Ben & Jerry's - Cherry Garcia

Cherry Garcia - Cherry Ice Cream with Cherries and Fudge Flakes

On to a review of an old classic - Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia.    Introduced way back in 1987, it was named after Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia and was the first of their rock-themed ice cream flavors (Phish Food, Blondie Ambition, etc).  It has proven to be one of their most popular flavors.  No matter how few flavors are available in a particular freezer case, Cherry Garcia is always one of the options.  Stores with large Ben & Jerry's sections offer it in quarts and in  Frozen Yogurt.  Burlington, Vermont has renamed their Cherry Street as "Cherry Garcia Street" near the local scoop shop.  Jerry Garcia passed away in 1995, but Cherry Garcia has lived on.

But how excited am I about cherry ice cream?  Cherry has a very strong and sweet flavor which can easily be overwhelming.  I can usually take a can of cherry coke about once a year, but I wouldn't be able to have a six-pack in my fridge -- I would have trouble making it through all of them. 

Opening the pint, I see that the base ice cream is very light in color.  Its clearly pink, but it is more of an off-white pink.  Some of the fudge flakes are visible on the top as well.  Digging into the pint, I am pleased by the fact that although the base cherry flavor is quite noticeable, it is not that strong.  Dispersed throughout the pint are both cherries and fudge flakes.  The cherries are more of the darker variety.  Thankfully, these are not maraschino cherries.  Still they pack quite a punch of sweet cherry when you bit into them.  Interestingly, the fudge flakes in this mix provide a bit of bitter to offset the sweetness of the cherries.  I don't think this is bitter chocolate, but it is providing the bitter in this mix.  A very clever and successful combination of fill-ins here.  The fudge flakes seemed slightly larger and harder than the grumbly flakes that were present in the candy-bar-themed flavors Nutty Caramel Swirl and Candy Bar Pie.  

So, a successful flavor.  I don't think I am enough of a cherry-holic to totally *love* this flavor, but I can see why cherry lovers have made this an enduring flavor for the past three decades.