Häagen-Dazs - TRIO - Lemon Raspberry White Chocolate

TRIO - Lemon Raspberry White Chocolate - Lemon and Raspberry Ice Creams layered with White Chocolate and Raspberry Sauce

Today we try the second of this years' three new TRIO flavors from Häagen-Dazs:  Lemon Raspberry White Chocolate.  In a TRIO pint, two base ice creams are layered with a third crunchy chocolate layer.  The two bases here are lemon and raspberry and the crunchy chocolate is a white chocolate.  Similar to the previous flavor, this pint contains an additional saucy fourth layer.  Last time, the fourth layer was caramel, here is it a raspberry sauce.  Lemon, raspberry and white chocolate sounds like an appetizing combination.  I am looking forward to checking this out.

Opening the pint, I see the soft off-white colors of the lemon and raspberry bases.  A small splotch of bright pink-ish red raspberry sauce is visible right in the middle.  Digging in, the two fruit bases are light and muted.  I could taste the lemon and raspberry flavors, but they were not very strong.  The raspberry flavor was amplified a bit by the saucy swirl, but it was never too tart.  The white chocolate layer added crunchy texture.  Like the other pint from this year, the TRIO layering was a bit loose.  It did a good job of making sure that every spoonful had a bit of each distinct (i.e. unblended) flavor but it did not have the spectacular sedimentary-rock-like cross sections of last year's flavors.

This was a pretty solid TRIO pint.  The light raspberry flavor reminded me a bit of their White Chocolate Raspberry Truffle pint.  There are differences.  This flavor has a twist of lemon instead of chunks of fudge.  If a lighter and fruitier TRIO pint appeals to you, then check this one out.

  

Sweet Science - Stracciatella

Stracciatella - Vanilla Ice Cream with Shreds of Milk Chocolate

We return yet again to Saint Paul's Sweet Science brand for their Stracciatella flavor.  You'll have to indulge me on the increase in frequency of pint reviews from this brand.  They've recently had their final tasting event where I was inspired to stock up a bit.  They will be opening their first scoop shop later in the summer.  Once that happens, I will be able to pick up any new flavors there but it may not have the urgency of a monthly tasting event.   The stracciatella technique of creating a shredded chocolate mix-in while the ice cream is churning was discussed in a previous review.  This is their flagship flavor for that technique.  A simple vanilla ice cream with shredded chocolate mix-ins.

Removing the lid, the vanilla base is the expected off-white beige color and plenty of the chocolate mix-ins are visible.  The chocolate pieces do look like little shreds.  Digging in, the ice cream has a soft texture and a bright flavor.  There is something else in the mix.  I checked the side of the pint and raspberry liqueur is listed in the ingredients.  I am surprised that is not listed in the main flavor description.  It's is just a twist of raspberry.  Not enough to dominate the flavor but you can definitely tell that it is there.  I like it.  The shredded chocolate is flavorful and delicious.  It has a different texture than the white chocolate mix-in of the previous pint.  Here the chocolate is soft and flake-shaped while the previous white chocolate was like a crunchy inner lattice to the ice cream.

This was a fun pint.  The stracciatella flakes are well implemented here.  I guess one could say that these are not all that different from standard flake-shaped chocolate chips, but they were still pretty good.  The raspberry twist was a surprise, but I quite liked it.  It made it more interesting than the standard vanilla chocolate chip.

  

Sweet Science - Lime Curd with White Chocolate

Lime Curd with White Chocolate - Lime Curd Ice Cream with White Chocolate Freckles

We return to the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science brand for another seasonal flavor: Lime Curd White Chocolate.  This is the first primarily lime flavors, I have had in quite a long time.  There have been a couple of berry-limes, but there the berry is usually the primary flavor.  I think you have to go back to a Key Lime Pie pint which I had two years ago to find a mainly-lime pint.  If you are not familiar with 'lime curd' it is nothing to be afraid of.  Yes, it does get its name because when lemon or lime juice is added to dairy products, the acidity causes the milk to curdle, but most recipes for lime curd (or lemon curd) involve mixing in enough butter, eggs and sugar that you are effectively making a sweet custard out of the lime juice.  This "lime curd" is then a much more malleable ingredient for use in more complex dessert recipes.  The mix-ins here are tiny white chocolate 'freckles'.  I had never thought to mix lime with white chocolate before.  It should be fun to see how this works out.

Removing the lid, the lime curd base is a bright yellow.  There appears to be some swirls of lime curd itself in the mix, too.  Digging in, the base ice cream is very flavorful.  Lots of bright citrus flavor.  Sweet enough to mask the sourness of the lime, but not overly so.  It is quite delicious.  The lime curd swirl was an unexpected bonus as well.  Yum.  Then I was looking for the white chocolate mix-ins.  It took me a while to find them, but they were actually everywhere.  Basically, they were small 'freckles' not much larger than grains of sand.  I could feel them with my tongue inside each spoonful but when I tried to isolate them from the rest of the ice cream, they melted away.  Neat!  As I've mentioned in previous reviews, white chocolate is a fairly inert flavor on my palate, anyways.  I am curious to know what people who really love the flavor of white chocolate think of this flavor combination, but otherwise I'll just accept its fleeting texture and enjoy this amazing lime base.

I really liked this pint!  I am always looking for good citrus-based flavors and this one hits the jackpot.  One of my favorite lemon or lime flavors so far and one of my favorite Sweet Science pints as well.  If you like lime flavor and can find this pint, check it out.

Pumphouse Creamery - Buttermilk with Lemon Bars

Buttermilk with Lemon Bars - Buttermilk Ice Cream with Sweet Tart Lemon Bar Pieces

Today we return to the Pumphouse Creamery of South Minneapolis.  This is my second pint from them -- the first pint was last fall.  I returned because they added a lemon flavor:  Buttermilk with Lemon Bars.  I am kind of a sucker for lemon flavors, but they are hard to get right due to lemon's acidity.  They bill this as one of their most popular and signature flavors which sounds quite promising.  I can't wait to try it.


Opening the pint, the buttermilk base is very white.  This always surprises me.  I guess buttermilk doesn't really have butter -- it's just cultured -- so it should just as white as plain yogurt.  Digging in, the buttermilk base is fairly tangy.  You can taste the buttermilk.  I could make out some lemon flavoring in the base as well.  The real lemon flavor came from the lemon bar mix-ins, though.  Every once in a while, I'd bite into a small, chewy lemon bar piece which would deliver lemon flavor along with some crust and powdered sugar.  Yum.  The density of the mix-ins was not incredibly high, but that worked well here because a little lemon bar goes a long way.  Lemon bars are usually cut into very small pieces after all.  As I continued eating down to the bottom of the pint, I always had plenty of lemon flavor in my mouth and the tangy base did a pretty good job of balancing the flavor.


This is an excellent pint of ice cream.  One of the best lemon-themed pints I've had.  Scanning my archives, I see that Jeni's has a similar flavor, but I liked this one better due to the mix-ins.  If you are in South Minneapolis and need an ice cream break, then check out this flavor from Pumphouse.

  

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.

Häagen-Dazs - TRIO - Coconut Caramel Chocolate

Coconut Caramel Chocolate - Coconut and Chocolate Ice Creams layered with Crispy Belgian Chocolate and Caramel Sauce

Häagen-Dazs has new flavors for 2018!  Due to availability and the timing of sales, I haven't gotten around to trying these as soon as I would have liked.  It is time to play catch-up.  There are three new flavors in their standard line in what they are calling the Decadent Collection plus three new TRIO flavors.  Today, we look at one of the new TRIO flavors:  Coconut Caramel Chocolate.  The TRIO flavors were first introduced last year and are a cool new way to deliver ice cream.  Two ice cream bases are layered with a crunchy Belgian chocolate layer.  I am not exactly sure how they do it, but it's pretty cool.  Today, the two bases are coconut and chocolate and in addition to the crispy Belgian chocolate layer, there are also layers of caramel.  I guess that makes this pint more of a QUARTET than a TRIO, but for the sake of this review, we'll overlook that.

Opening the pint, the two bases are actually swirled a bit on the very top.  Digging in, I taste the chocolate right away.  The coconut flavor was not entirely obvious at first, but after a couple of spoonfuls, I started to taste it.  The layers in a TRIO pint are relatively thin so it was not long before my spoon was cutting through layers of Belgian chocolate and finding caramel as well.  The layering was not as orderly as it has been in other TRIO pints that I've had, but it still delivers the ice cream in a way that all of the elements are found in almost all of the spoonfuls.

I must admit that I was a little bit disappointed with this pint.  Mainly because there was not as much coconut flavor as I was expecting.  It certainly is not a bad pint.  Lovers of other TRIO flavors will enjoy cutting their spoon through crunchy Belgian chocolate and Häagen-Dazs' chocolate base is excellent as usual, but without a strong coconut flavor, there is little that distinguishes it from several of the other TRIO flavors.  Seems like an easy fix to a promising flavor, though, and you never know if I just got a pint from a weak batch.  I'm looking forward to trying more of the new
Häagen-Dazs flavors in the next few weeks.

  

Jeni's - Supermoon

Supermoon - Blue Violet and Vanilla Marshmallow Ice Creams Swirled Together

I was at Whole Foods the other day checking out the freezer case and I saw that they cycled a new flavor from Jeni's into their rotation.   The flavor is called Supermoon.  Jeni's initially released it in Spring 2017.  I am glad that my local Whole Food started stocking it.  Otherwise, I would have to wait until my next online purchase from Jeni's.

A supermoon is a full moon that coincides with the closest point (perigee) in the moon's orbit.  So, a supermoon appears to be about 14% than its normal size.  Not a huge deal, but it is enough to be noticeable and fun.  The moon normally looks a little bigger when it is closer to the horizon, so if it is closer to the horizon and a supermoon then it will look even bigger.  The last supermoon was in January of 2018 and the next supermoon is January of 2019.  I am not sure what a supermoon has to do with vanilla marshmallow and blue-violet, but it is a great and catchy name for an ice cream flavor all the same.

The supermoon pint carton design is quite nice.  I really like the new Jeni's pint designs.  They are much better than the old orange-marker on white designs.  The supermoon colors of baby blue and yellow were a bit hard to photograph, though.  It took me several tries and I still think the photo looks a bit washed out.  You'll have to trust me that the design looks much better in person.  Opening the pint, I see the yellow vanilla marshmallow set against a crescent moon of blue-violet.  Digging in, the vanilla marshmallow side is sweet and has lots of vanilla flavor.  There is also marshmallow flavor without the marshmallow texture.  The blue-violet side had a bit of a floral flavor to it, which is not unexpected because blue-violet is an edible flower.  The crescent of blue was only on the very top.  Eating my way down, it was pretty much a half-and-half split.  They did stay on their separate sides of the carton, though.  The link above compares this flavor to marshmallow cereal milk.  Like the leftover milk after eating a bowl of Lucky Charms.  I agree with that.  It is quite well done.

This is a very unique and interesting pint of ice cream.  It has a sweet floral marshmallowy flavor which is nothing like most flavors -- there's no chocolate, caramel, nut, or fruit flavors here.  It also has a very unique and beautiful color.  It's a good flavor to have in a scoop shop as an alternative flavor, and it's a good pint to try when you want something out of the ordinary as well.  Enjoy.