Häagen-Dazs - Dulce de Leche

Dulce de Leche - Caramel Ice Cream with Ribbons of Caramel

I decided to return to one of the more basic and classic Häagen-Dazs flavors:  Dulce de Leche.  I must admit that I had been eyeing this one for a while.  I think I must be in the mood for caramel.  As has been mentioned in previous reviews, dulce de leche is a Latin American dessert which translates roughly as 'sweet milk' or 'milk candy'.  It is made by heading up milk and sugar until the maillard reaction turns it brown.  It is very similar to caramel which is also made by heating up sugar -- usually in the presence of more processed dairy products such as cream or butter.

On to the ice cream.  Opening the pint shows the creamy beige color of the caramel base with some darker sections for the swirl.  The first spoonful had a mild caramel flavor and some of the swirl.  The caramel swirl was thicker than the usual caramel swirl.  It was almost like a denser version of the base.  Sometimes dulce de leche and caramel are used interchangeably in ice cream ingredient descriptions but I think dulce de leche is actually a very appropriate name here.  It was a bit like sweetened condensed milk which had been gently caramelized.

This pint was fairly good, but this is a very simple flavor.  It is not quite homogeneous, but close.   To tell you the truth, I was in the mood for something with more of a gooey caramel like the Caramel Cone flavor without the cones?   But this is advertised as dulce de leche and it delivers in that regard.