  I found a video of Jeni herself talking about the flavor here.

Opening the pint, the custard base is a bright yellowish white color and some specks of nutmeg are visible.  Digging in, the custard base is quite soft.  The spoon cuts through it quite easily.  The bourbon whiskey is quite noticeable right away -- it is "boozy" eggnog after all.  The bourbon provides a decent kick.  It is not too sweet and does not leave a burning feeling in the back of your throat like some bourbons can.  The nutmeg provides quite a bit of flavor as well.  Here, the egg custard is soft and creamy and provides a good base for it all.

I quite liked this pint.  Eggnog fans will certainly love this, but even those who aren't fans of the thick dairy drink will like it as a bourbon custard accented by nutmeg.  Perfect for the holidays.  McConnell's has a very similar flavor which I liked, but I think Jeni's is a bit better because it is a bit softer texture and more booze.  It looks like this flavor might be sold out for 2017, but I am sure that it will be back next year.

  

Häagen-Dazs - Chocolate

Chocolate - Chocolate Ice Cream

Today, we look at another staple flavor in the Häagen-Dazs line: Chocolate.  As mentioned last week, I picked up a couple of simpler flavors for when my niece and nephew came to visit and they didn't end up eating any of it.  More ice cream for me!  Chocolate is one of the three original Häagen-Dazs flavors along with Vanilla and Coffee.  This is the also favorite pint of another one of my nieces.  She uses it to make ice cream shakes.  I am looking forward to formally reviewing it.


Opening the pint, the ice cream is brown as expected.  Digging in, it tastes like really good chocolate.  It is actually harder to describe the simpler flavors, but I'll try.  It is definitely not dark chocolate, there is no strong bite to it.  It is not cloyingly sweet like a milk chocolate bar.  But it is still quite chocolatey.  It kind of tastes like hot cocoa, but cold and churned into a creamy ice cream.  Like the strawberry from last week, there are very few ingredients.  Here they use cream, skim milk, cane sugar, cocoa and egg yolks.  I like the flavor and it stayed tasty as I ate the whole pint.

Häagen-Dazs does the simple flavors very well and this is no exception.  If you are just looking for chocolate that is not too strong or too dark and with no mix-ins then you can't go wrong with with this pint.
 

  

Jeni's - Bangkok Peanut

Bangkok Peanut - Peanut Butter & Honey Ice Cream with Toasted Coconut and Cayenne Pepper

The fourth pint in my Jeni's shipment is Bangkok Peanut.  This is a fun flavor dating back to the days of her first scoop shop in the Columbus North Market.  It is inspired by a couple of Thai restaurants nearby.  Peanuts and spice.  I love Thai food.  I can't wait to check it out.

Opening the pint, the honey peanut butter base has the expected orange color.  Lots of the shredded coconut is available as well.  Digging in the peanut butter ice cream is quite good.  Sometimes peanut butter ice cream can be thick and heavy, but mixing it with honey does a good job of brightening it up a bit.  I liked it.  The shredded coconut adds quite a bit of texture to the pint.  The coconut flavor it provides is not too strong.  It goes with the peanut butter well.  I did not notice the cayenne pepper right away but it was something that slowly built up as I ate several spoonfuls.  Jeni's website descriptions often talk about the 'finish' of an ice cream flavor.  That sounds like what is happening with the cayenne pepper here.  I liked this effect.  The spice did not distract from the flavor while I was eating it, but I noticed it later.  I do have a relatively strong spice tolerance though.  Others I know who have tried this flavor noticed the spice sooner.  It's not hot, though, just a nice little kick of flavor.

This was an excellent pint of ice cream.  It is basically peanut butter, but it does peanut butter in a very unique way.  The honey brightens up the base, the coconut adds texture and the cayenne adds a bit of bite to the finish.  Well done.

Häagen-Dazs - Strawberry

Strawberry - Strawberry Ice Cream

Today we go back to the basics.  The Häagen-Dazs brand's implementation of Strawberry.  I picked up a couple of pints for when my niece and nephew came to visit (they appreciate the simple flavors) but they did not end up having any.  I can't let good ice cream go to waste, so I added them to my queue.  Häagen-Dazs has been selling Strawberry ice cream since 1966.  I have heard good things, so I am looking forward to this pint.

Strawberries are not berries by botanical standards.  They are an 'aggregate accessory fruit' of the genus Fragaria.  Different species of strawberries are native to almost every part of the world (Old World and New World).  People have been breeding and cultivating them for centuries.  The most common cultivar commercially is the 'garden strawberry' which was developed in Britanny, France in the 1700s using two species from the New World: Fragaria chiloensis and Fragaria virginiana.  This garden strawberry is larger and heartier than most of the wild varieties.

On to the ice cream!  The top of the pint is pink as expected.  You can tell that the whole strawberry is used in the base because some seeds are visible in the mix.  Digging in, the strawberry flavor is quite good.  In previous reviews, I have mentioned that the sweetness of strawberries creates a bit of a challenge -- often a brand will try to cut the flavor with cream cheese, sour cream or even balsamic vinegar.  That is not the case with Häagen-Dazs.  The ingredients of this pint could not be more simple: Cream, skim milk, strawberries, cane sugar, egg yolks.  The flavor is quite good, though.  They must have found just the right balance of ingredients.  Occasionally there are pieces of strawberry in the pint.  In previous pints, these pieces have caused issues because they can be frozen and feel weird to bite into.  Not here, though!  The pieces are quite good and stay soft even immersed in the frozen ice cream.

I liked this pint very much.  It is just a simple strawberry flavor, but it is done very well and tastes great.  Good flavor, good mix-ins.  Häagen-Dazs does the simple flavors very well and strawberry is no exception.


  

Jeni's - The Matterhorn

The Matterhorn - Wildflower Honey Ice Cream with White Chocolate Flakes and Smoked Almonds

Back to the next pint in the Jeni's shipment.  This looks like a fun one.  The Matterhorn!    What a great name for a pint of ice cream.  Originally part of their Holiday in the Alps collection from 2013 (back then it looks like it went by Torrone).  It is based on a honey-nougat-almond dessert called Torrone which is common to the Italian Alps.  The Matterhorn on the Swiss-Italian border is one of the most famous alpine peaks which its distinctive sharp peak giving a climbing challenge to alpine adventurers for generations.  I'm am excited to try this out.

Opening the pint, there is a bit of room at the top of the pint which is rare for Jeni's.  The ice cream is thicker and harder than usual which also makes me wonder if it melted and refroze either in shipping or in my freezer.  It is good though.  I taste the honey right away and it is delicious.  I don't know why honey ice cream is not more common.  Each time I run into it, it is has been amazing.  The almond mix-ins are quite good as well.  I did not notice the white chocolate, but I've mentioned before that I often consider white chocolate to be an inert flavor.  There might have been some subtle textural differences because of it, but since the base ice cream was so dense, I didn't notice.

I really liked this pint of ice cream.  The texture was a bit harder than usual, but it is not the hardest pint I've ever eaten and the hardness actually works well for a honey base.  If it wasn't for the room at the top of the pint I wouldn't have questioned it.  The honey flavor is the star of the pint and the almonds are a great complement.  It makes me want to try the Italian Torrone candy that inspired it.  This could easily be a full-time flavor.  If you find this, don't hesitate to try it out.

  

Sweet Science - Toasted Coconut

Toasted Coconut - Vanilla Ice Cream infused with Toasted Coconut

Today's flavor is the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science brand's implementation of Toasted Coconut.  It has been a while since I have reviewed a coconut-based flavor, so I figured that I would give it a try.

Opening the lid, the ice cream appears a bit more yellow than I was expecting.  I checked the ingredient list and it includes both vanilla bean paste and egg yolks.  Each could have a yellow-ing effect (especially the egg yolks).  When I look very close I can see the small black vanilla bean specks.  Digging in, I taste the coconut right away as expected.  There are no mix-ins which by the description on their website is intentional.  Every once in a while, I did find the occasional small piece of coconut, but I've read that can sometimes happen.  As I understand it, when you infuse a base with a flavor, you cook the cream with the mix-ins and then strain out the solids before churning and chilling.  It is usually not a big deal if a few bits of the solid make it through the strainer.

I have mixed feeling about this pint.  As a simple pint with infused toasted coconut flavor, it was quite good, but it seemed a bit too plain.  I think I would have preferred bits of coconut included or perhaps some nuts or caramel or chocolate.  This was good, it just felt like it needed to be accompanied with something.

  

Jeni's - Pumpkin 5-Spice

Pumpkin 5-Spice - Pumpkin Ice Cream with Ginger, Fennel, Cinnamon, Star Anise and White Pepper

We move on to the second pint in my holiday shipment from the Columbus-based Jeni's brand.  The first pint was a Thanksgiving side-dish (sweet potatoes & torched marshmallows), so for the second pint I'll proceed to the traditional Thanksgiving dessert:  Pumpkin 5-Spice (pie).  I like pumpkin pie and pumpkin spice in general.  This is the second flavor this fall which has contained five-spice powder, an Asian cuisine spice mix. We have a family pumpkin bread recipe which is heavy on the spices, so I look forward to a spicy implementation of pumpkin spice.  Here the five spices are ginger, star anise, fennel, cinnamon and white pepper.

Opening the pint, the ice cream has the expected pumpkin-orange coloring.  Digging in, I taste the pumpkin and quite a bit of spice as well. It is a soft and subtle blend of spices.  It is not at all hot, but it is certainly a lot more flavorful than a slice of pumpkin pie.  It is delicious.  There are no mix-ins, but the spices keep it interesting.

This is a well-done pint of pumpkin ice cream.  It is a simple homogeneous flavor, but the spice blend is a nice twist from the ordinary pumpkin implementation.  Nothing too intense, but Jeni's knows how to blend and balance their flavors well.

Graeter's - Peppermint Stick

Peppermint Stick - Peppermint Ice Cream with Peppermint Candy

I have a big backlog in my freezer so I have decided to alternate pints from my Jeni's shipment with other pints.  So, today is the Cincinnati-based Graeter's brand's holiday flavor:  Peppermint Stick.   I found it at Whole Foods.  I recall that McConnell's has the same flavor, so it will be interesting to see how Graeter's compares.

Removing the lid shows a light pink color to the peppermint base with several candy pieces visible.  I checked the ingredient list and they use red beet powder to as a natural red color -- otherwise the peppermint would be fairly close to white.  It looks beautiful.  The candy pieces appear to be liquefied.  The same thing had happened with the McConnell's flavor.  I actually like this effect, but it makes me curious as to how they get this to happen.  Maybe the ice cream actually dissolves the candy?  Anyhow, digging in, the peppermint base is thick, soft, creamy and delicious.  The liquefied candy pieces are a good complement a well.  Not every piece was fully liquefied.  Every once in a while, there was a small piece of candy-cane-like candy to crunch on.

This was an excellent pint of ice cream.  Although I still like the McConnell's version of this flavor, I think this pint is even better.  It was softer and creamier and just as minty.  Graeter's makes a darn good ice cream even when their signature chips are not included.  Unlike McConnell's, this flavor is only available during the holidays.  So, if you're in the mood for a candy-cane-flavored holiday pint, pick this one up.

Jeni's - Sweet Potato with Torched Marshmallows

Sweet Potato with Torched Marshmallows - Sweet Potato Ice Cream with Nutmeg, Cinnamon and Torched Marshmallows

The Columbus-based Jeni's brand had a Black Friday sale which I could not pass up.  It was everywhere online, but also a thanks to the readers who reminded me about it in the comments.  It was six pints for the price of four, so it basically ended up being the equivalent of free shipping.  That's great because my local grocery stores do not carry the full Jeni's line.  For this shipment, I focused mainly on the holiday flavors.  One exception would be the Dark Chocolate Peppermint which I reviewed last year and appears to be unchanged.  Read the old review for that one.

A fun message on the inside of the box

For the first pint, I chose Sweet Potato with Torched Marshmallows because I associate sweet potatoes more with Thanksgiving and we're past that already.  This flavor is similar -- but not the same as -- one of their holiday flavors from last year, Sweet Potato Eclair.  Both feature a base of sweet potatoes and cinnamon (this year's also contains nutmeg).  Last year's mix-ins were pastry flakes and white chocolate curls while this years mix-ins are torched marshmallows.  I had never heard of torched marshmallows before but I think it is just the process of laying out miniature marshmallows on a pan and then using a small kitchen blow torch on them.

Let's dig in.  The packaging is cool.  It is a lot more detailed and artistic than their standard orange and yellow cartons.  I wonder if new artwork will propagate to the other flavors.  I hope so.  Opening the lid, the sweet potato base is a yellow in color with a hint of orange and a lone marshmallow is visible on the top.  Digging in, the sweet potato base is quite tasty.  The cinnamon and nutmeg provide quite a bit of flavor, but you can still taste the sweet potatoes.  The marshmallows provide the occasional change in texture but it is not an overly marshmallow pint.

This is a really good pint of ice cream.  It is basically just a tweak of last year's sweet potato flavor but that is OK because the spicy sweet potato base is the star of the pint.  Each year the mix-ins are chosen so as not to distract too much from this base.  I think I like this year's because it is a bit spicier.  If you're craving sweet potatoes this holiday season, check this out.

  

Ample Hills - The Munchies

The Munchies - Pretzel-infused Ice Cream with Clusters of Pretzels, Potato Chips, Ritz Crackers and M&M's

We have reached the final installment of my four-pint shipment from Ample Hills.    The flavor is The Munchies and is one of their most signature flavors.  Ample Hills has a reputation for going a bit over the top with their mix-ins and this is their regular flavor where they pull out all of the stops and toss in as many salty mix-ins as they can.  Other brands have 'lots of mix-ins' type flavors but this pint is one of the few which is not chocolate- or peanut-butter-centric -- in fact it was not for the M&M's, it would not have either.  Thanks to the publication of their cookbook, many of the older Ample Hills flavor's recipes can be found online somewhere and this flavor is no exception.  It is interesting how they infuse the base ice cream with pretzel flavor.  They heat milk with pretzels in it, let it steep for twenty minutes, and strain the milk and proceed.  These details are fun and are making me curious to try this out.

The top of the pint is a doughy color and many small pieces of mix-ins are visible at the top of the pint.  Digging in, the base ice cream does taste like pretzels -- rather cool how that steeping and straining worked out.  As advertised, there are a lot of mix-ins here.  The M&M's provide a bit of color and a small hint of chocolate while the pretzels, crackers and chips provide a bit of crunch and a bit of salt.  The salty mix-ins tended to glob up a bit into larger chunks.  The churning process gave these chunks the consistency of a crunchy cookie dough.  Some of the chunks were large enough that I had to 'cut' them before I could fit them on the spoon.

This was a fun pint.  I liked it, but I did not love it as much as I was expecting to.  I think I may have set my expectations a bit too high based on the fame that this particular flavor has.  Also, sometimes so many different types of mix-ins don't allow me to focus on any particular one.  In that regard, I prefer their Commodore flavor as it allowed me to focus on the potato chips.  Still, if you are a fan of salty mix-ins, especially pretzels, and you are in New York, then you need to try this.

Sweet Science - Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie - Vanilla Cognac Ice Cream with a Pecan Pie Swirl

For the first pint after the Thanksgiving holiday, I decided to go with the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science brand's implementation of Pecan Pie.  It was a seasonal offering at their last tasting event, so it seems appropriate.  This flavor was even special enough that they charge a buck extra.  I figure that means that it must be extra good?  We'll find out.  Pieces of pecan pie are the swirl here.  The base is a vanilla cognac flavor.  This is the first pint I have ever had which includes cognac -- a type of brandy (distilled wine) manufactured near the town of Cognac in France.   This all sounds interesting.  I can't wait to try it out.

Opening the pint, the ice cream is off-white in color with very small mix-ins distributed evenly throughout.  Digging in, I do notice the cognac flavoring right away.  I am not a cognac expert, but it has a sweet, alcohol flavor.  There are variably-sized pieces of pecan distributed throughout the pint -- some are quite small, but I got a few half-pecan-sized pieces to chew on as well.  Pie lovers know that the pecans of pecan pie are suspended in a thick gelatinous filling made from butter, corn syrup and either sugar or brown sugar.  In this pint, it appears that this filling appears to have been fully blended into the base ice cream.  So, not really any 'swirls' but it tasted good all the same.

This pint was well-done.  The full blending of the pie filling made this into a sort of 'brown sugar, cognac pecan' flavor.  That makes it a refreshing twist on the usual 'bourbon whiskey praline pecan' flavor done by almost every other brand (see the 'pecan' label on the right and about half of them include bourbon and a praline coating).  I find it a bit curious that this is the flavor that costs and extra dollar.  Maybe it was the cognac?  Anyhow, it made for a great holiday dessert.