McConnell's - Banana & Salted Caramel

Banana & Salted Caramel - Banana Ice Cream with Salted Caramel Sauce

After finishing the Melting Pot Collection, the McConnell's kick continues.  Banana & Salted Caramel is a new flavor this year which I had not been able to find in grocery stores so I added it to my Melting Pot Collection shipment.  I like banana, so I am looking forward to checking this out.

Removing the lid shows the light color of the banana base with quite a bit of caramel visible right away.  As I dig in, there is quite a bit of banana flavor right away in the first spoonful.  In the past, I have talked about two different types of banana flavors -- the sweet flavor of a banana pudding and the more earthy flavor of a banana bread.  This is almost a different version.  It reminds me of an overripe banana but since it is blended into the ice cream, it doesn't have the unpleasant texture.  I guess it is like uncooked banana bread batter, but perhaps a bit stronger.  The swirl is a caramel 'sauce' and not the typical syrupy caramel.  The side of the container tells me that sauce is made with sweetened condensed milk and it does have a bit of a dulce de leche feel to it.  It is still caramel, but in my mind I am picturing a spectrum of possible caramel concoctions and this sauce is a couple of ticks in the dulce de leche direction.  There was a little bit of salt in the sauce but it was not strong enough to make you thirsty.

I enjoyed this pint.  I liked the ripe banana flavor and the caramel sauce went very well with it.  Many banana-themed pints have chocolate mix-in, but not here.  It reminded me a bit of a bananas foster flavor but without the rum.  A good addition to the McConnell's line.  I hope it sticks around.