Jeni's - Pistachio Macaron

Pistachio Macaron - Pistachio Ice Cream infused with Honey and Almond

 

The next flavor from my holiday shipment from Jeni's Ice Cream is called Pistachio Macaron (instagram link here).  A note to local readers that I bought this online and is unlikely to be available in Minnesota.  I have had a pistachio-themed flavor from Jeni's before called Pistachio & Honey.  Today's flavor adds almond into the mix.  The intent is to mimic the flavor and appearance of French-style Pistachio Macaron cookies.  Indeed a quick check of recipes online shows that macarons are made with almond flour.  As an additional side, I learned today that macarons are almond-based cookies, while macaroons are coconut-based.  (See discussion here).

On to the ice cream.  Removing the lid and peeling back the seal, the ice cream appears to be two ice creams marbled together.  The lighting is not ideal in the photos below, but one color is greenish yellow and the other color is a yellowish green.  They match the two colors on the front of the carton.  Digging in, I taste good pistachio flavor.  The honey sweetens it a little and keeps it from getting too earthy, but it is not overly sweet.  The effect of the almond flavor is fairly subtle.  The combination is quite delicious, but it is hard for me to pick it out specifically.  I have talked before about how some flavors are "fruit blends".  This flavor appears to be a bit of a "nut blend".   I do not notice a difference between the flavors of the two colors.  At first, I thought one might have more almond than the other, but I think they just might be colored differently.  Checking the ingredients, Jeni's uses pumpkin extract and spirulina extract to create the two colors.  Perhaps they just colored the same ice cream differently twice and then marbled it.  It does look really cool.

This is an excellent pistachio blend flavor from Jeni's Ice Cream.  The mixture of pistachio, honey and almond is very well crafted here.  It's still primarily pistachio -- so it will appeal to pistachio fans -- but the blend moves it to another level.  In my opinion, this could easily replace their old Pistachio & Honey flavor as their primary pistachio flavor.  I will be curious to see if they do that or if they keep it as an annual holiday special.