Thursday, December 27, 2007

New Flavors: Ben & Jerry’s Class of 2007

To ring in the new year, I will review some of the most notable ice cream flavors to premier in grocery stores in 2007, starting with Ben & Jerry's.

Cinnamon Buns - This flavor is good. Of the few people I know who have tasted all the new flavors, this has always ranked as their favorite, possibly because of its brilliant simplicity in taste and concept. (I have only experienced one other flavor modeled after this breakfast treat--at Lickety Split in Williamstown, Massachusetts. Theirs was even better because it included pecans!) Though good, this Ben & Jerry’s creation is not as good as the two flavors it seems to fuse: Oatmeal Cookie Chunk and Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, if you subtracted the chocolate chunks and added more cinnamon to the vanilla-base.

Crème Brulee - I remember thinking when I had Häagen-Dazs’ Crème Brulee a few years ago that it was good, but I never needed to have it again. Same thing with the Ben & Jerry’s incarnation, only B&J’s has more of the burnt sugar crunch. What I miss in ice cream versions of Crème Brulee is the gooeiness. I’m not sure super premium ice cream can accomplish both the richness and the lightness of custard.

Willie Nelson’s Country Peach Cobbler – Put simply, I am not a fan of peach-flavoring. After trying this, I stand my ground. I find, in ice cream, that fruit flavors taste too diluted for me, with the exception of berry flavors. I usually get my frozen fruit fix with gelato or sorbet (or I go acoustic and eat fruit).

Mint Chocolate Chunk – Do not expect mint cookies and cream; the ice cream is much mintier than it is creamy. The mintiness also overpowers the chocolate flavor. I prefer mint chocolate chip, especially if the ice cream is green.

Also new this year are Stephen Colbert’s Americone Dream, Banana Split, and several flavors now available as a “Lighten Up” product line.

1 comment:

SeattleSpain said...

Now there is an odd food phenomenon ... the superiority of mint chocolate chip ice cream due to green-ness. I cannot explain it, but I am heartily on board with this theory. (Another question to ponder: what other flavors would seem to alter in taste, or at least merit, due a change of food coloring?)