Sweet Science - Black Sesame

Black Sesame - Black Sesame Ice Cream

 

Sweet Science of Saint Paul has a couple of three seasonal flavors for March:  Black Sesame and Hazelnut Brownie and Earl Grey with White Chocolate (instagram link here).  I reviewed the Earl Grey flavor back in 2018 but I have not tried the other two yet.  So I picked them up curbside at their Keg & Case Scoop Shop.  Today's flavor is Black Sesame.  They say this is one of their older flavors their last release of it must have been before my time.  I am thrilled to try this flavor though.  Black Sesame has long been one of my 'missing flavors'.  I have seen it available in some scoop shops and from some online brands but somehow I have not reviewed a pint of it yet.  So I am looking forward to this.  

 

Black sesame is one of the varieties of sesame.  The blacker seeds are more commonly grown and used in China and Southeast Asia while the lighter colored seeds are used in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and India.  I found an interesting article contrasting the two sesames here.  Sweet Science mentions on the side of the carton and on the instagram link above that the flavor is like a cross between peanut butter and tahini (ground white sesame).  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the ice cream has a grey, almost purplish grey color.  Interesting!  Digging in, the flavor is quite nutty.  It's not unlike peanut butter, but it is not as heavy and perhaps a smidge sweeter.  A cross between peanut butter and tahini is not a bad description actually.  It is quite delicious.  It is a homogenous ice cream with no mix-ins.  Like almost all Sweet Science bases, this is smooth, thick and creamy.  It is quite delicious.

This is an excellent implementation of a black sesame flavor from Sweet Science.  If you already like black sesame ice cream, then you'll be glad that you can now get it locally.  If you have not tried it before, then don't fear.  Despite it's unusual color, it is not really that exotic of a flavor.  It is not savory like my recent Everything Bagel pint.  It's just a simple nutty flavor with a slightly different flavor than other nuts.  Check it out.