Bebe Zito - Lunchbox Hero

Lunchbox Hero - Vegan Peanut Butter and Coconut Base with a Vibrant Plum Jam Swirl

Today, I return to Bebe Zito of south Minneapolis for their Lunchbox Hero flavor.  This is a vegan (non-dairy) flavor with a peanut butter and coconut base and a swirl of plum jam.  Right now, it is only available in pints and I cannot find an instragram link with a more detailed description of the flavor.  The 'lunchbox' theme seems straightforward.  This is a non-dairy ice cream version of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid the top of the pint shows an extra dollop of plum jam on top.  The peanut butter base is light in color.  Digging in, there is so much plum jam on top that it is the first thing that I taste.  It's pretty good.  Then peanut butter coconut base does a good job of holding the pint together.  As I have written before peanut butter and coconut both make for good bases for a non-dairy flavor because they each contain their own source of creaminess -- peanuts contain enough oil to be made into a 'butter' and coconut milk is also high in oil and can be processed into a cream.  I can still tell that it is non-dairy.  It's a bit denser and a little grittier than a dairy ice cream, but it is quite good.

This is a very good implementation of a non-dairy peanut-butter-and-jelly flavor from Bebe Zito.  I have had several peanut butter and jelly implementations from Milkjam, Graeter's, McConnell's, Ben & Jerry's and Ample Hills.  I believe this is the first one which is non-dairy, though.  That and the unique plum flavored jam make this a unique twist on the flavor.  When this flavor is available in scoop shops, Bebe Zito adds crushed potato chips to the top (a bag of chips is often included in lunchboxes).  They don't include those in pints as when stored for long periods in cream, the chips will get soggy.  I didn't add crunched potato chips to my bowl when I ate this, but perhaps I should have.  Enjoy.