Ben & Jerry's - Salted Caramel Almond

Salted Caramel Almond - Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with Roasted Almond Slivers, Fudge Flakes & a Salted Caramel Swirl

 

I was shopping at VONS last week when I saw a Ben & Jerry's flavor I hadn't seen before or heard word about -- Salted Caramel Almond.  The label on the lid says its an "Exclusive Flavor" which got me curious.  Exclusive to VONS?  I did not know that there were such flavors.   Naturally, I picked up the pint and went online to see what the deal is.  It turns out that the flavor is exclusive to Safeway Markets which in addition to its own stores include supermarkets branded under other names such as Pavillions, Tom Thumb, Randall's and VONS.  Thankfully, I currently live in a part of the country which includes a subsidiary chain of Safeway and I am looking forward to trying out this new flavor.  It looks like the vanilla, caramel, chocolate mix with the twist that the caramel is salted and roasted almonds are also added.

Removing the lid shows the vanilla base with a large dollop of caramel visible right away on top.  A couple of the fudge flakes can also be seen.  As I ate my way into the pint, the vanilla base was standard and unremarkable but served its purpose as a vehicle for the mix-ins.  The fudge flakes are actually quite chunky.  They are the old fashioned mini-chocolate-bar chunks which are used in the old Cherry Garcia and Chunky Monkey flavors.  This is not a complaint, I am just noting that they are chunky and not crumbly.   The almond slivers were small as expected (they are labeled as slivers after all).  They provide a bit of nutty texture from time to time but nothing major.  This is not a pint for almond lovers or nut lovers.  The star of the pint is the salted caramel swirl.  It is thicker than a usual swirl but not so dominating as cylindrical core.  It manifests itself as the occasional glob while eating the pint.  It is quite flavorful and goes well with the chocolate.  

This is perhaps the best salted caramel swirl that I have had as yet.  Sometimes when salted caramel is in a base it becomes diluted and takes upon the flavor of a slo poke sucker.  This is just about the right size and frequency of salted caramel in a pint for me.   Gooey salted caramel lovers should give this a try.