McConnell's - Pineapple Rum and Guava Jam

Pineapple Rum and Guava Jam - Pineapple Rum Ice Cream with a Swirl of Guava Jam

Today, we move on to the second pint in my recent four-pint shipment from the Santa-Barbara-based McConnell's Fine Ice Creams.  This is a seasonal flavor called Pineapple Rum & Guava Jam.  A very interesting flavor combination!  I have had a few pineapple pints before, but none paired with rum.  And believe it or not, this is my first pint which includes guava. 

Guava is a tropical fruit in the myrtle family which is native to Mexico, Central and South America.  It can be eaten by itself, but I often see it blended with other fruits.  It can be a bit confusing because many varieties of guava are actually named after other fruits (e.g. pineapple guava, strawberry or cherry guava, etc.), so I have to check the ingredients to which it is.  Here, it is pineapple and guava -- specifically pineapple and rum in the base and the mix-in is a swirl of guava jam.

On to the ice cream!  Opening the pint, I see the yellowish-white color of the pineapple base and the guava jam swirl forms a near perfect spiral.  I wonder if there is some special tool used to spin the jam into each carton?  Digging in, the pineapple and rum flavors are fully blended.  This is not a bright and fruity pineapple like the Häagen-Dazs Pineapple Coconut flavor.  The rum darkens the flavor quite a bit.  It's not at all boozy, though.  It tastes pretty good.  The guava jam is thick and pasty.  It also has a milder and darker flavor than I expected (I associate guava with bright and fruity drinks).

This is a very interesting pint.  It has all these tropical flavors in it, but it contains darker and richer flavors than I was expecting.  Some of that is due to blending in the rum, but it affected the guava jam as well.  It is still quite delicious though.  This may be a good pint for people who want tropical flavors without it being too sweet.

Ben & Jerry's - Red White & Blueberry

Red White & Blueberry - Blueberry & Raspberry Ice Cream swirled with Vanilla Ice Cream with Strawberries & Shortbread Pieces 

Today is the second of the two new Walmart-exclusive flavors this year.  The first flavor was a cookies-n-cream-like flavor called Ice Cream Sammie.  This flavor is called Red, White and Blueberry.  A very patriotic-sounding flavor and very fitting for the summer holidays of Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.  The color comes from the fruit.  There is blueberry and raspberry in one base, vanilla in another and strawberry and shortbread mix-ins.  Looks quite interesting.

Removing the lid, I see that the blueberry-raspberry base is actually a bluish purple color.  It is marbled quite well with a vanilla base and I can see a couple of the strawberry pieces right away.  Digging in, I taste mainly blueberry in the blueberry-raspberry base.  I am OK with that because blueberry is a much less common flavor in ice creams than raspberry and with all the different ice creams that I try, I appreciate the novelty.  The flavor is pretty good and the marbled vanilla base helps to keep the fruit flavor from becoming too intense.   The strawberry pieces are frozen.  I have encountered this issue with Ben & Jerry's strawberry pieces before (also here).  Biting into frozen strawberries is no fun, but from experience I know to melt the pieces on my tongue before trying to chew them.  I was surprised to find that the shortbread pieces are dark green!  I think the pieces may have originally been yellowish orange like on the side of the carton, but must have absorbed some of the blueberry-raspberry base.  They don't look too appetizing, but they taste alright.  They provide a bit of gritty texture as well.

This is an interesting and fruity pint of ice cream.  It is basically the mix-ins from a previous Walmart-exclusive flavor Strawberry Not So Shortcake put into a swirl of blueberry-raspberry and vanilla bases.  I liked Strawberry Not So Shortcake and I applaud the use of blueberry in the bases, but I don't think the mix-ins matched the bases here.  The cosmetic issues (purple instead of blue and dark green shortbread pieces) were just that -- cosmetic -- but they took away some of the fun of what could have been a very colorful flavor.  The flavor was decent though.  If you like blueberry and you love Ben & Jerry's, you'll want to give it a try, but otherwise, I can see why this is an experimental limited batch flavor only available from one vendor. 

McConnell's - Passionfruit Custard

Passionfruit Custard - Passionfruit Custard

I got an order from the Santa Barbara-based McConnell's!  I had seen that they had a couple of limited-batch flavors for the spring season, but I didn't immediately pull the trigger because they didn't have enough new flavors to fill a four-pint shipment and I have been so busy with new flavors from other brands.  Well, they made their cookie dough flavor temporarily available online so I had enough for four pints and I pulled the trigger.  Today's flavor is one of the limited release flavors for spring, Passionfruit Custard.  It is just that, a frozen custard made with passionfruit.  (McConnell's uses the one-word spelling of 'passionfruit', but the two-word 'passion fruit' is just as common)  I've had passion fruit in ice cream twice before, once from Milkjam Creamery as a swirl and another time from Sweet Science as the base flavor.  This pint most closely resembles the Sweet Science implementation, although this is labeled a custard and not an ice cream.  The 'custard' label usually means that it has extra eggs and often means that there is less air in the mix (less 'overrun').  Enough talk, let's check this out!

Removing the lid, the base has a yellowish color of passionfruit as expected.  Digging in, the frozen custard is very thick and dense.  It is quite hard in the container, but it is not at all icy in texture.  The first spoonful provides a delicious passionfruit flavor.  This is one of my favorite tropical flavors.  The initial flavor is sweet, but there is a bit of tartness and bitterness in the 'finish' (what you taste after you swallow).  It is not too strong, but it is noticeable.  I noticed this exact same thing in the other passion fruit base that I've tried.  It is either part of the flavor of the fruit or it is a sign that the seeds are also in the mix.  The flavor is still excellent overall, the tartness actually prevents the flavor from becoming too sweet.

This is an excellent pint of passionfruit custard.  In comparison to the Sweet Science pint, McConnell's is denser and thicker while the Sweet Science pint is softer and easier to scoop.  But they both have great passion fruit flavor with a bit of tartness mixed in.  Passionfruit fans should check this one out.

Pumphouse Creamery - Lemon Olive Oil & Sea Salt

Lemon Olive Oil & Sea Salt - Ice Cream made with Lemon-infused Olive Oil and Sea Salt

While I was at the Pumphouse Creamery in Minneapolis a few weeks ago picking up a pint of their excellent Fresh Rhubarb ice cream, I saw another interesting flavor called Lemon Olive Oil & Sea Salt.  I am always curious about olive oil flavors and I love lemon so I picked it up.  The website clarifies that this is lemon-infused olive oil, so the lemon is *in* the olive oil and not a separate ingredient.  Let's dig in!

Removing the lid, the ice cream is quite white.  Taking a whiff, I can smell notes of lemon which is promising.  The first spoonful is thick and smooth and has a subtle lemon flavor.  The olive oil itself adds more texture than flavor.  The ice cream feels really smooth inside my mouth.  As mentioned before, the lemon flavor is not strong, but I really like it.  I has a cool, refreshing and palate cleansing effect.

I really liked this ice cream.  The olive oil creates a nice texture and the infused lemon flavor is quite good.  This is not a strong flavor, but it is quite refreshing.  It is a good choice for when you are in the mood for something simple, yet slightly out of the ordinary.

Izzy's - Mexican Chocolate Fiesta

Mexican Chocolate Fiesta - Chocolate Ice Cream with a dash of Cinnamon and a hint of Orange Extract

Izzy's Ice Cream has 32 flavors available in their scoop shops at any given time, but they many more flavors available than that.  There are 8 core flavors that seem to be always available (vanilla, vanilla bean, chocolate, strawberry, salted caramel, bubble gum, cotton candy & cookies and cream) and the other 24 slots rotate.  Thankfully, they have an online system to help me find out when flavors I am interested in have been rotated in which is called the Flavor Up system.  I signed up for all the award-winning flavors and a handful of others which look interesting.  The system works.  I actually got on email when the 2001 People's-Flavor-Award-winning flavor Mexican Chocolate Fiesta become available and I was able to run down and pick up a pint.  This is a chocolate ice cream with cinnamon and orange flavoring added.  I have had several 'mexican chocolate' flavors which include cinnamon (from Steve's, Jeni's, and McConnells) and one surprisingly good orange chocolate flavor.  I am curious to see how well this pint compares.

Opening the pint, I mainly see chocolate -- as expected.  With the first spoonful, I taste the cinnamon right away.  It is quite noticeable, but it is not at all a 'hot' cinnamon.  Then of course, the chocolate flavor.  It is good chocolate flavor -- sort of a milk chocolate, but most chocolate ice creams are rather milky because milk and cream are a natural part of ice cream ('dark' chocolate implementations have to try hard to stay 'dark').  Then after I swallowed, I actually noticed the orange flavor.  Often when I read that a flavor contains a 'hint' of something, I wonder if the effect will be too subtle for my palate, but I can definitely taste it here.  It provides cool orange flavor at the end of every spoonful. 

I really enjoyed this pint.  This is thick, dense and rich chocolate which is quite good by itself, but the cinnamon and orange definitely make it more interesting.  It is not as hot of a cinnamon flavor as some Mexican chocolates, and it is not as orangey as some orange chocolates, but all the flavors are balanced quite well.  This is quite delicious and I can see why it won one the first People's Flavor Award contest back in 2001.  They are holding the People's Flavor Award contest again next month and I am looking forward to checking it out.

Ample Hills - Baked/Unbaked

Baked/Unbaked - Vanilla Ice Cream with Pieces of Housemade Chocolate Chip Cookies and Brown Butter Cookie Dough

Today is the next pint in my shipment from the Brookyn-based Ample Hills Creamery.  This one is called Baked/Unbaked.  At first glance, this looks a lot like one of Ben & Jerry's most popular flavors Half Baked.  A second look reveals important differences.  Ben & Jerry's includes cookie dough and brownies uses both vanilla and chocolate bases.  This pint, features a vanilla base and a mixture of cookie dough and (cooked) cookies.   A nice blog post from Ample Hills describing how they make this flavor is available here.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, I see the off-white color of the vanilla base.  I see a small air-pocket on top, but nothing major.  I see a bunch of the mix-in pieces on top as well.  Digging in, vanilla base is same one used in the last pint (PB Wins the Cup).  It is very thick, but also quite malleable, so it is ideal for folding in large mix-ins.  Soon, I discover these mix-ins.  The brown butter cookie dough is the easiest to pick out.  It is soft and chewy and tastes like buttery brown sugar as you would expect.  The baked mix-ins were more chocolatey than I expected.  There were more like small shards of chocolate with the occasional cookie crumb embedded into it.  It is hard to imagine it being a cookie outside of the ice cream but it actually worked really well paired with the cookie dough pieces since there is no chocolate in the cookie dough.

This is an interesting and solid implementation of a cookie dough flavor from Ample Hills.  Ample Hills loves do twists on put their own twist on classic flavors and they've certainly done that here.  This pint is heavy on the 'unbaked' half of its name. The brown butter cookie dough tastes quite good in this thick and delicious vanilla ice cream.  The baked half may not be what everyone expects, but it is successful at delivering good chocolate flavor.

Milkjam Creamery - Who Run the World

Who Run the World - Malted Sweet Cream w/ Caramel Delights & Brown Butter Caramel

Today we return to the Minneapolis-based Milkjam Creamery for a flavor called Who Run The World.  The flavor name is a reference to the Beyonce song Run the World (Girls) which asks the question "Who Run the World?" twenty-seven times and gets the same answer ("Girls") each time.  Milkjam brings this flavor back each March for Women's History Month.  They promptly rename all the flavors during that month of March to the names of famous women.  In 2018, this flavor was renamed to "Oprah" and in 2019 it was renamed to "AOC".  I found this pint last month after it Women's History Month was over and its name had changed back.  The caramel flavor looked different than most of the other pints that I have tried from Milkjam so I picked it up.

On to the ice cream!  The base looks quite yellow as I remove the lid.  I expected it to be a bit more caramel colored.  Digging in, the base has a unique flavor.  It is an interesting mix of brown butter, malt and caramel.  Not really like any of those individual flavors, but not too bad either.  Like many other Milkjam flavors, the ice cream is very soft, yet still creamy.  As I continue eating I run into the mix-ins which they list as 'caramel delights'.  Before eating this pint, I was not sure what a caramel delight was.  Is a the girl scout cookie similar to the samoa?  I don't think so.  They are like small caramel candies.  Caramel-flavored Turkish delight might be closer, but I think I may be straining to explain the 'delight' name.  They taste pretty good and go well with the base.

This is an interesting and decent pint of ice cream.  The base is an subtle mix of flavors, though it feels a bit muted.  It certainly does not have an impact matching the Beyonce song.  The candy-like mix-ins sweetened the pint up a bit, but there were not a lot of them.  I did not like the flavor as much as I expected to, but if you like brown butter caramel and are not a sweet tooth, you might like this flavor more than me.

Ample Hills - PB Wins the Cup

PB Wins the Cup - Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Flakes and House-made Peanut Butter Cups

Today, I continue working my way through my recent shipment from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills.  This one is called PB Wins the Cup.  This an one of their older, fan-favorite flavors.  Here is their recent blogpost featuring this flavor and how it is created.  I'm not sure why I have not gotten around to trying this one yet.  I plan on remedying that today. 

Removing the lid, I see the bright white color of the vanilla base with hints of the mix-ins underneath.  Digging in, the vanilla is very thick and creamy.  It almost folds as I eat it.  It reminds me of Coolhaus bases which are specifically designed to work well in ice cream sandwiches.  Then I encounter the mix-ins.  These are not your normal peanut butter cups.  These are small cube-sized pieces of peanut butter and chocolate.  What is different here is that chocolate does not necessarily form the outer layer of every piece. Without that constraint, it seems like there is more peanut butter in each chunk.  It's quite good and the thick vanilla base seems design to allow these pieces to be folded in.

This is an excellent peanut butter cup ice cream.  I really like the cube-shaped mix-ins which deliver more peanut butter flavor than the average peanut butter cup mix-in.  There's enough chocolate in the mix, too, of course.  Peanut butter fans will definitely want to check this one out.

Ben & Jerry's - Ice Cream Sammie

Ice Cream Sammie - Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Sandwich Cookies & Chocolate Cookie Swirls

It is always good to keep an eye on the Ben & Jerry flavor page.  Even when they do not have a major new flavor release, they periodically cycle their vendor-specific exclusive flavors.  There are two new exclusive flavors for Walmart -- Ice Cream Sammie and Red, White and Blueberry.   So, I trekked down to Walmart and picked them up.  Today's flavor is Ice Cream Sammie -- a vanilla ice cream base with chocolate sandwich cookies and chocolate cookie swirls.  It sounds a lot like an implementation of 'cookies and cream'.  The cookies and cream flavor in their regular menu is Milk & Cookies which is more of a twist on the standard cookies & cream -- it includes chocolate chip cookies instead of Oreo-like sandwich cookies.  Maybe today's pint is more of a standard implementation?  Let's check it out.

Opening the pint, I see the light color of the vanilla base along with large Oreo-like cookie pieces.  So, by "sammie" they mean crunchy sandwich cookies and not the soft rectangular wafers of an ice cream sandwich.  The sandwich cookies used here are imitation Oreos -- Ben & Jerry's switched away from the name-brand version in the mid-00's so they could have more control over their ingredient sourcing.  Not only are their large pieces but there is also a lot of 'speckling' of cookie crumbs throughout the base.  This is probably the effect of the chocolate cookie swirl that was added into the mix, but it also is another way of simulating the usage of Oreos instead of imitation Oreos.  Real Oreos create much finer crumbs when crushed than any imitation Oreos that I have ever seen.    Digging in, the cookies are very tasty and I can even still taste the vanilla in the vanilla base.  In some of the larger cookie pieces, I can see the creme filling between the sandwich cookies.  It reminds me a lot of the Mint Chocolate Cookie flavor, but without the mint. 

This pint turned out to be a well-done implementation of the straight 'cookies and cream' flavor.     The standard flavors in their lineup all put a twist on the cookies-and-cream formula -- either by adding mint or by using chocolate chip cookies instead of Oreo-like cookies.  Here, we have a simple cookies and cream.  It's pretty good, though.

Ample Hills - Breakfast Trash

Breakfast Trash - Cap'n Crunch, Frosted Flakes and Corn Pops-Infused Ice Cream mixed with Fruity Pebbles and Fruit Loops

I ordered a shipment from the Brooklyn-based Ample Hills!  They still have a few flavors online that I have not tried, their shipping costs are much cheaper than they used to be, and I had a coupon, so I pulled the trigger.  The first pint from the shipment is a limited batch flavor called Breakfast Trash.  It is available this spring because it won the Flavor Frenzy contest that they hold every year at the same time as college basketball tournament known as March Madness.  Each year, they ask customers to vote online to determine which old flavor to bring back (at least temporarily).  They set it up with head-to-head match-ups in a bracket like the basketball tournament.  This year Breakfast Trash beat our another morning flavor called Sunday Brunch in the finals.  Ice cream for breakfast is catching on!  Breakfast Trash is a cereal-based flavor -- Cap'n Crunch, Frosted Flakes, Corn Pops, Fruity Pebbles, Fruit Loops -- so much cereal!  The Ample Hills Blog recently featured this flavor and how it is made.  Let's check it out.


Opening the pint, I see an off-white base with lots of colored speckles embedded in it.  Digging in, I immediately taste the cereal.  Often, I'd get a hint of a particular kind of cereal.  In one one spoonful, I definitely noticed Cap'n Crunch, in another I was pretty sure that I tasted Corn Pops.  Overall, I noticed a certain thick texture to the ice cream.  The small cereal bits seemed to make the cream more of a 'solid'.  It reminded me of a creamier version of a rice krispie bar -- which is the basis for Ample Hills' Snap Mallow Pop flavor.  This flavor is less gooey (no marshmallows) and more colorful (lots of different kinds of cereals used here) than that one, of course.

I enjoyed this pint, it was fun.  Those who enjoy sugary breakfast cereals will get a kick out of it for sure.  As with a few other 'kitchen sink' flavors, there is a little bit of diminishing returns when so many different flavors are being tossed at you at once, but that can be part of the fun.  With Snap Mallow Pop in their regular line-up, I can see why this is not promoted into their regular line-up, but I am glad I was able to try it while it was available.  And with Sunday Brunch taking the runner-up slot in the Flavor Frenzy, perhaps it will be ice cream for breakfast again next year.

Talenti - Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake

Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake - Layers of Cheesecake Gelato, Chocolate Chunks, Black Cherry Sauce, Cheesecake Gelato (again) and Graham Cookies

Today I try the next flavor in Talenti's Gelato Layers flavors released this year.  This one is called Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake.  Here layers of black cherry sauce and chocolate chunks are sandwiched between two layers of cheesecake gelato with a layer of graham cookies on the bottom of it all.  It looks like an interesting combination.

Opening the pint, all I see is the top layer -- cheesecake gelato.  It looks pretty white.  Then as with the previous pints in the collection, I dig myself out a vertical slice.  I realize that most people won't be eating the pint this way, but it is worth it for the pictures.  The cheesecake gelato is quite thick.  It always expect gelato to be softer than ice cream, so it's interesting when a thick ingredient like cream cheese is added.  After some effort, I got my vertical slice out (see photo below).  As with the previous layered pints, the gelato layers are thicker than the mix-in layers.  How does it taste?  Digging in, the cheesecake gelato is thick.  I can tell there is cream cheese in there but it does not have the distinctive cream-cheese aftertaste than some cheesecakes have.  I sample the cherry/chocolate layer.  The cherry flavor is a good black cherry flavor (a bit 'darker' in tone -- not a sweet cherry).  The chocolate chip layer is quite thin and has mixed in with the cherry sauce.  I do taste the chocolate, but there is definitely more cherry than chocolate when these layers are taken together.  The two cheesecake layers serve to balance the mix-ins.  It is indeed a lot like a flavored cheesecake.  Usually the swirl or toppings are not that thick, but a little bit of cherry goes a long way.  The graham cookies on the bottom are soft and chewy like in the previous layered pints.  They simulate the 'crust' of a piece of cheesecake.

This is a pretty good cheesecake-themed layered pint from Talenti.  It is a "cherry chocolate chip" flavored cheesecake -- with black cherry being the predominant flavor and the chocolate chips playing a more supporting role.  Because the cheesecake gelato is so thick, this pint did not 'self-mix' as well as the other layered pints.  That wasn't a huge issue for me because after I extracted a vertical slice out for the photos, it was easy for my spoon to sample from any depth of the pint at any time.  But, if I had eaten the pint like a normal person, I think it might be hard digging through all the thick cheesecake gelato to get to the mix-ins.

Pumphouse Creamery - Fresh Rhubarb

Fresh Rhubarb - Vanilla Ice Cream with Fresh Rhubarb

Spring is here and that means that Rhubarb Ice Cream has returned to the Pumphouse Creamery in Minneapolis.  Their flavor page says this is their best-selling seasonal flavor.  When local papers write up the ice cream choices in town, they almost always mention the rhubarb when they mention Pumphouse Creamery.  I tried to get it last year, but I was too late -- it is only available from April until mid-June.  I got myself a pint this year and I'm excited to check it out.

Opening the pint, I see big chunks of rhubarb right away immersed in a bright white vanilla base.  Very generous with the rhubarb!  Digging in, the rhubarb is delicious!  Sometimes rhubarb can be very sour -- which is why it is often used as a supporting ingredient (balanced with something like strawberry or cinnamon).  The rhubarb here is still quite tangy -- it is rhubarb after all -- but not so much that it makes your lips pucker.  The vanilla base provides a great balance to the mix-in, creating a pie-a-la-mode feel to the pint.

This is an excellent pint of ice cream.  Rhubarb has such a strong and sour natural flavor that it is quite unusual to see it as the only flavor in an ice cream.  This implementation hits it out of the park, though.  The rhubarb is sweetened up into a pie-filling-like mix-in that goes great with the vanilla base.  It is only available for a couple of months a year, so check it out.