Tillamook - Oregon Marionberry Cheesecake

Oregon Marionberry Cheesecake - Mascarpone Frozen Custard with a Marionberry Ripple and Graham Cracker Pieces

Today is another pint from the Tillamook Creamery in Tillamook Oregon.  This flavor is called Oregon Marionberry Cheesecake.  I found this pint at Kowalski's on Grand Avenue in Saint Paul.  I have had marionberry is ice cream before (see an earlier review for a thorough background on the berry).  It is funny, though, because every time I mention the marionberry to other people, they think I am pulling their leg.  The berry is named after Marion County, Oregon, where the first cultivars were grown and tested.  The crack-smoking mayor of Washington, DC, was attending college in Memphis and was not yet famous when the berry got its name.  People I know from Oregon love this berry, though, so I am eager to try another ice cream that features it. 

Removing the lid, the foil lid contains a clever little message.  Coolhaus was the first brand I noticed that had fun with these labels.  This particular message has a fun turn-your-frown-upside-down which I have not seen before:

Peeling back the foil, I see the creamy-looking cheesecake base with some pinkish-purple coloring from the marionberry on one side.  Digging in, the cheesecake base is very creamy.  It is a mascarpone rather than a standard cream cheese that is used here so it has a smoother texture and flavor.  Mascarpone is one of my favorite dessert cheeses so I approve.  Underneath, the marionberry swirl is more evident as well as the graham cracker pieces.  I asked one of my cane-berry expert friends what she thought of the marionberry.  She said that it tasted more like raspberry than blackberry yet it had a unique tartness that reminded her of cranberry a little bit.  Visually, there did not appear to be a lot of the marionberry swirl, but a little bit goes a long way and every spoonful contained some of it.   It was good.  The graham cracker pieces were quite small but there was a lot of them.  Unlike previous pints where the mix-ins were layered, here the marionberry swirl and graham cracker pieces were distributed throughout the pint.  I liked that here.

This is an excellent flavored-cheesecake ice cream from Tillamook.  The marionberry was flavorful and delicious and was well balanced with the mascarpone.  The graham cracker swirl is an ideal mix-in here as it is often the crust of a cheesecake and provides different texture.  Marionberries are not common in my area -- I wonder if there are any specialty grocery stores that stock fresh marionberries? -- so an ice cream flavor like this is a great way to try something new.  Check it out.