Pumphouse Creamery - 5 Spice

5 Spice - Sweet Cream with Anise, Fennel, Cloves, Cinnamon & Black Pepper

Today I try another fall flavor from the Minneapolis-based Pumphouse Creamery.  This one is called '5 Spice' with the spices spelled out "Anise, Fennel, Cloves, Cinnamon + Black Pepper.  The flavor is named after five spice powder which is commonly used in Asian cuisine.  Similar spice combinations are used in all cuisines of course.  My family has a pumpkin bread recipe which uses cloves, nutmeg, allspice & cinnamon.  That's only four spices, though.  The Pumphouse website lists nutmeg instead of fennel, but I'll trust the writing on the container.  This pint is a bit unusual because the spices are mixed into the sweet cream alone.  My previous two spicy pints have been blended with pumpkin or tea.  The best part of those pints was the spice, though, so it will be fun to have a pint where the spices are alone.

Opening the pint, the top has a light beige color.  The base is simply sweet cream so all of that color is coming from spice.  Digging in, the spice flavor hits you right away.  Particularly the anise.  It is a very licorice-like flavor.  My two spicy pints linked above both contained star anise but this is my first pint with just plain anise.  Interestingly, star anise and anise are very different plants but each spice contains a high concentration of anethole -- the aromatic compound responsible for the distinctive flavor.  Licorice and fennel also contain anethole.  You can also taste the cloves and cinnamon and a little bit of pepper, but the anise and fennel are definitely the most memorable flavors.  You know the flavor is strong if cloves are being put into the background.

This was a fun spicy flavor.  It is good to have an options for a spicy ice cream which does not contain another flavor such as pumpkin.  It is a bit heavy on the anise and fennel but I found that fun because I don't see those flavors used often enough.  The Pumphouse website mentions that it would make a great pie-topper.  I agree.  It would even go well with a pumpkin pie because I find that they never use enough spices in most pumpkin pie recipes.  It is also good by itself.  Enjoy.