Milkjam Creamery - Earth

Earth - Golden-Spiced Chocolate Custard (made with Turmeric Root, Ginger, Cinnamon and Black Pepper) with Candied Ginger Tumeric Shortbread Cookies

 

Milkjam Creamery of south Minneapolis has released their April flavors and they have gone with the classical elements!  Yes, the four new flavors are Earth, Fire, Air and Water (instagram link here).  The flavors all look quite eclectic.  It's fun to try new flavors so I am looking forward to these.  The first flavor for me is Earth (instagram link here).  It features a "golden-spiced" chocolate custard.  By golden-spiced, they mean turmeric, ginger, cinnamon and black pepper.  Then the mix-ins are ginger turmeric shortbread cookies.  Similar spices in the base and mix-ins.  

 This is my first ice cream that contains turmeric, so I'll write a few sentences about it.  Turmeric is a flowering plant of the ginger family which is native to south and southeast Asia.  The active chemical in turmeric is curcumin which has an orange-yellow color which is sometimes used as a dye.  Some purport that turmeric has anti-inflammatory qualities (my mom takes turmeric supplements) but the articles I am reading say that is not yet proven.  Overall turmeric has an earthy mustard-like aroma and a black-pepper-like flavor.  Today's flavor is 'Earth", so maybe turmeric is a good choice.

OK, On to the ice cream.  Removing the lid, I see that the ice cream has a creamy brown color.  Perhaps it could be described as golden brown.  Digging in, I taste the chocolate and turmeric right away.  The chocolate is quite creamy, more creamy Milkjam's usual darker chocolates.  That could be the effect of the extra eggs which make it a 'custard'.  The turmeric does have add a very earthy quality into the mix which is appropriate for this flavor.  I recognize the flavor of the spice from more savory dishes, but this ice cream shows that it works well in chocolate dishes as well.  The cinnamon, ginger and black pepper have very supporting roles -- mainly to balance the turmeric.  As I eat further in, I soon encounter the shortbread cookie pieces.  These are thick crumbly chunks.  They can be hard to spot because they get covered in the chocolate base, but they are yellower in color on the inside.  These have a similar earthy turmeric-blend flavor to them.

This is a very interesting and experimental flavor from Milkjam.  The classical element of 'earth' really dominates the mood here.  The chocolate has the color of dirt and the crumbly cookie pieces have the texture of clay that I might find digging in the dirt an the turmeric provides and earthy spicy blend.  As someone who eats a lot of different kinds of ice cream, I really liked the originality here.  Is it good by itself?  I think so.  The presence of turmeric does make it an 'adult' flavor (i.e. not for little kids) but chocolate lovers who like interesting chocolate blends would definitely want to try this.  I am looking forward to the rest of this April classical elements series from Milkjam.