Museum of Ice Cream - Nana Banana

Nana Banana - Banana Ice Cream with Salted Caramel and Almond Butter Swirls

Today I decided to check out a new brand:  The Museum of Ice Cream.  They have partnered with Target stores to release a new line of seven flavors this summer.  Founded in 2016 by Maryellis Bunn, it began life as a museum with locations in New York, San Francisco, Miami & Los Angeles.  Exhibits have been quite popular.  Last year they opened a 'pint shop in New York and set up a collaboration with Target to release a line of ice cream as well as a line of branded clothing (T-shirts, etc).  Some more articles about them here and here.  A lot of the talk has been about branding and design, but can they make good ice cream?  It should be fun to find out.  The first flavor is called Nana Banana and features a banana base with a caramel and almond butter swirl.

Opening the pint, I see a foil top similar to the ones used by Coolhaus.  I like this because it keeps the lids from getting dirty and I have actually saved all the lids from the pints that I have reviewed here.  Removing the foil shows the off-white yellow color of the banana base and quite a bit of the caramel almond butter swirl showing already.  Digging in, the banana base is quite sweet.  I have written in past reviews of the two different kinds of banana flavors -- the sweet banana pudding/pie flavor and the more earthy banana muffin/bread flavor.  This is definitely the sweet banana pie flavor.  The texture is a bit icy but it softened up a bit as I ate it.  The swirl tasted like caramel, I did not specifically notice almond butter in the swirl but perhaps my palate is not sensitive enough.  The swirl went well with the caramel.

This is a pretty good pint of banana caramel ice cream.  I don't think it is as good as a similar McConnell's flavor, but it is easier to find and half the price.  If you like sweet banana and are at Target looking for a fun new brand, you could give this a try.  This is one of the milder flavor combinations in their line.  It'll be interesting to explore more from the Museum of Ice Cream.

Talenti - Almond Butter & Honey

Almond Butter & Honey - Almond Butter Gelato with a Wildflower Honey Swirl

We return to the Talenti gelato brand for a new flavor for 2018: Almond Butter & Honey.  It was listed as a special batch flavor, so I figured I had better get it before it goes away.  Plus, I like honey in ice cream and the almond butter intrigues me.  Looking at the ingredients, it looks like almond butter is just the almond version of peanut butter -- it is basically almonds ground up until they are spreadable.  And the honey means that it contains many of the same ingredients as marzipan.  That sounds interesting.  Let's dig in!

Unscrewing the lid, the almond butter base is a beige-tinged off-white and there is a vein of honey visible along the top.  In the first spoonful, the base has a light gelato texture.  It is a bit sweet.  You can taste the almonds but it is not super strong like you sometimes see in marzipan and other almond-based things.  You can tell that the flavoring comes just from ground almonds.  That said, I feel like I should clarify that there are no almond pieces in this pint -- the texture is very smooth. The honey swirl was flavorful, but not too sticky or too sweet.  The consistency almost reminded me of a caramel swirl, except you could tell that it was honey-flavored and not caramel-flavored.

This is an interesting an unique pint from Talenti.  The flavoring is a bit subtle and understated which surprised me a bit, but it was still pretty good and the flavors were blended well.  If you like almond butter and honey, you'll want to check it out of course.