Well, I finally found it: Outstanding plain chocolate ice cream. Haagen Dazs’ new “reserve” line has produced at least one amazing flavor: Amazon Valley Chocolate. This ice cream is very very chocolatey. (It’s more of a dark chocolate than a milk chocolate.) It’s smooth and it’s rich. It’s so rich that it’s actually difficult to eat a lot in one sitting (which is probably good since it’s not the healthiest ice cream.) One of the scoops I had before finishing the pint I drizzled with melted peanut butter– I would highly recommend this. But, this ice cream doesn’t need the peanut butter to taste good. It is wonderful on it’s own. Go out and buy some before they discontinue it, trust me. (Hopefully they won’t discontinue it, but if it’s truly good amazon cocoa bean they use, then it could run out.)

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3
• Overall: 5
• Cost: $3 on sale at Safeway

Breyers Ice Cream was on sale again at Safeway: buy one- get one free. I couldn’t pass up a good deal. I bought some French Vanilla and some Mint-Chocolate Chip. You’ll have to wait for the review of the mint-chip, as today I’ll tell you about the French Vanilla.

Breyers French Vanilla is similar to Breyers Vanilla Bean in that it had vanilla bean specks and now our favorite tara gum. But, it tastes thicker, creamier, and custard-like. (And has a few more grams of fat and calories than the natural vanilla.) Not knowing what makes “French Vanilla” “French” I Googled it. Answer Bag had the answer:

“What is “french vanilla”? What is different about it from regular vanilla?”

Chef Ottevanger answered:

“The difference is lots more egg yolks.”

This makes sense when one considers that French Vanilla is actually “not a type of vanilla. It is a term used to describe an egg-custard base for ice cream.”

Also:

“French vanilla” is often used to designate preparations that actually have a strong vanilla aroma, and possibly contain vanilla grains.”

So, there you have it. French Vanilla has more egg yolks which would explain the texture feel and taste. It’s a good flavor to try if you’re in the mood for plain vanilla ice cream. However, I wouldn’t recommend it for malts, sundaes, etc. It’s too strong.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Originality: 1.5
• Texture: 4
• Overall: 4
• Cost: 5.99 or free (buy one get one free sale at Safeway)

A long time ago I reviewed Haagen Dazs’ Vanilla Bean Ice Cream (and loved it!). I didn’t realize until recently that I had never reviewed their regular vanilla so I picked some up at the store this weekend. Haagen Dazs Vanilla is very good. It’s extremely dense and smooth. It’s strongly vanilla flavored, but richer than the Haagen Dazs Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. The Vanilla Bean flavor kind of dances around on your tongue, while the regular vanilla just sits there. In general, I’m more of a fan of vanilla bean flavored ice cream than plain vanilla. Like other Haagen Dazs ice cream, there are no gums or artificial ingredients just: Cream, Skim Milk, Sugar, Egg Yolks, and Natural Vanilla. But, also in Haagen Dazs fashion, this one packs in the fat and calories. If you ask me, Haagen Dazs Vanilla Ice Cream is worth it.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 1
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $3.00 (on special at Safeway)

Talk about rich.  I can honestly say that I don’t think I have ever had a chocolate ice cream as rich and velvety as Godiva’s Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Praline.  But, I wouldn’t buy it again.  You know how you can’t eat an entire box of Godiva Truffles without feeling sick?  It’s the same way with their ice cream.  It is too intense in flavor and sweetness to have any more than a bite or two.  I had four bites and the flavor is burning my mouth.  Maybe this would be good if you’re on a diet; because one bite might satisfy a chocolate ice cream craving.  But really, that takes the fun out of pigging out on ice cream.  One or two bites, excellent; more than that is just too much Godiva chocolate ice cream for me.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $3.00 on special at Safeway

As we just got back from a week long vacation in Cape Cod, I’m not completely caught up on my previous posts; but I promise to get them up in the next day or two.

Today’s ice cream is another Ben and Jerry’s flavor.  I feel the need to buy it when it’s on sale (which it almost always is these days).  Also, I feel less guilty about throwing away half a pint than I do about tossing a half a gallon of ice cream into the trash.  There’s just something inherently wrong with throwing away that much ice cream.  But, I don’t have much choice.  I can’t eat it all and my freezer is so filled with ice cream that I don’t have room for anything else.  Why don’t they make smaller sizes of Edy’s and Breyer’s and other brands that only come in half gallon sizes?  I wonder if those companies have small sample sizes that I can convince them to send me…   I’ll have to look into that.

Back to today’s flavor: Oatmeal Cookie Chunk by Ben and Jerry’s.  It says on the carton that it’s “by popular demand”.  I’m not sure if they mean “back by popular demand” or what they mean.  I know they carry it in their shops, but I haven’t seen it in a carton before.  It’s really good.  I don’t know what I was expecting, but it wasn’t this.  The ice cream in cinnamon (which I have had a lot of lately at Circle Bistro and The Dairy Godmother).  There are chocolate chunks and pieces of oatmeal cookie in the ice cream.  (I probably didn’t need to mention the chocolate chunks, since as I have previously commented on Ben and Jerry’s obscene overuse use of chocolate chunks.)  The chunks of Oatmeal Cookie are soft and gooey.  And they are amazing.  When I recently had Oatmeal Cookie at The Dairy Godmother, their cookies were crispy, something Ben and Jerry’s probably couldn’t pull off since the ice cream has to be stored so long.  I really enjoy the gooeyness of the cookies.  This ice cream was an excellent surprise and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for an interesting, but tasty flavor.  As usual, I have a gripe with Safeway and the ice cream; the texture was terrible!  When will Safeway properly store their ice cream so it doesn’t melt and refreeze into an icy mess?!

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 2 (not to be blamed on the ice cream itself)
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 5
• Cost: $3.00 on special at Safeway

As I mentioned in one of my Breyers reviews, the slow churned low fat ice cream is taking over America’s ice cream.  Soon, there will be no full-fat ice creams left.  Well, maybe not; but there are just as many (if not more) flavors of Edy’s Slow Churned in Safeway’s freezer as there are of regular Edy’s ice creams.  Since I was pretty impressed with the French Vanilla I had yesterday, I decided to give Edy’s Slow Churned French Silk a try.  I tasted this ice cream and was a little taken aback.  It tastes like coffee.   No French silk pie I have ever had tastes like coffee, but apparently that doesn’t matter.  Had I read the carton I would have noticed that it says “Mocha Mousse.”  The flavor of this ice cream is excellent.  And the texture is better than that of the vanilla.  It’s still kind of fluffy, but I’d expect that from something French Silk flavored.  At 140 calories and 4.5 grams of fat, Edy’s French Silk isn’t quite as good for you as Edy’s Slow Churned Vanilla, but it tastes much better.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $5.79 at Safeway

I actually said “wow” when I tasted this ice cream.  Not because it’s the greatest vanilla ice cream out there, but because there are only 100 calories and 3.5 grams of fat in a half a cup of it.  Seeing as I’ve been eating Ben and Jerry’s and Haagen Dazs with 300 calories and 20 grams of fat in a half a cup, this is unbelievably better for me.  Now this ice cream doesn’t even begin to compare with full fat ice creams, but if you were adding hot fudge or putting Edy’s Slow Churned Vanilla on apple pie, it wouldn’t really matter.  The Edy’s vanilla that I’m reviewing today is French vanilla with specks of real vanilla bean.  I can’t remember a time I’ve had French vanilla ice cream that has vanilla beans in it.  The flavor is pretty good, but not amazingly vanillay.  It isn’t rich, instead it’s light and fluffy.  Thus, it doesn’t melt in your mouth quite the same way regular hard ice cream does.  Edy’s Slow Churned French Vanilla tastes remarkably better than any low fat ice cream I’ve ever had.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 2.5
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $5.79 at Safeway

Marsha, Marsha, Marsha.  Can’t you just hear that screechy voice playing over and over in your head?  Maybe that’s just me.  I’m really not sure what Marsha Brady has to do with marshmallows or s’mores.  Honestly, the folks at Ben and Jerry’s are getting a little desperate with this one.  Does she really deserve an ice cream flavor named after her?

Well, it’s not one I would want named after me.  It’s not all that impressive.  It reminds me a lot of the chocolate ice cream I had at Larry’s—a lot of flair, but not that much different than plain chocolate ice cream.  The chocolate ice cream is so rich it overpowers everything else.  The marshmallow only dulls the chocolate flavor a little and adds an interesting texture.  The graham cracker isn’t bad, it’s just scarce.  And the chocolate fudge chunks.  Seriously, what is wrong with those people at B&J’s???  They put fudge chunks in everything these days.  I’m really sick of the fudge chunks.  Put them in Cherry Garcia, but let’s leave it at that.  To sum it up, if you want some good chocolate ice cream, with a variety of textures (in a good way), then you’d like Marsha Marsha Marshamallow.  But if you’re looking for something that tastes like marshmallows or s’mores then you’re on your own.

• Flavor: 4
• Flavor Intensity: 4.5
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 4
• Cost: $2.50 on special at Safeway

The first time I had Ben and Jerry’s Pistachio Pistachio was during public speaking class in high school. One of the girls in our class did a “demonstration speech” which involved mixing Jelly Bellys and Pistachio Pistachio. I haven’t had Jelly Bellys in my ice cream since then, but I still enjoy Pistachio Pistachio on an occasional basis. In fact, it is the standard I hold all other pistachio ice creams to. Pistachio Pistachio is pistachio flavored, without being overwhelming. It’s sweet without being intensely nutty. It’s creamy and there is always at least one whole nut in every bite. When it comes to pistachio ice cream, this is without a doubt my favorite.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 3.5
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $2.50 on special at Safeway

The chocolate fudge in Ben and Jerry’s Fudge Central is just like hot fudge. Except it’s not hot. But it is this awesome “core” in the middle of the ice creams that is rich and gooey and fudgey. The chocolate ice cream with white fudge chunks and the the vanilla bean with chocolate fudge chunks surround the fudge core. I preferred the chocolate ice cream to the vanilla though. The vanilla ice cream was overpowered by all the chocolate. While the vanilla may not have been the best part, it was still good. And I couldn’t have been happier with all of the textures and flavors. Honestly, I could have just eaten the fudge core; though mixing it with the ice cream made it even better.

• Flavor: 4.5
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 4
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $3.00 on special at Safeway

I told you I’d be trying the other half of my Skinny Cow Variety Pack soon. Unfortunately, at some point the ice cream sandwiches got melted a little and thus, any smooth texture was ruined.  However, the flavor was still pretty decent.  I still wouldn’t choose this ice cream over regular ice cream, but if I was really trying to watch my weight, I might be able to fool my palate with a Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwich.

• Flavor: 3
• Flavor Intensity: 2
• Texture: 1.5
• Originality: 1.5
• Overall: 3
• Cost: $2.99 for a box of 6

I was expecting great things from Haagen Dazs’ new English Toffee ice cream; but I was sorely disappointed.  I never thought I’d say this, but this ice cream is too sweet.  Seriously, it is probably the sweetest ice cream I’ve ever had.  It is very intensely toffee flavored.  Maybe one bite would have been good; but a whole half cup was more than I could take.  As usual, Haagen Dazs produced an incredibly rich, dense, and smooth ice cream; but they came up short on the overall flavor.

• Flavor: 3
• Flavor Intensity: 5
• Texture: 5
• Originality: 4
• Overall: 3
• Cost: $3.99 at Safeway

Picturing a skinny cow makes me feel a little ill. Honestly, can cows get skinny without being starved and tortured? I’m not sure. But, the cute logo seems to have kept my image of a skinny cow from consumers’ minds as this brand has really taken off. After trying this ice cream I understand why. It’s not terrible. It’s not the greatest or even close to the greatest tasting ice cream in the world, but for a good sized ice cream treat with only 140 calories, it’s pretty decent. The flavor of the ice cream is probably the best thing about it. I had chocolate. The outside of the sandwich wasn’t anything special. The texture of both the outside cookies and the sandwiched ice cream were a little grainy. Not a consistent grainy, but an uneven graininess. I would eat one again (and I will since I got a variety pack with both chocolate and vanilla), but I’d have to be pretty desperate to give up eating fat cow ice cream for these.

• Flavor: 3
• Flavor Intensity: 2
• Texture: 3
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 3.5
• Cost: $2.99 for a box of 6

Sometimes there’s a lot to say about something mediocre; sometimes there’s very little to say. This time there is less than little. This store brand ice cream is about what one would expect from store brand ice cream. It’s creamy and rich, but the flavor isn’t great. The vanilla tasted very artificial. That about sums it up. You need good flavor to have a good ice cream.

• Flavor: 2
• Flavor Intensity: 4
• Texture: 3.5
• Originality: 1
• Overall: 2.5
• Cost: $2.99 at Safeway

I had forgotten how summery strawberry ice cream is.  When I was younger I used to get strawberry ice cream from the Lake Harriet concessions stand and walk around the Minneapolis lake with my family.  Eating Breyers Strawberry ice cream brought those summer memories back.  Breyers Strawberry has a creamy strawberry flavor.  Not intensely strawberry, but subtle in the way it blends with the cream.  There are a good number of chunks of strawberry, but not so many as to ruin the creamy texture.  I really enjoyed this ice cream and how refreshing it tastes.

• Flavor: 5
• Flavor Intensity: 3
• Texture: 4.5
• Originality: 2
• Overall: 4.5
• Cost: $5.99 at Safeway