Lick - Cilantro Lime

Cilantro Lime - Cilantro Lime Ice Cream

Today is the second pint from my six pint shipment from the Austin-based Lick Ice Creams.  It is one seasonal flavors for spring -- Cilantro Lime.  Here I will make a quick aside to local readers that I bought this pint online and I am not aware that this brand is available in any Twin Cities grocery stores.  Ok, this looks like an interesting flavor.  I have never had cilantro in an ice cream before and I usually associate the cilantro-lime combination with Mexican food -- specifically the accompanying rice. 

I did not know until I started researching this article that cilantro is actually a form of coriander -- the two words come from the same Latin root.  They come from the same plant, but in English "coriander" refers to an herb derived from the dried seeds of the plant while "cilantro" refers the fresh leaves and stems of the plant.  These two different parts of the same plant have different flavors and culinary uses.  I found a cool article discussing the difference between coriander and cilantro here which I thought was very interesting.  Taking a second look at my review archive, I have had a couple coriander flavors before -- both local Minneapolis flavors:  Cereal Killers from Milkjam and Garam Masala from Pumphouse -- but this is my first cilantro flavor.  I enjoy cilantro (and cilantro-lime rice) in more savory dishes, so I'm quite curious as these flavors will turn out in an ice cream setting.

Cracking open the pint, I see the base ice cream is a bright white color.  Perhaps some yellowish tinge to it.  Plus, I see little green specks in the mix -- see the photos below.  Upon close inspection, I believe these are probably tiny bits of cilantro.  Digging in, I taste the lime right away.  It is a pleasant and soothing flavor, not too potent.  Perhaps the flavor could even be described as mild, but I do like it and find it refreshing.  The cilantro is not obvious at first, but I notice it a bit as the 'finish' flavor -- what flavor is left in your mouth after you swallow.  It's just a little bit of savoriness in an otherwise cool and fruity pint.

I enjoyed this pint quite a bit.  I like citrus flavors, so I found this flavor nice and refreshing.  The cilantro finish was interesting, but not too potent.  It is nice refreshing pint of ice cream for a hot summer day.  One more thing to add.  I've recently learned that as many as 20% of people might be genetically disposed to dislike the taste of cilantro -- I guess they think it tastes like soap!  Fascinating that they can pinpoint a gene for that!  So, if you already know that you have issues with cilantro, then this is probably not the pint for you, but if you like cilantro in other things then this is a fun pint.