Izzy's - Pomegranate Pizzazz!

Pomegranate Pizzazz! - Cherry Pomegranate Sorbet

Today we return to the Saint-Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream for their Pomegranate Pizzazz! flavor.  This is a cherry and pomegranate sorbet.  It is also a People's Flavor Award winner from 2007 and has remained a popular summer flavor in their scoop shops ever since.  I am looking forward to checking this out.

This is actually the first flavor that I have had which has included pomegranate.  The name of the fruit means 'seeded apple' (pomme 'apple' + granate 'seed') and it's size and shape have given its name to the explosive device now known as the grenade.  The fruit is thought to have been native to the Iran, Pakistan and Northern India, but has been domesticated in the Mediterranean since antiquity.  The Greeks even incorporated the fruit into their mythology.  Persephone the daughter of Zeus and Demeter was abducted by Hades and taken to the underworld.  She was found, but because she had consumed seven pomegranate seeds, she was forced to spent seven months of the year in the underworld.  During these seven months, Demeter mourned.  Since Demeter was the goddess of agriculture, nothing would grow during this period.  And that's why we have winter!  For some odd reason, this is the only Greek myth I can remember, but I still think of it whenever I eat pomegranates.

OK, enough talk, let's check out this flavor!  The top of the pint is a dark pink color consistent with the color of either cherry or pomegranate.  I can also see a bit of icy texture on the top, so I know it is a sorbet and not an ice cream.  Digging in, the cherry and pomegranate flavors blend quite well.  If I focus, I can taste each flavor, but the flavor blend also tastes like it could be its own fruit.  It is quite delicious.  The flavors are not very intense, it is not too sweet or too tart.  There is a bit of diminishing returns as my palate gets used to the flavor but it stays flavorful throughout.

This is an excellent blended fruit sorbet flavor from Izzy's.  Once again, Izzy's shows that it nows how to create blended fruit flavors.  I can understand why it won the People's Flavor Award a while back.  The flavor is not too intense, but it is a good refreshing flavor for a summer day.

Graeter's - Orange & Cream

Orange & Cream - Ice Cream flavored with Orange Puree

Today is the fourth pint from my six-pint shipment from Graeter's Ice Cream in Cincinnati.  This is a seasonal flavor called Orange & Cream.  Like the previous seasonal flavor, this flavor has it's own bright packaging -- which in this case is appropriately a bright orange.  The artwork on the carton displays a creamsicle -- a dessert-on-a-stick which is a orange popsicle on the outside with vanilla ice cream on the inside.  I have had flavors that reminded me of creamsicles before (from Häagen-Dazs and Sweet Science) but each of those have a bit of a twist (tangerine, blood orange).  This looks like a straight version and cream.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see a light orange color of the orange-flavored base.  This is a homogenous ice cream -- this is not a marbling of orange sherbet and vanilla ice cream which I remember from when I was a kid.  This is orange-flavored ice cream.  Digging in, it is a bright orange flavor -- it tastes a lot like an orange push-up that I used to get from an ice cream truck.  It is ice cream and not sherbet though.  It is cool and refreshing.

This is a very simple, yet very well done pint of orange ice cream.  It reminds me of the treats that I used to get from an ice cream truck as a kid, but in the form of a homogenous ice cream.  It is a great flavor for a hot summer day.

Talenti - Salted Caramel Truffle

Talenti - Salted Caramel Truffle - Layers of Sea Salt Caramel Gelato, Chocolate Cookies, Dulce de Leche, Vanilla Gelato and Chocolatey Caramel Truffles

I took a break to look at other brands for a while, but there are still more new Gelato Layers pints available from Talenti.  Todays flavor is called Salted Caramel Truffle.  There are five layers this time, salted caramel gelato, chocolate cookies, dulce de leche, vanilla gelato and chocolatey caramel truffles.  This looks like a good combination.

Unscrewing the lid, we again see only the top layer, the sea salt gelato (which I have reviewed here).  For the purposes of the pictures below, I work to extract a vertical slice so that you can see the layers.  What does it taste like.  The two gelato layers are simple yet tasty, they take up most of the space vertically, but in my opinion the three mix-in layers are the stars of the show.  In between the vanilla & caramel gelatos are the chocolate cookie and dulce de leche layers.  For me, these two layers felt like the combined into a 'cookie sauce'.  It was quite good.  Then at the bottom of the pint are the chocolatey caramel truffles.  These are excellent and reminded me of Rolo candies except with perhaps a thinner chocolate shell so there was a higher ratio of caramel filling per piece.  They are buried down at the bottom of the pint, but every time I got one into my spoonful I was quite happy.

This is another successful layers pint from Talenti.  I really enjoyed the caramel truffle mix-ins as well as the chocolate-cookies-in-dulce-de-leche layer.  As with other layers pints, I'm curios as to how difficult is is from the average person to sample all the layers at once.  I feel like I my method of cutting out a vertical slice gives me a good starting point because I am at a point where I can scoop with my spoon.  For others, maybe transferring it into a small bowl does the same thing?  Anyhow, this is a good chocolate and caramel pint.  It is worth checking out for those who enjoy that flavor combination.

Graeter's - Key Lime Pie

Key Lime Pie - Ice Cream Base Flavored with Key Lime Juice with Crunchy Graham Crust Pieces

Today is the third pint to my recent six-pint shipment from the Cincinnati-based Graeter's Ice Cream.  This is a seasonal flavor called Key Lime Pie.  You can tell that it is a seasonal rather than a limited-batch flavor because it has it has its own packaging.  I really like the bright green carton.  It makes me look forward to the lime.  This appears to be a standard implementation of a pie-as-ice-cream.  Graham cracker pieces are added to simulate the pie crust.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the base is a bright greenish yellow.  It almost looks like it might glow in the dark.  Many of the graham cracker pieces can be seen right away.  Digging in, the lime flavor is excellent.  The carton says that this is flavored with key lime juice but I feel like I can actually test the zest in there.  The graham cracker pieces are crunchy and large enough that you can taste the crust from time to time, but not so large as to distract from the lime flavor.

This is an excellent key lime pie flavor.  It did everything well.  The lime was good, the graham crust pieces were good.  It tastes just like the pie -- yet it is still ice cream.  I have had one other key lime pie flavor (from Talenti) which was quite good but I feel this flavor is even better.  This is a seasonal pint from Graeter's so check it out while it is available.

Izzy's - Blackberry Crème Fraîche

Blackberry Crème Fraîche - Blackberry Crème Fraîche Ice Cream

The flavor for today is from the Saint Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream and it is called Blackberry Crème Fraîche.  I picked this up because it looked like a unique combination of flavors.  I have actually had one other flavor which included crème fraîche before -- from Izzy's -- but there a lot of other ingredients in that flavor.  Here it just blackberry and crème fraîche.  I am guessing that the crème fraîche is used to cut the strong blackberry flavor.  Let's see if that is indeed the case.

Removing the lid, I see that the blackberry base is a deep magenta color.  Digging in, the blackberry flavor is quite good!  I don't see of feel any seeds, so it would appear that the blackberries have been strained.  The added crème fraîche balances the tartness of the blackberry perfectly.  Crème fraîche by itself often has its own tangy flavor but I don't notice that here.  It blends seamlessly with the blackberries to deliver the fruit flavor while decreasing the tartness that many berry flavors have.

This is an excellent fruit flavor from Izzy's.  Simple fruit flavors and fruit blends and fruit blends is one of Izzy's strengths (see also here, here, here, here) and this is no exception.  This is a great pint for people who love blackberries (or any other cane berries).

Graeter's - Amaretto Crunch

Amaretto Crunch - Creamy, Pink, Almond-flavored Ice Cream with Crushed Almond Candy Inclusions.

Today we move on to the second point from my recent six-pint shipment from Graeter's Ice Cream.  This is also the second limited-edition flavor.  The previous pint was a Malted Pretzel Ball, this pint is called Amaretto Crunch.  It is a pink almond base with almond candy pieces as the mix-in.  I've never had pink almond before.  I guess it is popular in recipes to add pink food coloring to almond-flavored things.  I am not exactly sure why.  It reminds me a bit of 'red velvet' where buttermilk-cocoa desserts are colored bright red.  It seems fun.  I checked the ingredient list, and Graeter's uses a vegetable juice to obtain the pink color naturally.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the pink almond base is indeed a beautiful pink color!  It is peppered with almond candy pieces as well.  This appears to be a brittle-like candy which half melts when immersed in ice cream.  I have seen this happen several times before and I like this effect.  Digging in, the almond flavor is quite intense.  It is delicious, though.  Sometimes too much almond extract can be overpowering, but this is delicious.  It seems to be as much sweetness and almond flavor that you can add to an almond base without going too far.  Well done.  The almond mix-ins do not add much additional almond flavor to the mix, but they add a crunchy texture which makes it fun to eat.

This is an excellent and unique flavor of ice cream.  The almond flavor is intoxicating without going too far and the mix-ins are tasty too.  The pink color is just for looks but it is quite fun.  This is a great pint of ice cream, check it out.

Ben & Jerry's - Pucker Upper

Pucker Upper - Raspberry Sorbet with an Extra Tart Lemonade Sorbet Swirl & Sour Sugar Bits

Ben & Jerry's has a new summer flavor and it is a sorbet!  I know they have a non-dairy line, but I believe this is the first sorbet that I have seen from them.  At least in a past few years since I started surveying their collection.  This is a raspberry lemonade sorbet that they call Pucker Upper.  Sounds like they are preparing us for tartness!  I am looking forward to checking this out.

Removing the lid, the raspberry sorbet is a dark pink color.  I can tell right away that this has a sorbet-like texture.  A sorbet is non-dairy by design.  It's main ingredients are flavor (fruit juice here), sugar and ice -- and then it is churned like an ice cream.  I can tell just by looking at the top of the pint that it's a sorbet.  It has a 'frozen slush' texture to it that many sorbets have.  Digging in, the raspberry flavor is a bit tart -- they warned us didn't they? -- but it is quite tasty.  As I dig further down, I start to uncover sections of lemonade sorbet.  The raspberry and lemonade sorbets are marbled rather than blended.  The lemonade sorbet is also delicious, but it is even more tart -- as lemonade often is.  The sugar bit mix-ins are in the lemonade sorbet, but not the raspberry sorbet.  I notice the texture difference more than the flavor, but it is likely that the lemonade sorbet would be even more tart without them.

This is a totally different kind of pint than we normally see from Ben & Jerry's.  They are known for their mix-ins -- cores, truffles, brownies, fudge chips, etc -- but here we have a marbling of two sorbets.  It is a bit tart, but not as sour as you might expect a flavor named "Pucker Upper" to be.  It is all about managing expectations.  One minor quibble is that this sorbet is not completely dairy free.  If you check the ingredients, you'll see that it says "Warning: Contains Milk and Soy" and the list does contain "nonfat milk" and "milk".  It still feels and tastes like a sorbet.  Perhaps a smidge of milk helps it churn a bit better like a sherbet does?  I doubt it is enough to bother people unless your dairy allergy or lactose intolerance is very strong, but you figure if they wanted to cheat on their sorbet implementation that they could have used something non-dairy like coconut milk or almond milk.  Anyhow, for those without dairy issues, this is a fun change of pace from Ben & Jerry.  Check it out if a frozen raspberry lemonade sounds good on a hot day.

Graeter's - Malted Pretzel Ball

Malted Pretzel Ball - Milk Chocolate Pretzel Balls in Malted Ice Cream

I got a shipment from the Cincinnati-based Graeter's Ice Cream!  Graeter's has a lot of seasonal flavors and I was noticing while shopping online that I haven't tried any of their late-spring/early-summer selections (my shipment last year was in late summer).  They also have a couple of limited batch flavors which look quite interesting.  The shipment almost did not happen.  Often Graeter's runs out of their seasonal and limited batch flavors -- at least online.  It seemed like that was happening to me as a couple of flavors were being marked as sold out, but then one day all the flavors that I wanted got restocked!  And they came, too.  Woohoo!  Anyhow, the first flavor in my shipment is one of the limited-batch flavors:  Malted Pretzel Ball.  It is a malted ice cream with milk chocolate pretzel balls.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, the base ice cream is quite light in color.  It is not a pure white, but it could pass for a sweet cream or vanilla.  One of the pretzel balls is visible right away on the top.  As I dig in, the malt flavor is noticeable, but not too strong.  Next I encounter the pretzel balls.  These are excellent.  They are about the size of marbles.  They are salty and crunchy on the inside with a chocolate coating.  They are dispersed throughout the pint, but not quite as many of them as I expected.  They're good when I encounter them, though.

This is a pretty good pint of pretzel ice cream.  It is basically a simpler and lighter version of Chubby Hubby -- malt and chocolate-covered pretzels, but without the peanut butter in the base or mix-ins.  Peanut butter is a big part of Chubby Hubby, though, so this ends up being a very different flavor.  Here, the malted base is simple and not very strong, but it serves as a good vehicle for the excellent pretzel balls.  I would have liked a few more pretzel balls.  I understand you don't want to overdo this type of mix-in but they were hard to find at times.  It is still a solid pint and worth checking out if you like pretzels.

Tillamook - Pendleton Whisky & Maple

Pendleton Whisky & Maple - Whisky Frozen Custard with a Whisky Maple Swirl

Today we return to Oregon's Tillamook valley for other flavor from the Tillamook Creamery.  This flavor is called Pendleton Whisky & Maple.  Pendleton is a brand of Canadian Whisky which is distributed in Hood River, Oregon.  I see the 'whisky' spelling and I am used to it being spelled 'whiskey'.  I can't remember if I have looked this up before, but I will look it up again.  The 'whisky' spelling is Scottish while the 'whiskey' spelling is Irish.  Here the whisky is paired with maple syrup.  I have only had a few maple-syrup-centric pints before -- flavors from Graeter's and Izzy's which use a maple-syrup base and flavors from Coolhaus and Yeti which include a maple-syrup swirl.  This pint is also listed as a frozen custard rather than an ice cream.  This usually means there is more than the usual amount of eggs in the base mixture. Anyhow, I am looking forward to this flavor.

Removing the lid, the whisky base is an off-white tan color.  Digging in, the base is creamy.  As for the frozen custard label, it may be slightly easier to scoop of the carton out than the usual ice cream, but it still feels like ice cream to me.  Soon after digging in my spoon, I encounter the whisky maple swirls.  These are delicious, they taste like good maple syrup but there is a little bit of whisky blended in which keeps it from tasting too sweet.  There is some whisky in the base as well, but it is fairly mild.  Here the base serves as the vehicle to deliver the swirls.  I am impressed that the maple swirls manage to stay intact because maple likes to blend in and become part of the base.  Here, the swirls have a caramel-like consistency while tasting like maple syrup, of course.

I really enjoyed this pint.  The maple syrup swirls are excellent and the whisky darkens the flavor up a bit without being at all boozy.  It is a unique flavor as well.  It doesn't compare directly to any of other maple syrup flavors I listed above because of the whisky and also because there are no mix-ins.  Check it out.

Sweet Science - Carrot Cake

Carrot Cake - Spiced Carrot Ice Cream swirled with a Cream Cheese Ice Cream

Today marks the return of the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science Ice Cream to these reviews.  I had not forgotten about them, but all of their seasonal flavors of late have been repeats for me.  I guess this is the second year that I have been sampling their flavors.  Anyhow, this month marks the return of the Basil and Strawberry Mascarpone flavors which were both well done (especially the Basil) and a new flavor called Carrot Cake.  So, I finally get to have them again.  I missed the nice clean chemical formula logos on the front of the carton.  In chemistry, "CC" is the SMILES represenation of ethane which is a colorless and odorless gas.  For Sweet Science, it means a spiced carrot ice cream swirled with a cream cheese ice cream.  I have had carrot cake ice cream once before from Izzy's, it will be interesting to see how this one compares.

Removing the lid, I see the two bases right away.  It is mostly a cream cheese base on the top with the carrot ice cream marbled in.  Digging in, this pint has a bright flavor.  The cream cheese is tasty and not too heavy.  The carrot ice cream is very delicious.  The spices in the carrot base are fairly mild, but noticeable.  This spicy carrot flavor actually reminds me quite a bit of pumpkin.  I guess the two ingredients make for similar desserts.

This is an excellent pint of carrot and cream cheese ice cream.  For carrot-cake inspired flavors, I can't decide whether I like this flavor or Izzy's Chubby Bunny better.  The Izzy's is definitely spicier with yummy cake pieces and the occasional walnut or chunk of frosting, but this Sweet Science flavor feels so clean and bright.  I don't know how better to describe it.  Check this one out if you like carrot cake.

McConnell's - Vanilla Bean

Vanilla Bean - Vanilla Ice Cream with Vanilla Beans

Today is the final pint of my recent four-pint shipment from McConnell's Fine Ice Creams, Vanilla Bean.  I am often hesitant to do reviews of vanilla pints because there implementation is quite simple and without a side-by-side comparison it's hard for me to judge them, but I needed an extra pint to fill out my four-pint shipment and they only had two spring flavors (Passionfruit Custard and Pineapple Rum and Guava Jam).  McConnell's proudly gets their vanilla from the R. R. Lochhead company -- so much so that they list the name parenthetically on the side of the carton.  This is a Madagascar vanilla -- from that island and extracted from the bean with a 'cool extractor'.  Let's check it out.

Popping off the lid and removing the extra seal, the top of the pint is an off-white color and many vanilla bean specks are visible.  The pictures are below.  The texture is thick, dense, but creamy as is quite common with McConnell's pints.  The vanilla flavor is quite good.

This is a very good pint of vanilla ice cream.  It is a simple implementation and has that excellent McConnell's texture.  Unless you are like me and doing a full survey of their product line, you probably wouldn't include it in an online shipment -- they have more interesting flavors for that -- but if you are in the mood for vanilla and are at a McConnell's scoop shop or you see a pint in a freezer case, you can't go wrong here.

Izzy's - Mango Django

Mango Django - Mango Ice Cream infused with Honey and Balsam Vinegar with Cayenne Pepper, Poppy Seeds and Ground Pink Peppercorns

Today's flavor is another People's Flavor Award from Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul.  This one is called Mango Django and it won their biennial contest in 2011.  I am looking forward to attending the 2019 contest on June 16th.  In their flavor page, I notice they specify that it is pronounced with a silent D.  That movie came out in 2012 -- the year after the flavor -- but that character is based on the title character of a 1966 spaghetti western film, so the name has been in pop culture for quite a while.   This flavor is a mango based flavor, but with several other ingredients.  It is sweetened with honey, but cut with balsamic vinegar and then cayenne pepper, poppy seeds and pink peppercorns are mixed in.  Looks quite interesting!

Removing the lid, I see the deep orange color of mango as expected.  I do see a few of the poppy seeds embedded in the ice cream.  They almost look like large vanilla bean specks.  Digging in, this is really good!  I can taste the mango flavor, but it is different from other mango implementations.  The honey & balsamic used to balance the flavors creates interesting effect.  It's not at all tangy like a balsamic-heavy pint, but it is not too sweet either.  The mix-ins are quite light here.  I can see the occasional poppy seed but it is not loaded with poppy seeds like a poppy seed muffin.  I could not taste much cayenne, though my spice tolerance is very high so perhaps there's a little kick in there that most people will notice.  I also did not notice many ground peppercorns, but maybe there were ground up so fine that they blended into the amazing base.

I enjoyed this ice cream greatly.  Often a simple mango ice cream or sorbet can be great for few spoonfuls but then have diminishing returns.  This base blends in a few other things to create a rich, creamy ice cream that was good for the full pint.  It reminded me of their Cabernet de l'Orange flavor -- a seemingly simple blend but surprisingly good.  Don't expect many mix-ins, though.  I've run into this issue sometimes with Izzy's.  The flavor description has me expecting a busy and crunchy pint but the mix-ins are either very sparse or fully ground up and blended into the base.  But don't let the mix-in confusion deter you.  This base ice cream is excellent.

Three Twins - Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup - Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Mini Peanut Butter Cups

Today is another pint from the Northern-California-based Three Twins Ice Cream.  This one is called Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup.  This is a class flavor combination that many brands implement -- even to the point of delivering their peanut butter in Reese's-like 'cup' form.  This implementation is slightly different than most, though, as here chocolate and peanut butter are blended together in the base as well as being paired together in the mix-ins.  Let's see how this tastes.

Removing the lid, the chocolate base is a little darker than many chocolate bases, but it doesn't looks like dark chocolate.  Also, I can tell without even putting my spoon in that it is going to be creamy.  I think the way it has curled up a bit on the sides.  Digging in, this is indeed creamy.  It has an almost mousse-like texture. The taste is mostly chocolate, but it is not overly chocolatey.  It is quite delicious.  I wonder if the extra peanut butter in the mix has the effect of making the chocolate creamier.  I remember this happening a bit with a Ben & Jerry's flavor called Peanut Butter World, although this pint is even more blended together.  The flavor link above says that Three Twins also puts a fair amount of vanilla into the mix as well.  That could be part of what I am tasting as well.  The peanut butter cups are dispersed throughout the pint.  They are quite small and because they are quite small, the surface-to-volume ratio is fairly high -- meaning that they are mostly chocolate coating with only a small amount of peanut butter filling.  They taste good, though and provide something to chew on and an otherwise very smooth base.

This pint is quite delicious.  It is quite different from other chocolate-and-peanut-butter pints that I've had in that it is mostly chocolate with only notes of peanut butter in the base and a little bit of peanut butter in the mix-ins.  It's quite delicious though.  If you are looking for a lot of peanut butter, you might be a bit disappointed, but chocolate lovers will certainly like this.  It makes me want to try their Bittersweet Chocolate flavor and see how their straight-chocolate compares with this.