Van Leeuwen - Marionberry Cheesecake

Marionberry Cheesecake - Cheesecake Ice Cream with a Marionberry Swirl and Graham Cracker Crumble

Today we return to Brooklyn's Van Leeuwen brand.  Kowalski's carries this brand locally.  They carry less than ten of their flavors, but thankfully Kowalski's has switched up which ten flavors they carry.  So I have more ice cream to try!  Today's flavor is Marionberry Cheesecake.  A marionberry is a cultivated caneberry hybrid -- related to blackberries, raspberries and boysenberries.  I have had marionberry flavors from McConnell's (see link for more marionberry background) and Tillamook.  I am glad to see another brand trying out this very underrated berry flavor.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, the foil seal has a funny joke on it.  These foil seals (and their jokes) are becoming more common.  Peeling back the seal, the ice cream is quite marbled.  The cheesecake base has a yellowish color, lots of pink from the marionberry is visible as well as some implied texture from the graham cracker swirl.  Digging in, the marionberry swirls are more pronounced under the surface.  The flavor of this swirl is excellent.  If you have not tried marionberry, it is similar to its raspberry and blackberry cousins but it has a deeper and darker flavor.  I like it.  The cheesecake base mainly serves as a complement to the swirl.  It does this job quite well.  The graham cracker swirl is pretty good.  It provides the occasional chunky/chewy texture.

This is a very well-done implementation of the very underutilized marionberry flavor.  It is about as good as the sadly recently retired Tillamook flavor.  So if you were a fan of that flavor, you could just switch to this one.  (I did buy them both at Kowalski's so that would be convenient).  The McConnell's flavor is excellent, but it uses a lemon base so it is harder to make a direct comparison.  All this talk of marionberries makes me want to check out produce sections for fresh versions of these berries.  I hear they look like blackberries but are noticeably larger.  I am not aware of any local grocery stores which sell these berries though.  They are an Oregon berry, so if I ever make it to that state, I may check them out.