Pumphouse - Caramelized White Chocolate

Caramelized White Chocolate - Ice Cream made from Sautéed White Chocolate

 

Today is a new flavor from the Pumphouse Creamery of south Minneapolis called Caramelized White Chocolate.  White chocolate is essentially cocoa butter and sugar and has a neutral flavor on my palate -- often used to mute strong flavors or to add creaminess rather than provide its own flavor.  But like anything with sugar and fat, it can be caramelized.  I have previously seen this done by Sweet Science in their Toasted White Chocolate Almond flavor.  There, it was used as a mix-in.  Here, it flavors a homogeneous pint.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the ice cream as a very light tan color to it.  Digging in, I can easily taste the caramelized flavor -- like it's been burnt or toasted -- but it is not an overwhelming thing.  It's hard to describe.  I guess I notice that it is not very sweet, so the darker caramelized tones give it a bit of an adult flavor -- not bright and sweet like a flavor for kids.  Given that, it is pretty good and I have no problems finishing the pint.

This is an interesting and well-implemented caramelized white chocolate flavor from Pumphouse.  It is a fun flavor to try if you'd like to see what white chocolate tastes like by itself when "toasted".  As an overall pint, the Sweet Science flavor is more successful because the caramelized chocolate is just a mix-in and it can be used to complement other sweet ingredients.  I appreciated this Pumphouse flavor, but feel like it should be paired with something.  Maybe another scoop of ice cream (regular chocolate?) or maybe eat it alongside a pastry.  It's still fun to try this flavor by itself though to isolate this one ingredient.