Häagen-Dazs Artisan - Banana Rum Jam

Banana Rum Jam - Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with a Banana Rum Swirl

It is March 14th, Happy Pi Day everyone!  If I had thought ahead, I'd be reviewing a 'pie' flavor today like Key Lime Pie or Caramel Apple Pie but I did not plan ahead and today is a review of a
Häagen-Dazs Artisan flavor -- Banana Rum Jam.  I guess my favorite kind of pie is banana cream, so maybe there's a connection?  That's a bit of a stretch, but I'll go with in in the spirit of Pi Day.

For the Artisan line, Häagen-Dazs commissions asks specialty bakeries and confectionaries to come up with their own ice cream flavor.  This time, they go to Brooklyn again and asked Jessica Quon and Sabrina Valle from the The Jam Stand and they came up with a flavor incorporating their Drunken Monkey Jam as a swirl.  As mentioned above, I do like banana so we'll see how this goes.

The top of the pint looks like vanilla.  There are small specks visible and it is a vanilla bean base so I figured they are vanilla bean specks.  That said, the first scoops had banana flavor in them.  Although there are some darker swirls visible in the pint, the banana rum is blended into the base as well.  The banana flavor was good.  Its was more earthy banana-bread type of banana flavor and not a sweet flavor like a banana pudding.  The rum was noticeable only once in a while -- every third or fourth scoop I'd feel a mild kick of in the back of my throat.   So the rum is just an mild accent and not a primary component.

I enjoyed this flavor quite a bit.  The earthy banana flavor worked well for eating the whole pint in one sitting.  There were no extra mix-ins though.  If you want chocolate & nuts too then I guess you should stick to Chunky Monkey but today's flavor is pretty good if you just want banana.