Jeni's - Strawberry Buttermilk

Strawberry Buttermilk - Strawberry Ice Cream blended with Buttermilk

The penultimate pint from my six-pint shipment from the Columbus-based Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream is called Strawberry Buttermilk.  I have had lots of strawberry ice creams and a fair amount of buttermilk ice creams (see tags on the right for examples of each) but this is the first time I have seen the two paired together.  At least in a full pint.  During my Manhattan ice cream crawl a few years ago, I had a scoop of buttermilk balsamic strawberry from Morganstern's.  As I have written in the past, strawberry is a very strong flavor and it is quite common to see brands use something to cut the flavor a bit.  I've seen cheesecake (twice), mascarpone (twice), shortbread (twice), tarragon, balsamic vinegar, cardamom meringue,  rhubarb... the list just keeps getting longer.  Let's see how blending with buttermilk works out.

The top of the pint is a nice light pink color.  There are some small flecks of strawberry visible, but nothing too large.  Digging in, it is a very good strawberry flavor.  As for the buttermilk, it does not stick out.  Some buttermilk ice creams present that distinct buttermilk flavor to you -- especially in the finish.  Not here.  The buttermilk seems to be used simply to mute the strawberry flavor a bit.  It is still a delicious strawberry flavor, though.  This is a homogenous flavor and other that those specks I mentioned, there are no mix-ins.

This is a very good strawberry ice cream.  Buttermilk is only used to mute the flavor a bit, so people afraid of buttermilk need not worry.  If you had told me that this was just strawberry, I would have believed you.  As with the recent Cookies in Cream flavor, I don't know if this is a flavor that benefits too much from a super-premium brand, but if you are at a Jeni's scoop shop and are in the mood for strawberry, then this is very well done.

Sweet Science - Milk Chocolate

Milk Chocolate - Milk Chocolate Ice Cream

Today's flavor comes from Sweet Science Ice Cream in the Keg & Case Market of Saint Paul.  As mentioned in the previous review, they have four great holiday flavors for December, but I reviewed them all last year.  I was itching to have more ice cream from Sweet Science, though, so I looked to see which of their standard-menu flavors I have not tried yet.  I picked up a pint of Milk Chocolate.  I am not sure, but I think the only one I have left now might be vanilla.  Let's see how Sweet Science's Milk Chocolate compares to other brands.

The top of the pint has a deep brown color.  Not as dark as their Dark Chocolate Sorbet, but it still looks like it contains a fair amount of chocolate.  Digging in, the texture is thick and dense, but not too heavy.  The chocolate flavor is quite good.  With some chocolate ice creams, I have noticed that there is a 'finish' to the flavor that is similar to a cup of hot cocoa -- Häagen-Dazs is like that.  This Sweet Science not is actually not like that.  This is like eating a good piece of gourmet chocolate.  I am not making a judgement as to whether the hot-cocoa-finish is better or worse it is just an observation.  A simple chocolate flavor is so basic and ubiquitous and I am trying to decide how to distinguish them from each other.  Anyhow, the flavor is quite delicious.

This is a good implementation of a similar milk chocolate ice cream base.  It delivers good chocolate flavor in a good premium quality base.  As an added fact, my niece tried this flavor when she visited last year.  When it comes to ice cream, she only eats chocolate and she is one of the pickiest eaters I know -- and she liked it!  If it's good enough for her, then it should be good enough for anybody.  (ha ha!)

Jeni's - Coffee with Cream & Sugar

Coffee with Cream & Sugar - Intelligentsia Coffee Steeped in Cream

The fourth flavor from my recent six pint Black Friday shipment from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream is called Coffee with Cream & Sugar.  This looks like just coffee ice cream -- ice cream is made with cream and sugar after all.  The description mentions that they steep the grounds in the cream before churning.  This flavor is relatively new.  I believe it was added a year or two ago.  It appears to have replaced an old flavor called Intelligentsia Black Cat Espresso.  Both use Intelligentsia brand coffee.  I can see a seal with a black cat on today's flavor (to the right of the word 'sugar' on the front) so both specifically use the Black Cat Espresso product.  I think it's possible that this Coffee with Cream & Sugar is a rebranding of the older flavor.  The older name might have been confusing to people who did not immediately recognize it for what it was -- coffee ice cream. 

Jeni Britton Bauer -- the "Jeni" of Jeni's -- has a youtube video for made with Epicurious that challenges her to tell the difference between expensive and budget ice creams.  The whole thing is very interesting, but if you are short on time, the coffee tasting is between 11:35 and 15:09.  In the video, she has some interesting comments about what she thinks makes a good coffee ice cream.

On to this pint!  The top has a sandy beige color and is consistent with other coffee flavor.  I see a few dark specks scattered throughout the base as well.  Digging in, the ice cream is very thick and dense.  Jeni's uses tapioca syrup as a thickening agent and it makes the ice cream so firm and creamy that I often wonder if it would ever melt.  I always eat it too fast to find out though.  The coffee flavor is quite good.  It is a pure coffee flavor without any burnt or roasted notes and no hint of bitterness in the mix as well.  It is strong enough flavor-wise, but it not incredibly strong caffeine-wise.  By that I mean I do not get a caffeine headache from eating the full pint.

This is a simple and flavorful coffee ice cream from Jeni's.  It is quite good.  It seems to follow all the things that she mentions in the video above.  It smells like a good bag of coffee.  It has all the coffee flavoring without feeling like it is burnt or bitter.  It is delicious.  It is hard for me to rank this against all the other premium coffee ice creams that I have tried, but this is definitely one of the good ones.

Izzy's - Candy Cane

Candy Cane - Peppermint Candy Ice Cream 

Candy Cane ice cream seems like a great thing to eat on Christmas day.  Thankfully, I have a hand-packed 'tall cup' from Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul in my freezer.  It looks like simple peppermint candy ice cream which a few brands have implementations for.  I have seen similar flavors from McConnell's and Graeter's and if you allow for a bit of white chocolate in the mix, Jeni's as well.  It will be interesting to see how Izzy's compares to those. Let's dig in!

The top of the pint has a dark pink color and I can see some specks of candy cane on top, too.  Digging in, the base ice cream is actually white with lots of pinkish red swirls in it.  I believe the top being all pink is something that happened in my freezer.  The color diffused to the surface.  I had this happen with a pint from McConnell's once.  This is not a complaint -- it is a very thin layer -- this just a scientific curiosity.  The ice cream itself has a strong peppermint flavor as expected.  Not only that, it tastes just like candy canes specifically.  I do not know how to describe that, but I can tell the difference between a candy cane and another kind of mint and this tastes like candy canes.  The red swirls are also minty.  There are no crunchy pieces in the mix.  I think peppermint candies dissolve in ice cream.  I have seen that with both of McConnell's and Graeter's brands linked above.

This is a very delicious implementation of a candy cane ice cream.  It is a thick and rich base as with other Izzy's flavors and it very accurately reproduces the flavor of candy canes.  Comparing it to McConnell's and Graeter's, this is at least as good which is high praise (I really liked both of those).  This is a great holiday flavor for kids who love candy canes and for adults that love peppermint.  I am a bit slow writing up my holiday ice cream tastings this year, so this flavor is likely cycled out by now, but next year don't hesitate to give this one a try.

Pumphouse Creamery - Sea Salt Caramel and Praline Pecans

Sea Salt Caramel and Praline Pecans - Salted Caramel Ice Cream with Praline Pecans

Today's flavor is from Pumphouse Creamery in South Minneapolis.  It is called Sea Salt Caramel and Praline Pecans.  Their website lists it as one of their older (2004) and most popular flavors.  I like caramel and praline pecans so I figured I would give it a try.

The top of the pint is a fairly light beige color lighter than most caramel bases.  With the first spoonful, it is a fairly mild caramel base.  It is tasty, though.  Reminded me more of the old-fashioned salted caramel from Graeter's than the stronger and saltier caramels that seem to be common these days.  I think the point here is to serve as a vehicle for the mix-ins.  As I dig down into the ice cream, I run into the pecans.  The praline coating here is light.  It is not the thick candied brittle-like coating that some praline pecans have.  It tastes like the pecans have been soaked in salted maple syrup before mixing them in.  I can taste the pecans more than the usual praline mix-ins.

This is a mild, yet delicious version of a pralines and cream from Pumphouse.  A muted caramel base is used with simple maple-syrup-coated pecan mixed in.  I don't mean to knock it though.  It was quite delicious to eat.  It was almost like a cross between a butter pecan and a pralines and cream.  As long as you know what to expect.  Try a sample at the scoop shop and see if it is for you.

Jeni's - Cookies in Cream

Cookies in Cream - Chocolate Cookies with Flecks of White Chocolate in Vanilla Scented Cream

Today we move on to the third pint in my recent six-pint shipment from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream.  This is called Cookies in Cream.  I have noted in the past that although almost every brand implements a simple cookies and cream flavor, there is no standard way to spell it.  Many brands use "Cookies & Cream" (see Graeter's, Häagen-Dazs, McConnell's), some use "Cookies and Cream" (Sweet Science), or "Cookies N' Cream" (Izzy's).  Today's flavor is the first I have seen that uses "Cookies in Cream".  I know this is perhaps not the content you were looking for, but it did give me an excuse to link to several other previous cookies and cream implementations.  Let's see how Jeni's does this classic flavor.

Removing the lid, I see the white base with lots of chocolate cookie specks.  There is a difference across various brands as to which base to use for cookies and cream -- vanilla or sweet cream.  Jeni's splits the difference by using a vanilla-scented sweet cream.  It tastes pretty good -- I can taste the vanilla but it is not too strong.  The chocolate cookies are crushed into small crumb-like pieces and are dispersed evenly throughout the pint.  These are not Oreos but premium-all-natural imitation Oreos.  Imagine a nice bakery re-imagining the Oreo without trying to exactly copy it.  The cookie crumbs are softer, dark brown instead of jet black and they have a more pure chocolate flavor.  This sounds like an improvement, but Oreos have such a distinctive and familiar flavor that many people swear that it is not really cookies and cream if it is not Oreos.  I will leave that up to the individual person to decide.  There is white chocolate in the mix as well, but I do not notice it too much.  White chocolate is an inert flavor for me.  Perhaps it adds some richness to the overall flavor combination?  I am not sure.

 Every brand needs this flavor on the menu because it is a lot of people's favorite and a scoop shop would be lacking without it.  While this is a solid implementation of cookies and cream from Jeni's, I prefer either embracing the Oreo brand and using big pieces (like Graeter's does) or for create a larger twist on the flavor.  For example, Coolhaus and Milkjam Creamery use a cookie milk base which is amazing.  Alternatively, McConnell's and Ben & Jerry's use chocolate chip cookies instead of chocolate sandwich cookies which works incredibly well.  Still, if you are at a scoop shop and someone in your party needs a simple cookies and cream, then Jeni's will have you covered and it will be good.

Izzy's - Egg Nog

Egg Nog - Egg Nog Ice Cream with Nutmeg and Rum Flavor

 

Today is a seasonal flavor from the Saint-Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream.  This is Egg Nog.  In the past, I have mentioned that some people (including myself) have an aversion to egg nog as a beverage, something about the texture I think.  But I really enjoy egg-nog-flavored desserts.  When you take the ingredients of egg nog, add some sugar and work them into a dessert you usually end up with 'custard'.  This is not just an ice cream thing either.  I have seen this effect with egg-nog-themed pastries and donuts -- the egg nog will manifest itself as a nutmeg custard filling.  I love custard, so I am looking forward to this.

Since I ate this (and before I wrote the review), Izzy's has been featured on a local business podcast called By All Means.  Check Izzy's blogpost about it here. (updated podcast link here)  The discussion has a business slant but there is plenty of talk of ice cream in their as well.  If you like Izzy's and are curious about their business history and where they would like to go with their business in the future, check it out.

Back to the Egg Nog!  The first thing I notice, is that Izzy's has changed their packaging on their hand-packed pints.  The switch from 16 ounces to 14 ounces that they made with their pre-packaged offerings.  To their credit, they are committed to referring to these not as 'pints' but as 'tall cups' -- and the price is a little cheaper.  Removing the lid, the ice cream is the expected light yellow color.  Interestingly, I can see a few flakes of nutmeg already.  Digging in, this is very thick and creamy.  Izzy's is known for having having rich, thick bases with generous amount of butterfat.  The extra eggs in the mix make this feel even thicker.  I taste the egg custard flavor, but also taste the nutmeg right away.  Good quality nutmeg, too.  The website says there is rum flavoring in the mix as well, but it does not stick out as much as the nutmeg.

This is an excellent implementation of a egg nog ice cream.  Egg nog in ice cream creates a rich frozen-custard-like base and the nutmeg here is particularly delicious.  Enjoy.

Jeni's - Frosé

Frosé - Sangria-style Frozen Rosé with Pear, Strawberry, and Watermelon

Today we move on to the second pint of my six-pint Black Friday order from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.  This is called Frosé.  It is a 'frozen rosé' or a sangria-style fruity sorbet.  Normally when I order pints for shipment, I focus on pints that I cannot find locally in Minnesota, but it is getting to the point in my survey of flavors that I need to include locally available flavors in my shipment in order to fill out a six-pint order.  I have seen this pint in Twin-Cities-area Whole Foods stores.  Let's check this out.

Removing the lid, I see a deep pink colored sorbet.  This is a very striking color!  A reminder to those who have not read all of my reviews that sorbets are dairy-free by definition and unless the flavors contain their own creaminess (like coconut, chocolate, peanut butter, bananas, etc) then a sorbet will have a frozen slushie type of texture.  That is definitely the case here, though this sorbet is churned quite well and is easy to run your spoon through.  The fruit-flavor blend is quite good here.  I taste the strawberry and watermelon right away.  I do not immediately taste the pear but I do recognize that this is a more complex fruit blend than just strawberry and watermelon.  That could also be from the rosé as well.  I should note that like a good Sangria, this is not at all boozy.  The link above confirms that this contains less than half a percent of alcohol.

I liked this flavor.  It is a cool and refreshing fruit-blend sorbet.  I can see why this is on their short list of flavors that is widely distributed nationwide by Whole Foods.  I do feel like I should be enjoying this in the summer rather than the winter, but sometimes an off-season flavor hits the spot.

Pumphouse Creamery - Cardamom with Candied Orange Peel

Cardamom with Candied Orange Peel - Cardamom Ice Cream with Candied Orange Peel Pieces

Today we return to the South Minneapolis' Pumphouse Creamery for a new flavor of theirs called Cardamom with Candied Orange Peel.  This flavor looks so interesting to me.  I have always been a bit cardamom-curious and candied orange peel pieces are not a mix-in that I have seen before.  Let's check this out.

Opening the pint, I see an off-white beige of the cardamom base as well as one or two of the candied orange peels.  Cardamom that blends so well with other flavors that it is often hard to isolate.  Here, being the only flavor in the base I can really taste it.  It is good.  This is one of the better cardamom bases that I have had.  I quickly encounter the candied orange peel pieces.  They visually reminded me a bit of Jujubes.  Not the flavor or texture, though.  Flavor-wise, these pieces are surprisingly sour -- "candied" certainly does not mean sweet.  Texture-wise, these are fairly soft and easy to chew (not tough like a Jujube).  The combination of the tart mix-ins against the cardamom base is quite interesting.  I liked it more and more as I kept eating my way down the pint.

This is a very unique, interesting and successful pint from Pumphouse.  It is a bit of an 'adult' flavor in that the combination of ingredients is more tart and complex, but it is a flavor that you can quickly acquire before getting to the end of the pint.  It reminded me a bit of their Lemon Olive Oil and Sea Salt flavor that way.  This Cardamom with Candied Orange Peel flavor is really good. 

Jeni's - Snowflake

Snowflake - Spearmint and Peppermint Ice Creams with White Chocolate

I ordered six pints from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream!  This is becoming a bit of a Black Friday tradition for me.  The first flavor is a flavor called Snowflake which is the result of a collaboration with Tyler the Creator.  I must admit I did not know who he was at first.  I thought he was some sort of chef or food guru, but it turns out that he is a rapper and musician.  He has branched out into fashion designing a little bit and now he wants to try his hand at making ice cream.  He says that he has always been a fan of white chocolate and mint but has been frustrated that white chocolate cookies always have macadamia nuts and mint ice cream almost always has chocolate chips.  So he wanted to have a flavor which contained his two favorite flavors together instead of with their usual companions.  Interestingly, Jeni's already has two mint-and-white-chocolate combinations in White Chocolate Peppermint and Savannah Buttermint, but in Snowflake they include both peppermint and spearmint.  I have had spearmint gum, but not spearmint ice cream before, so this should be interesting.

Removing the lid, I see a marbled green and white colors on the top of the pint.  I guess spearmint is naturally green.  Digging in, the ice cream is very cool and minty.  I recognize that spearmint is in the mix right away -- I taste it more in the finish.  Dispersed throughout the pint are these small little white chocolate pellets.  They look a little bit like large sprinkle candies but they have a denser texture which provides a bit of 'crunch' when you bite into one.

This is a very cool, refreshing and unique pint of mint ice cream.  The marbling of the spearmint and peppermint is beautiful visually and quite interesting to boot.  Then the white chocolate pellets provide a bit of crunch.  With three mint and white chocolate flavors now, Jeni's would seem to have you covered.  White Chocolate Peppermint is the traditional holiday flavor, Savannah Buttermint re-creates the flavor of those soft, buttery mints that everyone's grandmother seemed to have and this Snowflake flavor introduces Spearmint into the mix.  This particular blend is well done and is worth checking out if you love mint.

Sweet Science - Fresh Oranges & Cream

Fresh Oranges & Cream - Orange Sorbet swirled with Vanilla Ice Cream

Today's review is from the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science Ice Cream.  They release new flavors on the first Friday of every month.  The December flavors are the holiday flavors and they are the same as last year.  The holiday flavors are Gingerbread, Peppermint Bark, Strawberry Kolache and Opera Cake.  They are all pretty good (click the links for the reviews I wrote last year).  There is one new flavor in their regular (non-monthly-limited) line which is called Fresh Oranges and & Cream and I will review that here.  It looks like a variation on their late-winter seasonal Blood Orange Cream where regular oranges are used instead of blood oranges.  Using regular oranges and orange juice likely means they can keep in the rotation longer as blood oranges are much more seasonal.  The orange is made into a sorbet which is then swirled into a vanilla ice cream.  Let's check it out.

Opening the pint, I see a lot of the orange sorbet right away on top of the pint.  It is a much lighter color than the Blood Orange of course.  The color looks right, but it is remarkable how yellowish the orange of an orange is.  I have had their orange sorbet before (with a twist of mexican honey lager) and it is quite good.  It tastes like a good glass of freshly squeezed orange juice.  The vanilla ice cream blends with the sorbet quite well.  Often sorbets are good for a scoop or two, not for a full pint.  Here, it was quite easy for me to eat the entire pint.

This is an excellent implementation of an orange-and-vanilla ice cream.  The side of the pint says that the sorbet & vanilla combination is like an 'orange-sicle for adults'.  This is a much higher quality orange with a softer texture than the orange popsicles used in the orange-sicles that I grew up with to boot.  If you are in a citrus mood this winter, check this one out. 

Izzy's - Mocha Almond Fudge

Mocha Almond Fudge - Mocha Ice Cream with a Fudge Swirl and Salted Almonds

Today we return to the Saint Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream for their implementation of Mocha Almond Fudge.  "Mocha" is a port city in Yemen famous for trading coffee back in the 1600s and 1700s but today it has come to mean a blend of coffee and chocolate flavors.  On the ice cream front, the mocha almond and fudge flavor combination is one of the signature flavors of Baskin Robbins -- a flavor which they call Jamoca Almond Fudge.  It was supposedly Irv Robbins' favorite flavor.  Let's see how Izzy's implements this classic flavor.

Removing the lid, the ice cream is a deep golden brown color.  The ice cream itself is thick, and creamy.  I taste chocolate right away, but then I taste coffee, and then I taste coffee again.  The romance copy on their flavor page describes it as "chocolate and coffee ballroom dancing together".  That's a little hokey (as romance copy often is) but there is some truth to it.  The almond pieces are dispersed throughout the pint and give me something to chew on while I am enjoying the ice cream.  Izzy's bases are rich in buttercream so this flavor fills me up relatively quickly.  I looked but I did not see an explicit swirl of fudge here.   Perhaps the swirl got fully blended into the base?  I have seen that a couple of times with Izzy's before.  I cannot complain too much when blended result tastes so good but it is worth noting so one is not surprised when they don't find one.

This is a good implementation of a mocha almond flavor from Izzy's.  The coffee and chocolate blend here is especially good and the almonds are fun to chew on.  The fudge swirl appear to get blended into the base here -- maybe that varies from batch to batch? -- so set your expectations appropriately but otherwise this is very good ice cream.

Pumphouse - Dark Chocolate Mint

Dark Chocolate Mint - Dark Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream

I am back from my Thanksgiving trip and ready to get back to Twin Cities ice cream brands again.  Today's flavor is from Pumphouse Creamery from south Minneapolis.  It is called Dark Chocolate Mint.  This is a seasonal flavor from the fall that was leftover in my freezer from before my trip.  It is no longer available in the scoop shop, but maybe it will it will come back next season.  Dark Chocolate and Mint is not an uncommon combination during the holiday season.  Jeni's had a holiday flavor a while back which was this exact combination.  Allowing for mix-ins McConnell's Reindeer Tracks is this flavor with a small amount of cookies while Ben & Jerry's Minter Wonderland is this flavor combination with marshmallow and a cookies.  Let's see how this flavor from Pumphouse compares.

Removing the lid, the dark chocolate base is a medium brown color.  Digging in for my first spoonful, the chocolate is not too dark and the peppermint is not too intense but it is a good flavorful mix.  This is a homogeneous pint with no mix-ins.  Long-time readers know that mint chocolate chip is my favorite flavor so I am always up for having chocolate and peppermint together in ice cream in any combination.  I was able to easily eat the entire pint in one sitting.

This is a solid pint from Pumphouse.  It is not as intense chocolate-wise or mint-wise as Jeni's implementation of the same flavor but it is a likable pint which is easy to eat.  There are many ways to mix mint and chocolate.  They have the standard mint chocolate chip (I hope to try that soon) plus there is the holiday Peppermint Bark flavor and now this flavor.  Dark Chocolate Mint is you are more in the mood for chocolate than mint (yet still want both).  Look to see if it comes back next year.