Häagen-Dazs - Pistachio

Pistachio - Sweet Cream with Pistachios

Today we return to one of the main national brands,  Häagen-Dazs, for their implementation of a Pistachio ice cream.  Looking at the side of the container, I am surprised to find that this is not a pistachio base!  Sweet cream is the base here and pistachios are the mix-ins.  That's an interesting and unexpected variation.  Let's see how this works out.

Removing the lid, the base ice cream is indeed quite light in color.  This is definitely not the standard green pistachio base.  That said, there are loads of pistachio pieces visible already on top.  Digging in, I immediately taste the pistachios.  There are many of them on each spoonful.  The fact that it is a sweet cream base does not have as large of an effect as I expected.  The pistachio pieces are so numerous that it almost tastes like the base had some pistachio flavor in it.  Maybe some flavor got mixed in from the nuts during the churning process.  I guess it made it taste a little brighter and less rich.

This is an interesting pint of pistachio ice cream.  Most brands do a pistachio-flavored base -- often with pistachio pieces as mix-ins.  This is the first pint I have seen to use plain sweet cream as the base and then lots of mix-ins.  It is still quite good, but I feel like I should give people the heads up about the twist.

Talenti - Dark Chocolate Cherry

Dark Chocolate Cherry - Layers of Double Dark Chocolate Gelato, Chocolate Flakes, Black Cherry Sauce, Double Dark Chocolate Gelato (Again) and Fudge Truffles

Today is the next flavor in the Layer Collection for Talenti Gelato.  It is called Dark Chocolate Cherry.  As usual with the Layer Collection pints, there are five layers here.  Two of the layers are Double Dark Chocolate Gelato, while the other three layers are mix-ins: chocolate flakes, black cherry sauce and fudge truffles.  This is the second of the layers pints to include cherry.  The other one, Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake, had cheesecake gelato bases and only had chocolate in the mix-ins.  So this promises to have a more chocolatey flavor palate.  Let's check it out.

Unscrewing the lid on a layers pint only reveals the top base.  I see a tiny bit of frost on top because of the pocket of air but it does not appear to be anything to be concerned about.  I extract out a slice of the pint to show all the layers and I primarily see chocolate.  The black cherry sauce is a deep read and it has mixed with the chocolate flakes to form a mix-in layer between the two gelato layers.  On the bottom are these fairly large chocolate truffles.  Digging in, the dark chocolate gelato is quite delicious.  It is not too 'dark', but it has a definite strong cocoa flavor.  The black cherry and chocolate flakes layer is also quite tasty.  I can tell it is a darker black cherry flavor.  Visually, it does not look like a lot of red is in this pint, but a little bit of cherry goes a long way.  Then on the bottom are the chocolate truffles.  I really like these!  They are a lot like the truffles in the Salted Caramel Truffle flavor, but they have a solid-but-soft chocolate in the middle instead of caramel.  I think the inclusion of these types of mix-ins is one of the bonuses of the layers pints.  These truffles would likely be too large to evenly swirl into a normal flavor.

This layers pint is well done!  In terms of a cherry/chocolate pint, I liked this one a bit better than the Chocolate Cherry Cheesecake flavor because the chocolate gelato was softer and allowed for easier mixing.  I should note as I have with all the other layers flavors that I feel like extracting out a slice for the photos gives me an advantage when eating the pint.  Once I have a slice removed, it is pretty easy for me to sample from all the layers with my spoon as I eat out of the jar.  I suppose if this gets too tricky one can scoop it out of the jar and into a bowl before eating it.  Anyhow, this a delicious chocolate and cherry pint.

Izzy's - Strawberry Mint Mojito

Strawberry Mint Mojito - Strawberry Ice Cream, Pureed Fresh Mint, Lime Juice and a Hint of Rum

Today's flavor is from the Saint Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream.  The flavor is called Strawberry Mint Mojito and is the Best in Show flavor of the People's Flavor Awards event which Izzy's held last month.  The contest is held every other year and this year I was able to go.  Included below are a few pictures that I took while I was there. 

2019 People's Flavor Awards registration desk

Scooping Bins for Kids Flavor finalists

Flavor Card for the Best in Show

Fruit Category Finalists:  Strawberry Mint Mojito (right), Mango Lassi Coconut Crunch (bottom), Cranberry Craze (left), Soccer Mom (top)

It was a really fun event.  They served Izzy-scoop sized portions into little paper cups.  There were six categories with 4 flavors each in most of the categories and 6 flavors in the non-dairy category to make a total of 26 flavors.  You could eat the ice cream at your own pace and could even go back in line for seconds if you really liked a flavor.  I had a good time and would definitely go ahead.

The Best in Show flavor was from the Fruit category and is called Strawberry Mint Mojito.  It is a strawberry ice cream mixed mixed with lime juice, pureed mint leaves a touch of rum.  Being the winning flavor means that it is likely to be promoted to a regular flavor and put into their scooping bin rotation alongside previous flavor award winners.  Izzy's has written a blog post about the new flavor which includes some cool photos.  I do remember enjoying this flavor quite a bit from the day of the contest and I am looking forward to having it again in pint format.

Removing the lid, I see the dark pink color of the strawberry base which quite a few dark specks visible throughout the pint.  Digging in, the strawberry flavor is fairly strong, a little bit tart and quite delicious.  The dark specks are not seeds, though.  They are small pieces of mint!  I definitely do notice the mint flavor from time to time -- and especially when I bit into one of these small flecks. I do taste a bit of rum from time to time.  It adds a bit of flavor without being at all 'boozy'.

This is a great new flavor from Izzy's Ice Cream -- a very deserving winner of the People's Flavor Award contest.  It has a good strong mix of strawberry and lime when you first taste it and the mint and rum are noticeable as a 'finish'.  This has me curious about other fruit-and-mint blending possibilities.  Enjoy.

Graeter's - Oregon Strawberry

Graeter's - Oregon Strawberry - Strawberry Ice Cream

Today is the last pint from my recently six-pint shipment from Graeter's Ice Cream in Cincinnati.  This one is called Oregon Strawberry.  I believe it is just a standard implementation of a strawberry ice cream made with fruit that comes from Oregon.  Oregon is known for their berries and other fruits.

Removing the lid, I see the very light pink color of the strawberry base with several small strawberry pieces visible.  Digging in, the strawberry flavor is very bright and delicious.  It is not at all tart or sour.  It is a very clean strawberry flavor as well.  It is not cut with anything like cream cheese or balsamic vinegar.  The base is fully strained so as to remove any seeds.  There are no sauces or jams swirled in.  The mix-in pieces can be seen but you don't notice them in your mouth much.  They aren't frozen and are small enough so as not to be chewy.  It tastes a lot like a strawberry shake.

This is a very simple and well-done implementation of a strawberry ice cream.  Nothing complex, but everything that you would want from a strawberry base.

Izzy's - Birchwood's Key Lime Pie

Birchwood's Key Lime Pie - Key Lime Ice Cream with Pieces of Key Lime Pie

Today we look at a flavor from the Saint Paul-based Izzy's Ice Cream called Birchwood's Key Lime Pie.  It is not one of their flavor-award winners but I really like key lime pie so I figured I had to check it out.  At first, I wondered what the "Birchwood" stood for.  I thought maybe it was a variety of key lime but it turns out that it is named after a Minneapolis restaurant called the Birchwood Cafe which has key lime pie on the dessert menu.  Pieces of this pie are used as the mix-in here.  I was inspired to try the Birchwood Cafe for breakfast one morning.  I liked it.  They have meat on the menu, but they do specialize in organic, vegan and gluten-free options.  It was a few dollars more expensive than the usual diner but most of the items seemed to have been designed by a chef because they had creative ingredients.  For example, the buttermilk pancakes included candied hazelnuts and the vegetable scramble included garlic scapes.  I don't usually have pie with my breakfast, but I tried it out.  The key lime and coconut cream pies were both excellent and the homemade crust was especially good.

OK, on to the ice cream.  Removing the pint, I see the light-yellow color of the key lime base along with lots of pie-crust-like mix-ins visible.  Digging in, the key lime flavor is quite delicious.  It is slightly more tart than the Graeter's pint which I recently had, but it is within the range of expected tartness.  The mix-ins here are actually small pie pieces.  The crust is what I notice most in my mouth, but if you look closely, you can see pie filling swirled into the ice cream near each mix-in.  Some partial mixing has occurred but it makes these sections of the ice cream a bit limey-er than the rest of the base.  It's a nice effect.  The crust is amazing just like in the slice of pie that I got when I went to the cafe.  You can tell that it is handmade and not store-bought.

This is an excellent pint of key lime pie ice cream.  It is not often that something tops Graeter's but I think Izzy's has done just that here.  Izzy's is a bit more tart and quite a bit more rich -- I think Izzy's base includes more butterfat.  Key lime fans who are lucky enough to be at Izzy's when this is available should definitely indulge in this flavor.

Milkjam Creamery - Saigon Nights

Saigon Nights - Vietnamese Coffee with Hennessey

I had not been to the Minneapolis-based Milkjam Creamery in a while, so I trekked over there to see if they had any cool flavors that I have not yet tried.  I picked up a couple of pints.  Today is the first of those pints which is called Saigon Nights.  It is a Vietnamese coffee-based flavor which is spiked with Hennessy.  Saigon is of course the old name of the capital of Vietnam -- and still the name of the river which flows through the city.   Hennessy is brandy manufactured in the Cognac region of France which makes it a "cognac".  I have actually had two pints with cognac before from Jeni's and Sweet Science.  Those flavors were more complex though.  One was a ginger bread caramel and the other was a pecan pie.  Here the cognac is simply to spike the coffee.  For the Vietnamese coffee, I have had one previous pint from Humphrey Slocumbe.  This should be interesting.

Opening the pint, the ice cream is a dark tan color.  I can tell right away that it is coffee and not chocolate, but it is a dark color for a coffee ice cream.  Digging in, I notice the coffee flavor right away, but it is not too intense.  I am wondering if there is condensed milk in the mix to mute the coffee flavor like in other southeast-asian coffees.  It is hard to tell because there is milk, cream and sugar in the mix simply because this is an ice cream and also because Milkjam does not post ingredient lists.  It tastes quite good though.  I shared it with a person who drinks coffee more than I do and they agree that this is a good coffee flavor.  The Hennessy/cognac I notice as the 'finish'.  Just a mild kick that lingers a bit in my mouth after I swallow.  As I continue my way down the pint, the effect of the cognac diminishes a bit.  It's still quite tasty as a coffee ice cream, but my mouth just got used to the flavor of the cognac.  Like many of Milkjam's ice creams, the texture is quite soft.  It is not quite soft-serve, but it is perhaps halfway between a soft-serve and a hard ice cream.

I liked this pint quite a bit.  The flavors are muted a bit more than one might originally expect, but it is still quite tasty.  If you are at Milkjam and in the mood for coffee ice cream, it's certainly worth a shot.  Do not be scared off by the Hennessy.  It provides just a mild kick.

Graeter's - Toffee Chocolate Chip

Toffee Chocolate Chip - Vanilla Ice Cream with Heath Bar Pieces and Chocolate Chips

Today is the fifth pint in my recent six-pint shipment from the Cincinnati-based Graeter's Ice Cream.  This pint is called Toffee Chocolate Chip.  It is from their signature chip collection.  It is not a new flavor, but one from their standard menu which I have not gotten around to trying yet.  Pints from their signature chip collection are usually winners because their way of adding chocolate chips into the mix is excellent and unique.  See the videos on this review for details on how the chips are added to the ice cream during the churning process.  Here, the a vanilla base is the vehicle for the chips and heath bar toffee pieces are also added into the mix.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, I see the off-white color of the vanilla base as well as some of the heath bar pieces.  The heath bar pieces seem to have become half-melted which surprises me a bit.  Half-melted toffee or brittle is a cool effect.  I don't know if it is always intentional or if it is just something happens when certain candies are immersed inside ice cream for a while.  What it is unusual here is that it has happened with Heath bar pieces.  Heath bar pieces are usually quite hard and jawbreaking.  Digging in, I approve of the softer toffee pieces.  The signature chocolate chips are excellent as usual.  There are only half as many of them because of the presence of the other mix-ins.  I have seen this before in their other multi-mix-in flavors such as Cookie Dough Chocolate Chip.

This is a pretty good pint from Graeter's signature chip line.  The softened heath bar pieces accompanied the signature chips well.  I must admit that I do prefer the Graeter's chocolate chips when they are the only mix-in, though.  Something like Mint Chocolate Chip or Coconut Chocolate Chip where the chips take center stage against an excellent base.  That's often when you get those ridiculously large chips, too.  This is still good, though.  If you're at a Graeter's and in the mood for toffee, then check it out.