Häagen-Dazs - Cherry Vanilla

Cherry Vanilla - Black Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream with Black Cherries

We return to Häagen-Dazs for their Cherry Vanilla flavor.  This is a flavor that I always forget that they have.  I am usually trying to get a hold of the brand-new flavors and the limited batch flavors or I'm trying to find the flavor with the most interesting ingredients first.  Somehow this flavor flew under my radar.  The first thing I notice after reading the description on the side of the pint in greater detail is that black cherries are used here.  The front of the pint show pictures of red cherries.  Maybe the whole cherries look quite similar, but it creates a completely different idea in my head for what the pint will be like.  Interestingly, the cherry is paired with vanilla here instead of the usual chocolate.  That will emphasize the cherry more in my opinion.  I am looking forward to checking this out.

Opening the pint, the base ice cream is a light purplish color.  This is definitely black cherry!  Chunks of black cherry are visible right away in the middle.  The ice cream itself is soft and creamy and has that distinctive black cherry flavor.  The cherries themselves are flavorful, juicy and not too sweet.  The flavor of the vanilla did not stick out too much for me, but maybe it helps enhance the cherry in ways that a simple sweet cream would not.  This pint is almost the complete opposite ice cream flavor of the recent Cherrylicious flavor which was all candy and sweetness.

This was a surprisingly good pint.  Those of you who are also not noticing this pint amongst the dozens of Häagen-Dazs flavors in the grocery store freezer case should give this a try.  The closest thing I have come to this flavor before is a Cherries Jubilee flavor from New Orleans Ice Cream.  I liked that flavor, but I like this Häagen-Dazs flavor even more.  More black cherry flavor and better and more numerous black cherry mix-ins.