Sweet Science - Caramel Caramel Corn

Caramel Caramel Corn - Caramel Corn flavored Ice Cream with a Salted Caramel Swirl

Today, I try the second of the four State-Fair-themed flavors from the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science Ice Cream.  This one is called Caramel Caramel Corn (instagram link here).  The name of the flavor is not a typo, there are two caramel's in a row there.  The flavor is "Caramel"-"Caramel Corn".  "Caramel Corn" (think Cracker Jack) is the flavor of the base while the leading "Caramel" means that there is a swirl of salted caramel sauce.  I love Sweet Science's salted caramel sauce, so that part I am really looking forward to.  The idea of a popcorn-flavored base sounds intriguing as well.  It reminds me of my recent review of Jeni's Sun-Popped Corn flavor.  Let's check this out!

Removing the lid, I see quite a bit of the salted caramel swirl right on top!  The caramel-corn base has an off-white beige color.  Digging in, the salted caramel swirl is delicious.  This is one of my favorite mix-ins out there -- of any brand.  It is right up there with Graeter's chocolate chips.  Focusing in on the base, I actually don't really taste caramel corn in it.  It is still a good quality ice cream, but either the flavor is not very strong or it is simply overpowered by the salted caramel swirl.

I have mixed feeling about this pint.  The salted caramel swirl still makes it incredibly delicious, but the caramel corn flavor didn't come out very strong -- at least not in the batch that produced my pint.  So, I still greatly enjoyed it, but it was not all that different than their Salted Caramel Swirl flavor.  The Jeni's Sun-Popped Corn really did create the flavor of popcorn in an ice cream base.  Here, the popcorn flavor in the ice cream is not that noticeable which makes it just a vehicle for their amazing swirl.  Perhaps it is a fun substitute for Salted Caramel Swirl during fair time, but not more than that.

Graeter's - Caramel Macchiato

Caramel Macchiato - Coffee Ice Cream with Caramel Truffles and Heath Toffee Pieces

The third pint from my recent six-pint shipment from Graeter's Ice Cream is called Caramel Macchiato.  It was a limited batch flavor and as I write this, it is already gone from their website.  I did find an instagram post about the flavor here.  So, a note to local readers that this flavor is not available in local grocery stores.  It is a coffee ice cream with chocolate-caramel truffles and Heath toffee pieces mixed in.  Coffee-caramel and coffee-toffee are both popular flavor combinations, but it not common too see all three -- and there is some chocolate coating the caramel as well.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, the coffee base has a light beige color.  It is lighter than most coffee bases, but that was true of Graeter's own Vienna Coffee flavor as well.  It looks like they are using that Vienna Coffee ice cream for the base here.  Digging in, I encounter the caramel truffles first.  These are similar to other chocolate-covered caramel pieces that I have found in other flavors -- including their own Chunky Chunky Hippo flavor.  They are a bit like Rolo candies.  Other flavors to include truffles like this are two caramel-centric Talenti pints (here and here), the Izzy's Trick or Treat flavor (actual Rolo candies!), and an old retired Ben & Jerry's flavor.  Also in today's pint are toffee pieces.  These are like the insides of a Heath bar with no chocolate covering.  See the pictures below for pictures of the mix-ins outside of the ice cream.  Anyhow, the mix-ins are quite tasty and since both caramel and toffee each go well with coffee, it is a delicious mix.

This is a fun pint from Graeter's.  The caramel truffles and toffee remind me quite a bit of their Chunky Chunky Hippo flavor which, in my opinion is even more fun (and not just because of the name and packaging).  Check it out if you'd like a coffee-twist on that Chunky Chunky Hippo.

Sweet Science - Tipsy Cherry Pie

Tipsy Cherry Pie - Vanilla-Almond Ice Cream with Tipsy Cherry Pie Pieces

Today would have been the start of the Minnesota State Fair, but it was cancelled this year for the pandemic.  Recently, I ordered the State Fair Collection from Jeni's (first review was here) and that tied me over for a little while.  Now, Saint Paul's own Sweet Science Ice Cream has released their own State Fair flavors -- four new flavors which have a fair-food theme to it.  I stopped by their scoop shop at the  Keg & Case Market and picked up all four pints.  Today's flavor is called Tipsy Cherry Pie.  It features a vanilla-almond ice cream with cherry pie mix-ins from Sara's Tipsy Pies of Stillwater.  These are single-serving pies which are made "tipsy" with a dash of wine or other alcoholic beverage for flavoring.  Nothing that will actually get you tipsy (all have less than ~2% alcohol) but alcoholic drinks can have unique, interesting and aromatic flavors than can provide a great accent flavoring.  I have seen pre-packaged pies from Sara's available at Lund's & Byerly's and their website says that they can also be found at some Cub Foods locations.  The pie used in today's pint is one of their new flavors "Cheery Cherry Cream".  The "tipsy" part of the pie is made by  a white wine from the local 7 Vines Winery  This sounds like a fun and interesting flavor.

Also, I should note that this review is for my 700th pint!  As I have for previous "century reviews", I like to include collage of the previous 100 pint photos -- for previous collages, see the reviews for pints 100, 200, 300, 400, and 500, and 600.   Here is today's collage:

Pints 601 to 700

These reviews date back to February 9th, which means that the vast majority of them have occurred after the pandemic started.  I am so happy that I have been able to continue to find pints which I have not yet tried even during these interesting times.  Here is to hoping that continues into the future.

OK, on to the ice cream!  Removing the lid, the vanilla almond base has yellowish off-white color to it and there are a couple of chunks of the cherry pie mix-ins on the top.  Digging in, the cherry pie mix-ins are delicious.  The wine makes the cherry filling not as sweet as normal cherry pies.  It sort of like a cross between cherry pie and cherries Jubilee.  There is quite a bit of crust in each of the pie pieces as well.  I can taste the vanilla in the base ice cream, but I did not notice the almond.  It's a good base for the mix-ins.  Perhaps the vanilla base is not as bright as some vanillas are, which goes well with the complex flavor of the cherry-wine-crust mix-ins.

I enjoyed this cherry-pie ice cream from Sweet Science quite a bit.  The pie mix-ins from Sara's Tipsy Pies had an interesting and complex flavor to it.  It made me want to check out their pies the next time I see them.  On the other hand, I eat so much ice cream, I'm not sure when I'm going to get around to that, but if I had room for twice the dessert, I would check it out.  Ha ha.

Graeter's - Peanut Butter & Jelly

Peanut Butter & Jelly - Concord Grape Ice Cream with Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Pieces

The next pint from my recent summer shipment from the Cincinnati-based Graeter's Ice Cream is called Peanut Butter & Jelly.  This is a limited-batch flavor for the summer.  I bought this with an online purchase and it is not available in local grocery stores.  The base ice cream is a concord grape flavor and there are peanut butter cookie dough pieces in the mix.  Checking my archives, this is the first grape-flavored ice cream that I have had.  I did not believe this at first, but I guess the other "peanut butter and jelly" implementations that I have tried (from Ben & Jerry's and Ample Hills) had used different flavors of jelly or jam (raspberry or strawberry) to go with the peanut butter.  Grapes have been domesticated by humans almost as long as there has been civilization.  They have found wineries in the Middle East that date back to 4000 BC.  The Concord grape was developed in the 19th century by Ephraim Wales Bull in Concord, Massachusetts.  It has a bright, bluish purple color (as opposed to the reddish color of red-wine grapes) and it has a sweet flavor that is used in some brands of grape juices (e.g. Welch's) and is used in making jelly, soda and candy.  It is the type of grape mostly commonly known to children.  I remember as a kid being disappointed by my first sip of wine -- how come this does not taste like grape bubble gum?  Let's see how this tastes as part of a peanut-butter-and-jelly ice cream.

Removing the lid, the grape base has a beautiful bluish purple color.  Digging in, the concord grape flavor is everything that I expected.  It has that sweet candy-purple flavor that makes me think of drinking grape soda drinks and chewing grape bubble gum.  As I continue eating I encounter the chunks of peanut butter cookie dough.  They are small cylindrical shaped pellets.  They are chewy and upon biting into them, they deliver a little bit of peanut butter flavor.

This is a fun and enjoyable flavor from Graeter's.  I found it to be much more jelly than peanut butter, but I don't mind because concord grape flavor in the jelly is delicious and reminded me of grape flavored things from my childhood.  As I write this, this limited batch flavor is already gone from the Graeter's menu, but if it comes back, then check it out for the concord grape flavor.  More brands should experiment with this type of grape -- if only to appeal to kids.

Bebe Zito - Thai Tea Crunch

Thai Tea Crunch - Thai Tea Ice Cream with Cocoa Brittle Pieces

I returned to the new Bebe Zito scoop shop in the Wedge neighborhood of Minneapolis and picked up a few more pints to try.  I wrote more on Bebe Zito in my first review of their ice cream earlier this summer.  Today's flavor is called Thai Tea Crunch.  Since my last purchase from them, Bebe Zito has added an ingredient list to their cartons and flavor page with more detailed flavor description page on their website.  That's awesome because now I know exactly what is in each pint.  The base is flavored with Thai Tea.  I have had a Thai tea base before from Coolhaus.  Thai tea is a brewed tea that is sweetened with sugar and condensed milk.  I found a post from earlier this year on Instagram where Bebe Zito asked readers if they should add a mix-in to this base and it appears that they decided to do so.  Brittle pieces made with cocoa have been added.  Let's dig in!

Removing the lid, the Thai tea has a bright orange color -- almost the same color as pumpkin.  A couple of the brittle mix-ins can be seen right away as well.  Digging in, the tea-flavored base is delicious.  It has excellent tea flavor and is sweetened just the right amount.  The brittle pieces are dispersed throughout the pint.  Some of them are half-melted.  That can happen when toffee or brittle is suspended in ice cream and I actually like that effect.  So the pieces are not too crunchy and have a bit of a caramel-like flavor (more caramel than chocolate).  There are not as many brittle pieces as I expected.  As mentioned in the instagram post above, Bebe Zito created a simple Thai tea base ice cream first and added the mix-in later.  I am guessing they did not want so many mix-ins as to distract from the excellent tea-flavored base.

I enjoyed this Thai-tea-themed flavor from Bebe Zito quite a bit.  The focus here is on the Thai tea flavor and not the mix-ins, but that is OK because the Thai tea base is excellent.  Lovers of Thai tea will want to check this out.

Graeter's - 150th Birthday Cake

150th Birthday Cake - Cake Batter Ice Cream with Cake Pieces and Sprinkles

Graeter's Ice Cream of Cincinnati is turning 150 this year!  I was able to find six flavors which I had not reviewed before so I pulled the trigger on an online shipment.  This first flavor is called 150th Birthday Cake.  Looking at that weblink tells me that the flavor might actually be called "Birthday Cake", but the "150th" is displayed so prominently on the packaging that I'll leave it in.  150 years is a long time!  Dating back to 1870, Graeter's is the oldest ice cream company in my rotation.  It is hard to describe how long ago that was.  There were only thirty-seven states -- the Civil War had recently ended.  Ulysses Grant was president.  There was no major league baseball yet, but the first all-professional team played in Cincinnati the year before.  150 years later and the brand is still being run by the Graeter family.  You can read more about the history of Graeter's on their website.  This birthday cake flavor appears to be an implementation of a "sheet cake" flavor -- similar to other flavors such as McConnell's Sprinkle Cake, Coolhaus's Hey!! Cupcake and old short-release flavors from Ample Hills & Ben & Jerry's.  This is a cake batter ice cream with cake pieces and sprinkles.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, I see colorful sprinkles right away!  The base has an off-white color to it.  Digging in, the ice cream is expectedly sweet, but not overly so.  Unlike many 'sheet cake' flavors, there is no frosting in the mix here and frosting can sometimes (but not always) be a source of excessive sweetness.  The base is described as a 'cake batter' flavor.  There is a bit of yellow color, so I don't think it's a white cake batter, but it is not so yellow as to be a yellow cake.  I think it's more like white cake but they have not removed all the egg yolks from the mix, hence the off-white color.  The sprinkles are good.  They are the crunchy cake sprinkles and not the softer sprinkles that you often find on cupcakes and donuts. The cake pieces are distributed throughout the pint.  They are small in size, but are soft, chewy (that is, not frozen).

This is a delicious birthday cake flavor from Graeter's.  It does indeed taste like a good piece of birthday cake that you might have at someone's party.  This is one of the better implementations that I have had.  I don't think it is quite as good as McConnell's but that is perhaps setting the bar too high.  If you see this pint and are in the mood for celebrating Graeter's sesquicentennial birthday, then give this a try.

Talenti - Caribbean Coconut

Caribbean Coconut - (19) - Coconut Gelato with Coconut Shreds

Today we return to Talenti Gelato for their Caribbean Coconut flavor.  The Talenti brand numbers their flavors and this is "recipe #9" so it is one of their earliest flavors.  I bought it at a grocery store locally.  I think it was Lund's in Highland because they had a buy-one-get-one sale, but I have seen this flavor at Target & Cub as well.  The link above says that Talenti actually gets their coconuts from the Philippines, but that we should "just go with us on this one because geographical discrepancies taste amazing".  I had not heard that before, but now that I hear it, it sounds completely true!  Let's check it out!


Unscrewing the lid, the coconut gelato appears very milky white.  Digging in, the texture has that softer-than-usual, yet still ice cream texture common in many of the Talenti gelato bases.  The coconut flavor is appealingly sweet and delicious.  There are flakes in the midst as well which add texture and a bit of coconut flavor.  There is no toastedness to this coconut -- everything is bright white and has a sweet flavor.  Coconut can make for a great sorbet because it comes with its own oil and 'milk', but this is not a sorbet.  The top three ingredients are milk, sugar and cream, so there is a lot of dairy in this pint.

I enjoyed this coconut gelato from Talenti quite a bit.  Checking my archives, simple coconut flavors are not very common.  Usually there is chocolate and caramel in the mix as well.  For a sorbet with toasted coconut, I'd go with Milkjam but for a simple coconut ice cream (gelato) this one is the pick.

Pumphouse Creamery - Chocolate with Blood Orange infused Olive Oil & Sea Salt

Chocolate with Blood Orange infused Olive Oil & Sea Salt - Chocolate Ice Cream with Blood Orange infused Olive Oil & Sea Salt

I decided to check out Pumphouse Creamery in South Minneapolis and see what they were up to.  They have a new flavor:  Chocolate with Blood Orange infused Olive Oil & Sea Salt.  So, I stopped by and picked it up along with a couple of other flavors from their regular line-up which I have not yet tried.  Today, I try the chocolate-orange flavor.  As mentioned in previous reviews, orange goes surprisingly well with chocolate.  I have had a chocolate-orange flavor from Three Twins and chocolate-orange-spice flavors from Izzy's and Milkjam.  Often citrus does not mix well with dairy because of the acidity, but the flavor of orange comes from a chemical called limonene which is oil-soluble.  Here, a blood orange flavor is blended into an olive oil which is then blended into a chocolate ice cream.  I am looking forward to trying this.

Opening the lid, the chocolate base has the expected cocoa brown color.  The top is so smooth that it is hard to get the camera to focus.  Digging in, I actually taste the blood orange right away.  It is very good.  The chocolate is definitely in there, too, but it is something you taste after the orange.  I can have not had Pumphouse's simple chocolate flavor, yet, but I can tell it is good chocolate.  As I continue eating the balance between the orange and the chocolate stays fresh -- one doesn't grow to dominate the other.  The use of blood orange is fun.  It's like there is a hint of berry within the orange as well.

This is an excellent orange-chocolate pint from Pumphouse.  The rich flavor of chocolate blends very well with the bright flavor of blood orange.  Orange-chocolate flavors should be more common.  Check it out.

Alden's - Dough Yeah

Dough Yeah - Vanilla Ice Cream with Cookie Dough Pieces and Ribbons of Chocolate Fudge

Today I return to the Oregon-based Alden's Ice Cream for a flavor called Dough Yeah.  It is their implementation of chocolate chip cookie dough with extra ribbons of chocolate fudge.  I bought this pint at the Target in the Midway neighborhood of Saint Paul.  Let's check it out.

The top of the pint shows that the vanilla base has an off-white color while the some of the chocolate fudge swirls are visible just underneath.  Digging in, the ice cream has a soft and sticky texture to it.  As I taste it I sense there are some ice crystals in it.  I think something went wrong with this pint.  This is my third Alden's pint and this is the second time that this has happened (previous time here).  I even went to a different store in case it was a problem with the freezer case of a particular grocery store.  I continue eating to see what it might taste like if there were no consistency issues.  The fudge is alright, but the cookie dough pieces are not that numerous and do not taste like much.

This is a bit of dud pint from Alden's -- for the second time in three pints.  I think I may give up on this brand.  If this was a discount brand, I could appreciate it for what it is, but this is marketed as organic ice cream from Oregon and is priced the same as Ben & Jerry's and Häagen-Dazs.  Chime in if you've had better luck than me.

Jeni's - Raspberry Rose Jelly Donut

Raspberry Rose Jelly Donut - Vanilla Custard with Donut Pieces and a Soft Raspberry Rose Petal Jam

Today is another flavor from the Columbus-based Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream.  This is the sixth and final flavor from my recent online shipment.  The first five pints from my shipment formed the State Fair Collection.  Shipments can be up to six pints, though, so I added another flavor called Raspberry Rose Jelly Donut.  This flavor came out earlier this year and is based on those jelly donuts which are so commonly found at any place that sells donuts.  I am always worried about the red jelly dripping all over my shirt when I have these, but here I get to use a spoon.  Here, vanilla custard forms the base and donut pieces and raspberry rose jam are the mix-ins.

Removing the lid and peeling back the protective seal, the top of the pint is quite beautiful.  The Vanilla custard has a yellowish off-white color and the swirl of raspberry rose jam forms a nice streak across the top.  Digging in, the custard base is a bit 'fluffy' in texture.  Perhaps that is the effect of the donut pieces mixed into it.  The donut pieces are soft and chewy and work pretty well -- they stay soft and not soggy while immersed in the custard.  The raspberry rose jam has a rather funny taste to it.  It is sweet and tart as expected but the balance between those two is a bit off -- or perhaps not to my personal preference.  It tastes a bit medicine-y to me -- sort of sticky sweet.  I was able to finish the pint, but I had a funny jam taste in my mouth for most of the time.

In my opinion, this is a rare misfire from Jeni's here.  I was prepared to love this pint, but I found the taste of the jam swirl a bit too off-putting.  Jeni's has done Berry swirls very well in the past -- Brambleberry Crisp is one of the best berry-themed pints I have ever had and the Outland-themed Clare's Cabinet is a fun, exotic twist mixing berries with chamomile and clove.  Maybe it's the raspberry they used?  Anyhow, I cannot personally recommend it.  If you don't trust me -- or if I got a bad batch -- then you could sample it yourself at a scoop shop to see if this particular jam is more appealing to you.

Van Leeuwen - Strawberry

Strawberry - Strawberry Ice Cream

Today's flavor is from Van Leeuwen Ice Cream of Brooklyn.  It is an implementation of a simple strawberry flavor.  Kowalski's on Grand in Saint Paul stocks about a half dozen Van Leeuwen flavors.  I bought this pint there.  Van Leeuwen is a brand which makes "French Ice Cream" which means that they use extra egg yolks in their base to create a custard-like texture.  I have confirmed this by checking out an article which quotes a few recipes from their ice cream cookbook.  Let's check it out.

Popping off the lid, the ice cream has a very light pink color.  Digging in, the ice cream has a thick and easy to scoop texture typical of Van Leewen bases.  It has the density of an ice cream but  the extra eggs give it a smooth texture someone like a frozen custard.  The strawberry flavor is quite appealing.  It tastes a lot a strawberry shake in ice cream form.  There are no mix-ins.  Many strawberry implementations include strawberry pieces in the mix (some small like Graeter's and Häagen-Dazs and some large like McConnell's) but here it is all base. 

This is a solid implementation of a simple strawberry ice cream with no mix-ins.  There's nothing to cut the flavor (no cheesecake, balsamic vinegar, mascarpone, malt, etc), it is just careful to add just the right amount of strawberry so that it tastes like a good strawberry shake.   Van Leeuwen fans who like strawberry will have no complaints here.

Jeni's - Wildberry Lavender

Wildberry Lavender - Black Currant Ice Cream flavored with Orange and Lavender

Today is the fifth and final pint from my recent online purchase of the State Fair Collection from Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream of Columbus, Ohio.  The Minnesota State Fair was cancelled this year, so I thought it would be fun to order myself some fair-themed ice cream online.  A note to local readers that I am not aware that this flavor is available in local grocery stores.  Today's flavor is called Wildberry Lavender.  This is actually an older flavor -- the text on the side of the carton mentions that it has been made for over two decades -- but it is new to me.  It looks like a fruit blend flavor.  Blackcurrant is the main flavor, mixed with orange and lavender.  Blackcurrant is a common ingredient of Jeni's.  They feature it in their Brambleberry Crisp flavor as well as their rare, special-batch Claire's Cabinet flavor.  Those both involve a thick swirl of blackcurrant in a base ice cream.  Let's see how the fruit-blend nature of Wildberry Lavender compares.

Removing the lid and peeling back the protective seal, I find the base has an appropriately lavender color.  It is nice blackcurrant and lavender both have purplish colors.  Digging in, I taste the berry-like flavor of the blackcurrant first, then I can tell there is a bit of citrus flavor in the mix as well and the lavender shows up mainly as the 'finish'.  It's quite good.  I would say it is at least half berry, probably a little more, but it does not overpower the other two.  It's all blended together as a homogeneous pint with no mix-ins.

This is an excellent fruit blend pint from Jeni's.  It is very well balanced.  The blending of the blackcurrant, orange and lavender works well, but you can also clearly identify each of those ingredients as well if you want.  This is one of the better fruit blends that I've tried.  My other favorite is Cabernet de l'Orange from Izzy's which is a different mix, but just as good.  For Jeni's fans, you can't go wrong with the two blackcurrant themed pints.  Choose Brambleberry Crisp if you'd like a berry-pie-a-la-mode type of pint and choose Wildberry Lavender if you'd like a full blended pint.