Sweet Science - Salted Caramel

Salted Caramel - Salted Caramel Ice Cream

Today we return to the Saint-Paul based for one of their standard flavors -- Salted Caramel.  I have not done too many reviews of straight homogeneous flavors.  Checking my archives, I've done a Coolhaus caramel review as well has a few other caramel flavors which also featured mix-ins.  I will consider doing more.

Removing the lid, the caramel has the expected orange (caramel) color.  The ice cream is quite soft!  It is not at all melted, but I'm thinking I should eat it quickly because it appears close to doing so.  I know salt melts ice on roads, so maybe I should keep the freezer at a colder temperature when I am filling it with salted caramel?  The ice cream still has a good creamy consistency, I think I just need to eat it quickly.  That is usually not a problem.  Digging in, there is a strong caramel flavor with quite a noticeable kick of salt in the mix as well.  The appeal of salted caramel has been explained by the fact that it contains three things that humans crave:  sugar, fat, and salt.  This implementation is definitely trying to put salt on an equal level of the other two.  It is quite delicious.  The article linked above describes an effect called 'hedonistic escalation' where tasting one of the three makes you crave the other two.  I did eat the pint rather quickly.

This is a very good implementation of salted caramel.  It is of the 'extra salty' variety.  So, stay hydrated and perhaps crank up the power on the freezer if you plan on storing it for a long time.  The taste is excellent, though.  Extra salty salted caramel lovers will love this.

  

Izzy's - Snap Crackle Chocolate

Snap Crackle Chocolate - Chocolate Ice Cream with a Caramel Swirl and Chocolate-Coated Krispies

Editors note:  this flavor has been renamed to Chocolate Caramel Superstar

We return to the Saint Paul-based Izzy's brand today.  Izzy's has a lot of imaginative flavors in their scoop shops, but they don't always turn those into the pre-packaged pints which I like to review.  So, whenever I find an interesting pint in their scoop shop freezer case, I try to pick it up.  This flavor is called Snap Crackle Chocolate.   Chocolate, Caramel and Cocoa Krispies.

But before we proceed, this is a milestone review!  Pint number 300!  As with the previous century reviews here and here, I like to make a collage of the last 100 pints:

Pints 201-300

I never thought I'd write this many reviews.  I figured I would eventually run out of pints to try.  It turns out that the opposite is true.  There seems to be an almost endless amount of ice cream to eat and I can barely keep up.  With that in mind, I had better get going on my current review!

Removing the lid shows the full brown color of the chocolate base which a few brown specks of the cocoa krispies visible.  As I dig in, the chocolate base is amazing.  It is thick, creamy and very chocolatey.  I have had a lot of different chocolate bases.  I don't know if it is the absolute best one, but for some reason it really hit the spot this time.  I haven't tried Izzy's just plain 'chocolate'.  Perhaps I will now.  As I eat my way down, I start encountering the cocoa krispies.  They are a little bit larger and more globular than standard rice krispies, but they taste pretty good.  They are not as crispy as I would have liked.  I have seen that happen with other cereal flavors.  I think that might be how it often works out because of the mixing of the cereal into milk and cream before churning.  It still tastes pretty good though.  The krispies provide some textural variety and go well with the chocolate base.  One thing I did not find was a caramel swirl.  The list of ingredients on the container as well as the website said that there was one, but I don't see it.  Is it a mistake batch?  Did they change the recipe and not update the labels?  Is there a thin layer of caramel on the krispies that I didn't notice?  Did it get blended into the chocolate base and that's part of the reason why it tastes so good?  Maybe I'll try another same the next time I see the flavor at Izzy's.  Very curious.

I did like this pint.  Excellent chocolate and the cereal makes it more interesting than just plain chocolate.  I was a bit confused by the missing caramel swirl, but that's only because they told me one was there.  Try it for the remarkably excellent chocolate.

 

Häagen-Dazs - Honey Salted Caramel Almond

Honey Salted Caramel Almond - Honey Ice Cream with Swirls of Salted Caramel and Toasted Almonds

I have recently reviewed the three new "TRIO" flavors that Häagen-Dazs introduced for 2018.  Today, we look at the first of the new pints from what they are calling the "Decadent Collection".  This is called Honey Salted Caramel Almond.  Why "decadent"?  I looked for an explanation and could not find one.  The nutritional information lists the flavor as having 280 calories per quarter pint.  That's a bit on the high side, but some of their older flavors have more.  Perhaps they are trying to go against the latest low-calorie ice cream craze.  Anyhow, this particular flavor has honey, caramel and almond.  Those are flavors that are known to work well together.  I am anxious to dig in.

Removing the lid shows that the honey base is a golden color.  Some of the caramel swirl is visible right away as well.  With the first spoonful, the honey flavor is quite sweet, but not in a candied way.  I can tell that the sweetness comes from the honey and not the sugar.  The caramel swirls here are quite substantial and delicious.  The swirl seems to half-blend with the base at times.  There are plenty of crunchy almonds in the mix as well.  Yum.

I really liked this pint.  There have been a few new honey-based flavors of late which I welcome because I like the flavor and feel like it has been underutilized.  This is almost the same ingredient combination that a recent Talenti pint has used (Talenti used almond butter instead of almonds).  I liked this Häagen-Dazs pint better because there was more caramel and I liked crunching on the almonds.  If you like honey & caramel, check this pint out.

  

Sweet Science - Cayenne Caramel Brownie

Cayenne Caramel Brownie - Chocolate Ice Cream with Brownie Pieces and a Cayenne Caramel Swirl

Today is another Sweet Science pint that I picked up at the final tasting event.  This one is called Cayenne Caramel Brownie.  It looks like an implementation of the now-standard chocolate fudge brownie flavor, but with a spicy caramel swirl added.  It looks interesting.

Removing the lid, I see the medium-brown color of the chocolate base (not too dark), some evidence of brownie pieces and if I look closely some discolorization on the top may be evidence of a caramel swirl lurking below.  I have not reviewed their standard chocolate flavor before, but it is quite good.  The brownies are soft, chewy and chocolatey.  This would be a pretty solid chocolate fudge brownie alone, but there is more!  There is a cayenne caramel swirl underneath.  I found the caramel to be flavorful but the cayenne is quite mild.  It could be a spice-level tailored for Midwestern palates or it could be that I personally like things extra hot, or it could be all the surrounding ice cream acting as a spice buffer.  Probably a combination of things.  It is good caramel, though.  As I continued eating, there got to be a little bit of a kick similar to that of a whiskey caramel, but it never did get all that hot.

This is a good pint of ice cream.  Adding caramel to chocolate fudge brownie is a great idea.  The cayenne shouldn't get top billing here, but that could work either way as some Midwesterners might be afraid of hot peppers.  A hint of spice may be more of what people are expecting.  Enjoy the delicious brownies and caramel.

  

Häagen-Dazs - TRIO - Vanilla Caramel White Chocolate

TRIO - Vanilla Caramel White Chocolate - Vanilla and Caramel Ice Creams Layered with Crunchy White Chocolate and Caramel Sauce

Today we have the third and final of the new TRIO flavors from Häagen-Dazs for 2018:  Vanilla Caramel White Chocolate.  In a TRIO flavor, two base ice creams are tightly layered which a crunchy chocolate or white chocolate layer.  In addition, this year's TRIO flavors include a saucy fourth layer as well.  Here the base ice creams are vanilla and caramel, the crunchy chocolate is white and there is a caramel sauce.  Let's try it out!
 
The top of the pint shows a lot of caramel color from the caramel base and the caramel sauce.  Some vanilla is present as well.  As I eat my way down it is very caramel-centric.  The caramel swirl provides the most flavor while the caramel and vanilla bases are ideal vehicles for delivering that swirl.  It is   Then, the white chocolate gives you some crunch without distracting from the caramel flavor.  There seem to be a lot of crunchy white chocolate mix-ins in the pints that I've been having of late.  For me, it does not add or subtract from my flavor experience.  It is fun to crunch on, though.

This is the simplest of the new TRIO flavors, but it is the perhaps the most successful.  It is mostly caramel and the caramel is good.  For maximum caramel from Häagen-Dazs, I might prefer Caramel Cone, but this is close.  If you're a TRIO fan who loves caramel, this pint is for you.

 

Sweet Science - Pear Riesling

Pear Riesling - Pear Riesling Sorbet

I am still working my way through my stockpile of Sweet Science pints.  Today, I decided to try a sorbet: Pear Riesling.  I have never had a pint which included pear before!  Come to think of it, I have never had riesling before, either.   The pear is a fruit of the rose and is fairly closely related to the apple.  It is an Old World fruit which has been known since antiquity.  Riesling is a white grape variety from the Rhine region of Germany.  It is a popular flavor combination -- including a pint from Jeni's which is similar to this one.  I am quite curious to try this flavor.

Opening the pint, I can tell right away that is a fruit sorbet.  It has the look of a frozen applesauce.  I guess this is not surprising because apples and pears are related and have a similar texture.  Digging in, it has the texture of a churned sorbet (it scoops, but remains a bit slushy).  The pear flavor is there.  It is not just juice and ice either, some pulp is in there too.  It's how I imagine a pear version of applesauce would taste like (pear sauce?).  I am not entirely familiar with the taste of riesling, but there is a subtly sweet aftertaste which is not inconsistent with a white whine being in the mix.

This was certainly an interesting pint -- it is not often when all of the flavor labels that I tag a review with are being used for the first time.  I don't know if a pear sorbet is my thing, though.  I wanted to have only a single scoop instead of a full pint.  I had a similar reaction to an apple sorbet that I tried a while back so perhaps I am not the target audience for this.  I do not want to discourage you if you love pears and fruity sorbets, though.  If that's your thing, go ahead and track this down (or the Jeni's pint if you are not in the Twin Cities).

 

Häagen-Dazs - TRIO - Lemon Raspberry White Chocolate

TRIO - Lemon Raspberry White Chocolate - Lemon and Raspberry Ice Creams layered with White Chocolate and Raspberry Sauce

Today we try the second of this years' three new TRIO flavors from Häagen-Dazs:  Lemon Raspberry White Chocolate.  In a TRIO pint, two base ice creams are layered with a third crunchy chocolate layer.  The two bases here are lemon and raspberry and the crunchy chocolate is a white chocolate.  Similar to the previous flavor, this pint contains an additional saucy fourth layer.  Last time, the fourth layer was caramel, here is it a raspberry sauce.  Lemon, raspberry and white chocolate sounds like an appetizing combination.  I am looking forward to checking this out.

Opening the pint, I see the soft off-white colors of the lemon and raspberry bases.  A small splotch of bright pink-ish red raspberry sauce is visible right in the middle.  Digging in, the two fruit bases are light and muted.  I could taste the lemon and raspberry flavors, but they were not very strong.  The raspberry flavor was amplified a bit by the saucy swirl, but it was never too tart.  The white chocolate layer added crunchy texture.  Like the other pint from this year, the TRIO layering was a bit loose.  It did a good job of making sure that every spoonful had a bit of each distinct (i.e. unblended) flavor but it did not have the spectacular sedimentary-rock-like cross sections of last year's flavors.

This was a pretty solid TRIO pint.  The light raspberry flavor reminded me a bit of their White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle pint.  There are differences.  This flavor has a twist of lemon instead of chunks of fudge.  If a lighter and fruitier TRIO pint appeals to you, then check this one out.

  

Sweet Science - Stracciatella

Stracciatella - Vanilla Ice Cream with Shreds of Milk Chocolate

We return yet again to Saint Paul's Sweet Science brand for their Stracciatella flavor.  You'll have to indulge me on the increase in frequency of pint reviews from this brand.  They've recently had their final tasting event where I was inspired to stock up a bit.  They will be opening their first scoop shop later in the summer.  Once that happens, I will be able to pick up any new flavors there but it may not have the urgency of a monthly tasting event.   The stracciatella technique of creating a shredded chocolate mix-in while the ice cream is churning was discussed in a previous review.  This is their flagship flavor for that technique.  A simple vanilla ice cream with shredded chocolate mix-ins.

Removing the lid, the vanilla base is the expected off-white beige color and plenty of the chocolate mix-ins are visible.  The chocolate pieces do look like little shreds.  Digging in, the ice cream has a soft texture and a bright flavor.  There is something else in the mix.  I checked the side of the pint and raspberry liqueur is listed in the ingredients.  I am surprised that is not listed in the main flavor description.  It's is just a twist of raspberry.  Not enough to dominate the flavor but you can definitely tell that it is there.  I like it.  The shredded chocolate is flavorful and delicious.  It has a different texture than the white chocolate mix-in of the previous pint.  Here the chocolate is soft and flake-shaped while the previous white chocolate was like a crunchy inner lattice to the ice cream.

This was a fun pint.  The stracciatella flakes are well implemented here.  I guess one could say that these are not all that different from standard flake-shaped chocolate chips, but they were still pretty good.  The raspberry twist was a surprise, but I quite liked it.  It made it more interesting than the standard vanilla chocolate chip.

  

Sweet Science - Lime Curd with White Chocolate

Lime Curd with White Chocolate - Lime Curd Ice Cream with White Chocolate Freckles

We return to the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science brand for another seasonal flavor: Lime Curd White Chocolate.  This is the first primarily lime flavors, I have had in quite a long time.  There have been a couple of berry-limes, but there the berry is usually the primary flavor.  I think you have to go back to a Key Lime Pie pint which I had two years ago to find a mainly-lime pint.  If you are not familiar with 'lime curd' it is nothing to be afraid of.  Yes, it does get its name because when lemon or lime juice is added to dairy products, the acidity causes the milk to curdle, but most recipes for lime curd (or lemon curd) involve mixing in enough butter, eggs and sugar that you are effectively making a sweet custard out of the lime juice.  This "lime curd" is then a much more malleable ingredient for use in more complex dessert recipes.  The mix-ins here are tiny white chocolate 'freckles'.  I had never thought to mix lime with white chocolate before.  It should be fun to see how this works out.

Removing the lid, the lime curd base is a bright yellow.  There appears to be some swirls of lime curd itself in the mix, too.  Digging in, the base ice cream is very flavorful.  Lots of bright citrus flavor.  Sweet enough to mask the sourness of the lime, but not overly so.  It is quite delicious.  The lime curd swirl was an unexpected bonus as well.  Yum.  Then I was looking for the white chocolate mix-ins.  It took me a while to find them, but they were actually everywhere.  Basically, they were small 'freckles' not much larger than grains of sand.  I could feel them with my tongue inside each spoonful but when I tried to isolate them from the rest of the ice cream, they melted away.  Neat!  As I've mentioned in previous reviews, white chocolate is a fairly inert flavor on my palate, anyways.  I am curious to know what people who really love the flavor of white chocolate think of this flavor combination, but otherwise I'll just accept its fleeting texture and enjoy this amazing lime base.

I really liked this pint!  I am always looking for good citrus-based flavors and this one hits the jackpot.  One of my favorite lemon or lime flavors so far and one of my favorite Sweet Science pints as well.  If you like lime flavor and can find this pint, check it out.

Pumphouse Creamery - Buttermilk with Lemon Bars

Buttermilk with Lemon Bars - Buttermilk Ice Cream with Sweet Tart Lemon Bar Pieces

Today we return to the Pumphouse Creamery of South Minneapolis.  This is my second pint from them -- the first pint was last fall.  I returned because they added a lemon flavor:  Buttermilk with Lemon Bars.  I am kind of a sucker for lemon flavors, but they are hard to get right due to lemon's acidity.  They bill this as one of their most popular and signature flavors which sounds quite promising.  I can't wait to try it.


Opening the pint, the buttermilk base is very white.  This always surprises me.  I guess buttermilk doesn't really have butter -- it's just cultured -- so it should just as white as plain yogurt.  Digging in, the buttermilk base is fairly tangy.  You can taste the buttermilk.  I could make out some lemon flavoring in the base as well.  The real lemon flavor came from the lemon bar mix-ins, though.  Every once in a while, I'd bite into a small, chewy lemon bar piece which would deliver lemon flavor along with some crust and powdered sugar.  Yum.  The density of the mix-ins was not incredibly high, but that worked well here because a little lemon bar goes a long way.  Lemon bars are usually cut into very small pieces after all.  As I continued eating down to the bottom of the pint, I always had plenty of lemon flavor in my mouth and the tangy base did a pretty good job of balancing the flavor.


This is an excellent pint of ice cream.  One of the best lemon-themed pints I've had.  Scanning my archives, I see that Jeni's has a similar flavor, but I liked this one better due to the mix-ins.  If you are in South Minneapolis and need an ice cream break, then check out this flavor from Pumphouse.

  

Talenti - Almond Butter & Honey

Almond Butter & Honey - Almond Butter Gelato with a Wildflower Honey Swirl

We return to the Talenti gelato brand for a new flavor for 2018: Almond Butter & Honey.  It was listed as a special batch flavor, so I figured I had better get it before it goes away.  Plus, I like honey in ice cream and the almond butter intrigues me.  Looking at the ingredients, it looks like almond butter is just the almond version of peanut butter -- it is basically almonds ground up until they are spreadable.  And the honey means that it contains many of the same ingredients as marzipan.  That sounds interesting.  Let's dig in!

Unscrewing the lid, the almond butter base is a beige-tinged off-white and there is a vein of honey visible along the top.  In the first spoonful, the base has a light gelato texture.  It is a bit sweet.  You can taste the almonds but it is not super strong like you sometimes see in marzipan and other almond-based things.  You can tell that the flavoring comes just from ground almonds.  That said, I feel like I should clarify that there are no almond pieces in this pint -- the texture is very smooth. The honey swirl was flavorful, but not too sticky or too sweet.  The consistency almost reminded me of a caramel swirl, except you could tell that it was honey-flavored and not caramel-flavored.

This is an interesting an unique pint from Talenti.  The flavoring is a bit subtle and understated which surprised me a bit, but it was still pretty good and the flavors were blended well.  If you like almond butter and honey, you'll want to check it out of course.

Häagen-Dazs - TRIO - Coconut Caramel Chocolate

Coconut Caramel Chocolate - Coconut and Chocolate Ice Creams layered with Crispy Belgian Chocolate and Caramel Sauce

Häagen-Dazs has new flavors for 2018!  Due to availability and the timing of sales, I haven't gotten around to trying these as soon as I would have liked.  It is time to play catch-up.  There are three new flavors in their standard line in what they are calling the Decadent Collection plus three new TRIO flavors.  Today, we look at one of the new TRIO flavors:  Coconut Caramel Chocolate.  The TRIO flavors were first introduced last year and are a cool new way to deliver ice cream.  Two ice cream bases are layered with a crunchy Belgian chocolate layer.  I am not exactly sure how they do it, but it's pretty cool.  Today, the two bases are coconut and chocolate and in addition to the crispy Belgian chocolate layer, there are also layers of caramel.  I guess that makes this pint more of a QUARTET than a TRIO, but for the sake of this review, we'll overlook that.

Opening the pint, the two bases are actually swirled a bit on the very top.  Digging in, I taste the chocolate right away.  The coconut flavor was not entirely obvious at first, but after a couple of spoonfuls, I started to taste it.  The layers in a TRIO pint are relatively thin so it was not long before my spoon was cutting through layers of Belgian chocolate and finding caramel as well.  The layering was not as orderly as it has been in other TRIO pints that I've had, but it still delivers the ice cream in a way that all of the elements are found in almost all of the spoonfuls.

I must admit that I was a little bit disappointed with this pint.  Mainly because there was not as much coconut flavor as I was expecting.  It certainly is not a bad pint.  Lovers of other TRIO flavors will enjoy cutting their spoon through crunchy Belgian chocolate and Häagen-Dazs' chocolate base is excellent as usual, but without a strong coconut flavor, there is little that distinguishes it from several of the other TRIO flavors.  Seems like an easy fix to a promising flavor, though, and you never know if I just got a pint from a weak batch.  I'm looking forward to trying more of the new
Häagen-Dazs flavors in the next few weeks.