McConnell's - Santa Barbara Strawberry

Santa Barbara Strawberry - Strawberry Ice Cream with Strawberry Pieces

Today is another pint from my recent shipment from the Santa Barbara-based McConnell's Ice Creams.  As mentioned in my first review from the shipment, this order was a mixture of summer and fall flavors which happened to available for order at the same time.  This flavor, Santa Barbara Strawberry, is one of the summer ones so it is already unavailable by the time I write this, but often these seasonal flavors return in future years.  So, let's check it out!

After opening the pint and peeling back the label, the top of the pint is a light pink color reminiscent of other strawberry bases.  I can see a strawberry piece on top.  I also see some lighter patches on top -- I think a small amount of ice has formed right under the lid.  I only saw this on the very top and did not turn out to be an issue.  Scooping my way down into the pint, I see a lot of large strawberry pieces.  These are quite beautiful and look delicious, but they are also frozen.  Strawberries have a lot of internal moisture, so frozen strawberries tend to be icier than I would like.  This is not an uncommon issue with strawberry mix-ins but I notice it quite a bit here because the pieces are so large.  So, I do my trick of warming up my spoonfuls against the roof of my mouth for a few seconds before biting into the strawberries.  It is not ideal, but it works.

This is a good, but flawed pint of strawberry ice cream from McConnell's.  Large strawberry pieces are a great idea above 32 degrees, but below freezing it creates issues with ice.  I could work around it and enjoyed the strawberry flavor but a friend of mine decided to leave the bowl out for quite a bit before eating it.  I wonder if there is a good way to put use larger strawberry piece mix-ins without freezing.  I suppose one could dry the strawberries, or perhaps dry and then soak them in something that doesn't freeze.  Anyhow, this pint still has good strawberry flavor, but be prepared for this minor issue.