Van Leeuwen - Hot Honey

Hot Honey - Vanilla Ice Cream with Honeycomb and Swirls of Hot Honey

Today is the next of the new Walmart-specific flavors that the Brooklyn-based Van Leeuwen Ice Cream has released this spring.  This is the second flavor of the series.  I purposely picked the boldest "try it on a dare" flavor of the set, Pizza, first to get it out of the way. Today's flavor, Hot Honey (instagram link), is more in the normal spectrum.  This looks like a spicy version of their signature Honeycomb flavor.  Here a vanilla base is used instead of sweet cream and the honey pieces contain a little bit of chili pepper.  Let's give it a try.

Removing the lid shows the off-white color of the vanilla base with many small honey pieces visible right away.  Digging in, the base ice cream appears to have absorbed some of the flavor from the honey pieces.  It is quite tasty.  It has the expected extra-creamy texture that I see in other Van Leeuwen flavors.  They make a "French-style" ice cream which includes extra eggs, so it gives it an almost custard-like feel.  They honey pieces are delicious.  The chili pepper create a very mild burning sensation in my throat when I swallow but it quickly dissipates.  It is just enough pepper to add flavor and not so much as to make it 'hot'.

This is an excellent honey-based ice cream from Van Leeuwen.  The chili pepper is fairly mild -- don't be scared by the word "hot" in the flavor name, but I really like the extra flavor it adds.  I actually like this flavor better than their signature Honeycomb flavor!  So, if you like that flavor and are curious about a slightly enhanced version of it, then give Hot Honey a try.