Jeni's - Strawberry Buttermilk

Strawberry Buttermilk - Strawberry Ice Cream blended with Buttermilk

The penultimate pint from my six-pint shipment from the Columbus-based Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream is called Strawberry Buttermilk.  I have had lots of strawberry ice creams and a fair amount of buttermilk ice creams (see tags on the right for examples of each) but this is the first time I have seen the two paired together.  At least in a full pint.  During my Manhattan ice cream crawl a few years ago, I had a scoop of buttermilk balsamic strawberry from Morganstern's.  As I have written in the past, strawberry is a very strong flavor and it is quite common to see brands use something to cut the flavor a bit.  I've seen cheesecake (twice), mascarpone (twice), shortbread (twice), tarragon, balsamic vinegar, cardamom meringue,  rhubarb... the list just keeps getting longer.  Let's see how blending with buttermilk works out.

The top of the pint is a nice light pink color.  There are some small flecks of strawberry visible, but nothing too large.  Digging in, it is a very good strawberry flavor.  As for the buttermilk, it does not stick out.  Some buttermilk ice creams present that distinct buttermilk flavor to you -- especially in the finish.  Not here.  The buttermilk seems to be used simply to mute the strawberry flavor a bit.  It is still a delicious strawberry flavor, though.  This is a homogenous flavor and other that those specks I mentioned, there are no mix-ins.

This is a very good strawberry ice cream.  Buttermilk is only used to mute the flavor a bit, so people afraid of buttermilk need not worry.  If you had told me that this was just strawberry, I would have believed you.  As with the recent Cookies in Cream flavor, I don't know if this is a flavor that benefits too much from a super-premium brand, but if you are at a Jeni's scoop shop and are in the mood for strawberry, then this is very well done.