Milkjam Creamery - Hibiscus Lemonade

Hibiscus Lemonade - Hibiscus Lemonade Sorbet

 

Milkjam Creamery - Hibiscus Lemonade - (14) - Hibiscus Lemonade Sorbet

Today we return to Milkjam for another of their March flavors.  They have four featured flavors each month.  I did one flavor last week (Zoë François), two other flavors in previous March's (Who Run the World and Pink Lady) and today's flavor is Hibiscus Lemonade (instagram link here).  March is Women's History month and Milkjam temporarily renames all of their flavors after great women for the month.  The honoree for Hibiscus Lemonade is Nemonte Nenquimo an activist for indigenous peoples in Ecuador (the instagram link above has more information from Milkjam as to why they are honoring her).  The flavor of Hibiscus Lemonade is a sorbet made with just that -- hibiscus and lemonade.  I am seeing more hibiscus flavors of late.  One of Milkjam's featured flavors just last month was a sorbet made from hibiscus and rosé and Talenti has a relatively new sorbet made with strawberry and hibiscus.  See this article for more on the use of hibiscus in food and drink.  It can have a tart cranberry-like flavor and a deep red-violet color.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the color of this sorbet does not disappoint.  It is a deep magenta-like red color and I can tell right away from the surface texture that this is a sorbet (no cream or other dairy, just churned ice and flavoring).  Digging in, the sorbet does have a slushy texture to it, but it is churned well making it easily scoopable.  The berry-like flavor of the hibiscus is quite delicious.  It does have a berry-like flavor to it but it is not at all tart like a cranberry can be.  It is almost like a sweet raspberry.  I do taste a little bit of lemonade in the finish of the flavor, but not enough to add tartness.  This is quite delicious.  It is a homogenous pint with no mix-ins.

This is a successful hibiscus sorbet from Milkjam.  It has a sweet 'fruity' flavor despite being primarily hibiscus instead of fruit.  They balanced the sweetness and tartness quite well, it is not too much of either while still remaining quite delicious.  Despite hibiscus being a bit exotic of a flavor, I think kids would enjoy this.  It is a sorbet, so expect 'flavored ice' instead of cream, but it is quite good.

 

 

 

Sweet Science - Hazelnut Brownie

Hazelnut Brownie - Hazelnut Cocoa Ice Cream with Chocolate Brownies

 

The third March flavor from Sweet Science Ice Cream of Saint Paul is called Hazelnut Brownie.  The other two flavors I reviewed last week (Black Sesame) and a few years ago (Earl Grey with White Chocolate).  The instagram link for these March flavors is here.  Today's flavor features a hazelnut cocoa base with chocolate brownie mix-ins.  Looks promising.  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the hazelnut cocoa base has a light brown color and I can see a couple of the brownie mix-ins right away on top.  Digging in, the hazelnut cocoa base is thick, creamy and delicious.  You can taste the hazelnut in the mix which I like.  Some 'hazelnut chocolate' goes heavy on the chocolate so as to simulate the flavor of nutella.  This does not do that.  The brownie mix-ins are excellent.  They are soft, chewy and quite chocolatey.  I have seen Sweet Science do brownies a few times before (here, here and here) and they are always quite good.  I think the brownies stand out a little more in this pint because of the lighter flavor of the base.

This is another excellent brownie-based flavor from Sweet Science.  As noted by my links in the previous paragraph, they have done several brownie-based flavors and all of them are quite good.  What I like about this one is the hazelnut-heavy hazelnut cocoa base which is quite good by itself and provides greater contrast with the delicious brownies.  If brownies are your thing, then check this flavor out.

 

 

Milkjam Creamery - Zoë François

Zoë François - Espresso & Dark Chocolate Chips with Salted Fudge & Toasted Marshmallows

 

Milkjam Creamery of south Minneapolis has released their March flavors.  March is always an interesting at Milkjam because they rename all of their flavors for Women's History month.  That's a fun tradition, but it also means that I need to keep track of which flavors are which.  They've added 'aka' markers to their flavor page and the people at the scoop shop are also super helpful.  Of the four features flavors for March, two of them are flavors that I have reviewed before: Who Run the World (now called Abby Richardson for March) and Pink Lady (now called Megan Rapinoe).  The two flavors which are new to me are a Hibiscus Lemonade sorbet (review coming soon) and today's flavor "Zoë François".  Today's flavor (instragram link here) is a new flavor this year and will keep it's name going forward (perhaps shortened as "Zoë").  It is named for a local pastry chef and the flavor itself is modeled after the Devil's Food Cake with Toasted Marshmallows recipe on the cover of her latest cookbook "Zoe Bakes Cakes".  That explains why her name will stay on the flavor for good.  It has espresso and dark chocolate with fudge and toasted marshmallows.  Let's check it out!

Removing the lid, I see a few of the marshmallows right away on top of the pint.  Down because I see a complex brown base with some of the darker brown chips mixed into it.  Digging in, I taste both coffee and chocolate in the base.  The base itself is slightly soft in texture, similar to many other Milkjam bases.  Milkjam seldom produces a 'hard' ice cream.  The dark chocolate chips are very thin and have a flaky texture -- they break into little pieces when I bite into them.  It tastes like there is some espresso in these chips as well.  I am not sure if I am getting the details of which parts contain espresso/coffee and which parts contain chocolate quite right because it all blends so well in my mouth when I eat it.  It is really quite delicious.  The toasted marshmallow pieces provide an occasional variation in texture as I eat it, but they do not distract too much from all the coffee and chocolate.

This is an interesting and excellent espresso and chocolate blend from Milkjam Creamery.  Coffee and chocolate are a standard pairing in the ice cream world so it is fun to see flavors which both leverage that winning combination and provide little twists on it as well.  This is one of those flavors.  If you like coffee-and-chocolate flavors, check this one out.

 

 

Sweet Science - Black Sesame

Black Sesame - Black Sesame Ice Cream

 

Sweet Science of Saint Paul has a couple of three seasonal flavors for March:  Black Sesame and Hazelnut Brownie and Earl Grey with White Chocolate (instagram link here).  I reviewed the Earl Grey flavor back in 2018 but I have not tried the other two yet.  So I picked them up curbside at their Keg & Case Scoop Shop.  Today's flavor is Black Sesame.  They say this is one of their older flavors their last release of it must have been before my time.  I am thrilled to try this flavor though.  Black Sesame has long been one of my 'missing flavors'.  I have seen it available in some scoop shops and from some online brands but somehow I have not reviewed a pint of it yet.  So I am looking forward to this.  

 

Black sesame is one of the varieties of sesame.  The blacker seeds are more commonly grown and used in China and Southeast Asia while the lighter colored seeds are used in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East and India.  I found an interesting article contrasting the two sesames here.  Sweet Science mentions on the side of the carton and on the instagram link above that the flavor is like a cross between peanut butter and tahini (ground white sesame).  Let's check it out.

Removing the lid, the ice cream has a grey, almost purplish grey color.  Interesting!  Digging in, the flavor is quite nutty.  It's not unlike peanut butter, but it is not as heavy and perhaps a smidge sweeter.  A cross between peanut butter and tahini is not a bad description actually.  It is quite delicious.  It is a homogenous ice cream with no mix-ins.  Like almost all Sweet Science bases, this is smooth, thick and creamy.  It is quite delicious.

This is an excellent implementation of a black sesame flavor from Sweet Science.  If you already like black sesame ice cream, then you'll be glad that you can now get it locally.  If you have not tried it before, then don't fear.  Despite it's unusual color, it is not really that exotic of a flavor.  It is not savory like my recent Everything Bagel pint.  It's just a simple nutty flavor with a slightly different flavor than other nuts.  Check it out.

 

 

 

Milkjam Creamery - Pistachio Cream Ale

Pistachio Cream Ale - Pistachio & Hop Ice Cream with a Pistachio Swirl

 

Late last month, Milkjam Creamery of south Minneapolis collaborated with Indeed Brewing of Northeast Minneapolis for a new limited-batch Pistachio Cream Ale flavor.  Available in pints only.  It is made with hops and it either includes or is inspired by a beer of Indeed's which is also called Pistachio Cream Ale.  This looks interesting.  It is fun to see how different brands try to mix pistachio with other flavors.  A while back, Milkjam had a Pistachio Halva flavor which blended pistachio with rosewater and tahini.  That was pretty good.  I wonder how today's mix will turn out.

Opening the pint, the base ice cream is not green like pistachio.  It is a yellow-ish white.  Digging in, I can taste a little bit of the pistachio right away.  Otherwise, it just very creamy.  Does it taste like beer?  It is actually kind of bubbly like beer.  Not super-bubbly like some of the sorbets that I have had that are made with sparkling wine (example here).  This is a lighter, foamy kind of bubbliness.  It blends in with the cream well.  I don't know if I am making it sound appealing, but it is not bad.  It's fairly decent.  Soon, I encounter the pistachio swirls.  There are large pistachio pieces embedded in greener streaks of pistachio-heavy flavor.  These are excellent.  They are flavorful and crunchy and go well with the beer base.

This is a very interesting pistachio-beer blend from Milkjam Creamery.  You can tell from the mild bubbliness that it is made from beer, but it is not at all boozy.  The pistachios are quite delicious.  I do not know how much of an overlap there is between the craft beer crowd and the craft ice cream crowd, but if this is a hit I can imagine them having fun once or twice a year with other craft blends that may include ice-cream-like ingredients.

 

 

Sweet Science - Dragon Fruit Lemonade Sorbet

 

The third and final Valentine's Day flavor from the Saint Paul-based Sweet Science Ice Cream is a sorbet.  This is called Dragon Fruit Lemonade Sorbet (instagram link here).  I have not had a dragon fruit flavored pint before.  This should be interesting.  It is always fun to add a new label to the blog sidebar on the right.

Dragon fruit, also known as pitaya, is the fruit of a cactus which is indigenous to tropical areas of the Americas, but it is now cultivated around the world.  It has been called 'dragon fruit' since at least the 1960s because of it's bright red leathery skin which has scales.  The fruit has a bright reddish purple color with crunchy black seeds.  It was not a common fruit growing up in Minnesota (it is still not common among people I know here) but I found quite a few recipes online which include dragon fruit.  Some examples of those are here and here.

OK, on to the sorbet!  Removing the lid, the color is extremely striking.  On their instagram page (link above), Sweet Science says this might be the most visually arresting flavor they've ever created.  It might be the brightest color I have seen in an ice cream as well.  It looks like the color of a pink highlighter.  Embedded within the sorbet are the seeds.  These are black in color and look like the same shape as sesame seeds but they are much smaller.  They are a bit like kiwifruit seeds.  Digging in, it has a refreshing sweet tropical flavor.  It is delicious!  It is hard to describe the flavor specifically because this is a new fruit from me.  I guess I would say that it not as strong of a flavor as a berry but stronger than a melon.  Kiwifruit is another decent comparison I guess, but this flavor is stronger than kiwifruit.  The lemonade I notice just a bit on the finish.  I think it is there to balance the flavor a bit.  It is a good blend.  This flavor is a sorbet so it has a churned-ice texture by design.  That said, the churning is very well done and it is very easy to scoop.  I do notice the seeds when I am eating.  They provide a little bit of small crunchiness, but I do not notice that the seeds have any flavor by themselves.

This is a very fun new tropical fruit sorbet from Sweet Science.  I do not know when dragon fruit are in season, but this feels like a summery flavor.  It's only March though, but we Minnesotans often like to pretend that it is warmer outside than it really is.  Check it out.

 

Jeni's - Everything Bagel

Everything Bagel - Cream Cheese Ice Cream with Everything Bagel Gravel

 

Jeni's has another special limited batch flavor!  Just one month after their previous special release, White House Chocolate Chip, they have a new flavor called Everything Bagel (instagram link here).  This is their tribute to the "Everything Bagel" -- the bagel with everything on it.  So it has cream cheese in the base and then a streusel for a mix-in which contains typical everything-bagel toppings such as poppy seeds, sesame seeds and even onion, garlic and cayenne.  Interesting!  I bought this online so it is not available in local stores.  It was actually a limited release which sold before it was supposed to ship and then the shipping was delayed due to bad weather.  But I got it and I will share my thoughts now anyways.  The flavor caused some stir in national press outlets (links here, here and here).  I even saw it mentioned on some morning news shows.  So who knows maybe it will return one day?

OK, on to the ice cream! Removing the lid and peeling back the protective label the cream cheese base is bright white in color.  Digging in, the cream cheese base is thick and creamy.  I can tell there is cream cheese in there but it does not have that super-distinct aftertaste that cream cheese often has.  I don't mind that -- actually I like it.  Soon I encounter the "gravel".  These little pieces of 'streusel' are like nugget sized pieces of an everything bagel and they are generously dispersed in the ice cream below.  The first thing I notice is the poppy seeds but then I notice the sesame seeds and yes the onion and garlic.  The ingredient list says there is cayenne, but I don't really taste that.  It is quite savory, but it is not 'hot'.  Overall, it is quite good.  The mix-ins taste just like bagel pieces that are loaded with toppings and the cream cheese base plays the role of the shmear.  There is enough of the base ice cream to keep the savory toppings from getting too overwhelming.

This is an excellent, experimental and unique flavor from Jeni's Splendid Ice Creams.  There is naturally a lot of curiosity and trepidation beforehand about an ice cream that contains onion and garlic, but this was extremely well done and I really liked it!  It was like breaking an everything bagel into small pieces and dipping it in cream cheese ice cream.  It might not be good for all times that I eat ice cream.  I wouldn't eat it with a fruit pie or with a sweet cake.  But I would eat it for breakfast or an afternoon snack.  Hopefully, Jeni's finds a way to work this flavor into the regular rotation.