Izzy's - Chocolate Agate Crunch

Chocolate Agate Crunch - Chocolate Candy Rocks with Oreo Pieces and a Salted Caramel Swirl in a Triple-Chocolate Ice Cream Base

Today's flavor is from Izzy's Ice Cream in Saint Paul and is called Chocolate Agate Crunch.  This is one of the flavors that Izzy's has made in the past for the Minnesota State Fair.  This was Izzy's featured State Fair flavor in 2016.  It is a very chocolate-centric pint -- one of those that loads several chocolatey mix-ins into a chocolate base.  The name of the flavor refers to the Lake Superior Agate which is Minnesota's official gemstone.  I wouldn't want to eat one of those, but it will be fun to see how Izzy's imagines chocolate versions of those rocks.  Let's dig in!

Removing the lid, I see a lot of chocolate.  There is chocolate in the base and several chocolatey mix-ins are visible right away.  I do see a little bit of white on some of the mix-ins which made me wonder if there was marshmallow in the mix.  That turns out not to be the case, it's just a thin white dusty coating that you sometimes see on hunks of dark chocolate.  Digging in, it is quite chocolatey.  It's a very good chocolate base.  I quickly encounter the 'agates' which are sizable chunks of high-quality chocolate.  It was like the nuggets of gourmet chocolate from the fancy section of the candy aisle used as mix-ins.  It is quite good.   The flavor description says there are Oreo pieces mixed in.  What I noticed was more like small brownie pieces.  They could have been Oreo pieces that were soaking in the cream a while or this could be one of those flavors whose exact recipe differs a bit from batch to batch.  Either way, they were good.  What I did not notice was an explicit salted caramel swirl.  It reminded me a bit of their Chocolate Caramel Superstar flavor (formerly known as Snap Crackle Chocolate).  The chocolate bases are similar.  Each has excellent flavor but without being too intense.  I wonder if the caramel gets swirled in so much that it becomes a homogeneous part of the base?

This is an excellent chocolate-centric pint.  Every brand likes to appease the chocoholics with this type of pint from time to time.  Don't expect a gooey caramel swirl, but the blend of chocolate and caramel here is excellent and keeps the chocolate from getting so intense.  The best part of the pint is the chocolate 'agate' pieces.  These taste like gourmet chunks of chocolate from a good candy store.  Check it out if you're in the mood for something chocolatey.