McConnells - Eureka Lemon & Marionberries

Now for something different.  A McConnell's Ice Cream review!  I have seen it many times in the grocery store freezer and was intrigued.  Its a premium brand based in Santa Barbara, California.  It is generally $7-8 a pint which is more than a bit pricey, but I've heard good things so I picked up a pint when it was on sale.  I chose a lemon-berry flavor as I usually have Ben & Jerry's ice cream and lemon & berry is completely off of their flavor palette.  Each different McConnells flavor has their own J.Peterman Catalog-style description on the side which is fun (see photo).

This pint of ice cream is made with a base infused with Eureka Lemon Juice a Marionberry swirl.  Eureka lemons are common supermarket lemons so using the 'Eureka' name just gives it a bit of a California flair while a Marionberry is a caneberry hybrid cultivated in Marion County, Oregon.  I looked up the Marionberry pedigree and its a fourth generation hybrid which is two parts dewberry, three parts raspberry and eleven parts of various wild blackberrys (five parts regular blackberry, two parts pacific blackberry and four parts himalayan blackberry).  It tasted like berry.  It was a good flavor -- a bit of the tart that you get from a berry flavor, but not too much.

Opening the lid, I was surprised to see almost all berry on the very top.  Turns out this layer on the top was just a thin film.  I wondered if this an intentional part of the manufacturing process or if it was a result of some diffusion that occurs in the freezer afterwards.  No matter, it insures that there is a bit of berry in the very first spoonful.  Digging into the pint, the lemon base has a very icy texture.  There is relatively little air whipped into this ice cream.  The lemon flavor is fairly subtle at first, but builds as you go.  It is a sweet lemon flavor and not at all sour.  The berry swirls provided good contrast and the amount was enough to enjoy the berry but not so much as to overpower the lemon.

All in all, I approve.  Its an interesting new brand and a fun change of flavor mixes. I will have to try a couple of more flavors of McConnells to further investigate this icy texture.  Sometimes the premium artisan brands use less air intentionally to give the customer more ice cream, but its also something that is often done with citrus flavors.  We shall see.