Review: President's Choice “Loads of Pecan Butter Tart” Ice Cream

J and I have both finished the classroom portion of our university program, and are currently in the practical part. While it's nice to be out of the stuffy university building, that does mean that J has moved back to her home further north to do her practical segment up there, and that means that our ice cream reviews will no longer be done together. But never fear! We will still be reviewing many a treat, just not both of us on the same one. Without any further review, here is the 2G1S review of another President's Choice product, Loads of Pecan Butter Tart ice cream.

Since we reviewed President's Choice's Pumpkin Pie ice cream, it has become our most viewed post, with many people coming to view this blog by googling the product...and it's a good thing too, because we wouldn't want people to miss out on something as awesomely delicious as PC Pumpkin Pie ice cream was. I was excited, therefore, to review a second pastry-inspired ice cream in President's Choice “Loads of Pecan Butter Tart”, one of the selections in their “loads of” series that focuses on ice creams with “loads of” mix-ins. I love butter tarts, as they have strong associations for me with cold weather and the spirit of giving, and with the weather getting nastier by the day it only seemed appropriate to give myself the gift of butter tarts in ice cream form.

This product advertises itself as “yummy butter tart flavoured ripple ice cream, positively packed with butter tart pieces and praline pecans”. Normally I like to have raisins in my butter tarts, but it is totally understandable that they were not included in this mix. The ice cream itself is light brown in colour and while there don't appear to be too many mix-ins on the surface, they are plentiful once you get past the first layer. Now, butter tarts are a sugary, sugary beast, so I was initially a bit concerned that this ice cream would be too sweet to handle. I guess there's only one way to find out, so let the taste testing begin!

Oh. My. Word.

This stuff is just... amazing. In fact, I kind of don't want to stop eating it.

First off, this isn't nearly as sweet as I anticipated it might be. At first I thought the ice cream base was almost maple flavoured, but after a moment or so I realized that what I was tasting was a rich brown sugar flavour and that it was surprisingly well-balanced in terms of sweetness. Well played, PC. Your product development team saw the potential pitfall and made it a non-issue. The praline pecans are fairly small but well distributed, and they give a nice nutty, earthy flavour to the whole thing which gives it some added depth. PC wasn't lying when they named this thing: there is literally loads of tart pastry pieces. Again, they are not very sweet, and they're a bit crunchy. Overall, they remind me a bit of commercial shortbread, and they work really, really well with the brown sugar ice cream base.

This whole concoction just meshes together so well. The flavours are well balanced, the sugar is just the right amount, the differences in texture are great, and the overall feeling is one of ice cream nirvana. Oddly enough, I never did find the “rippled” part of the ice cream listed in the description, but whatever it was supposed to be, it was either mixed in enough to where the flavour melded with the ice cream, or it wasn't necessary to begin with. President's Choice got this one so, so right, and if you have access to this brand, you should make a point to try this out.

Recommend to a friend? Yes! What are you waiting for? Get in your car and drive to your nearest Superstore or Extra Foods!

Repurchase? Yes x 1,000,000! (got J to try this, and she is also a big fan)

Review: So Delicious “Cookie Dough” Coconut Milk Frozen Dessert

For us lactose intolerant folk, sometimes the options in terms of dairy-free frozen treats feel a bit limited. I love sorbets and dairy-free gelatos, but they tend to be expensive and are often hard to find and limited in flavour variety. Soy or tofu based frozen desserts can be OK, but they can also be absolutely awful, and it's hard to get a texture that isn't rock hard when you're using soy. So I was excited to learn from a friend, who is also lactose intolerant, that there are now ice cream-like frozen desserts made from coconut milk. This is a great option for people, like me, who don't like soy because of how it can affect your body's estrogen production or because of an allergy (although coconut is also a common allergen). I am a big coconut fan to begin with, so I was excited to try these out!

When J and I made our last venture into Fairway Market and finally found the Island Farms Green Tea flavour, we also found two brands (!) of coconut milk ice cream for sale (OK, it's not really ice cream, but it's a lot easier to type). The first was Luna and Larry's, and the second was So Delicious, a company that is more well known for making soy beverages and soy ice creams. While I'm sure we will go back and review a Luna and Larry's flavour in the future, the So Delicious brand was less expensive at the time of purchase, so we opted for that. There were several flavours available, including a coconut one. While we thought it would probably be safe to go with the coconut flavour, considering what it's made of, we wanted to be able to compare this to a regular dairy-based ice cream, so we chose a common ice cream-like flavour, one that we have already reviewed from different brands: cookie dough. According to the company's website, this flavour is also gluten free.

Apparently this is the "old" packaging, but the product should be the same.

For this review we are joined once again by AG, who was a big help to us in our review of Island Farms Green Tea. This ice cream is coconut milk based with large pieces of cookie dough and chocolate chunks throughout. It was quite easy to scoop out, and we didn't have the frozen solid cookie dough problem that we had with Ben and Jerry's, despite the size of the pieces.

We were impressed by the cookie dough right off the bat. Not only were they in big chunks, but there were little mini chocolate chips in it. This seemed like the kind of stuff you could actually bake cookies out of, and while we debated trying it, by the time we had gotten around to making any kind of decision...we had already finished the ice cream. We also appreciated that the cookie dough wasn't too sweet, letting the chocolate chunks and the ice cream carry the sugar in this dessert. The chocolate was somewhat crispy, sweet but not too sweet, and So Delicious was very generous in the amount of mix-ins they gave us, unlike some of the brands of traditional cookie dough ice cream we tried.

And now the part you are probably wondering about: the ice cream base. Well if you expected that it would taste like coconut....you would be correct. And the coconut and ice cream combination takes some getting used to. At times we were almost getting like a marzipan flavour coming through. When you eat it together with the cookie dough, the coconut flavour becomes a bit less evident, but when you get it on its own you're reminded that, oh yea, you're eating a coconut milk ice cream. The ice cream is also quite sweet, but again this kind of balances with the less sweet cookie dough. AG commented that the ice cream base “tastes more like body lotion than ice cream,” and it does kind of give me flashbacks to The Body Shop's Coconut Body Butter. The coconut milk taste + cookie dough is not a bad combination, it's just kind of weird, and we're not sure that it totally works, at least not in the way we expected it to.

Recommend to a friend? If you're lactose intolerant, you should try this. While the combination is unconventional, it is still enjoyable and a nice alternative to soy-based frozen desserts. We give So Delicious serious props for the quality of the product and their generosity with the mix-ins.

Repurchase? We'd like to try some of the other coconut milk ice cream varieties rather than repurchase this particular one. It was OK, but not really our thing.

Review: Island Farms "Green Tea" Ice Cream

Today's review comes with the help of one of our classmates who helped us out with a couple of tastings, and since she is half Filipino (let's call her Asian Girl...AG for short), perhaps it's appropriate that we review one of Island Farms' Asian-inspired classic flavours, Green Tea ice cream. ;)

It occurred to me after I recycled the container that this photo doesn't actually show the flavour. Fail.

Now, we recently reviewed Haagen Dazs's take on green tea and we were somewhat disappointed by the subtlety of its green tea flavour. That is to say, we could barely taste the tea underneath the vanilla. So naturally we're curious to see how this one compares. The most obvious difference, when we removed the lid, is the colour. Unlike the washed out colour of Haagen Dazs, this thing is like...electric green. Not quite glow in the dark, and this picture doesn't do it justice, but it is green. Definitely looks like matcha powder, so if this stuff doesn't pack some serious green tea punch, something is wrong. (It's worth noting that on subsequent openings of the container, the ice cream had browned a bit in colour...which I think is actually good because it suggests that the colour is due to organic elements, not food dye)

Well, it's definitely matcha. AG commented that it tastes more like a Booster Juice matcha shot than actual ice cream, and added that her desire to try a "weird" flavour with us had been fulfilled by this product because it was totally weird. It does have a very strong tea flavour, so if you were hoping to be gently eased into the realm of green tea you'll be in for a bit of a shock; it's the complete other end of the spectrum from the Haagen Dazs we tried. While AG thought it was disgusting, finding it too earthy and that it "tastes like a face mask," J loved it, proclaiming that it is the only ice cream she has had that can truly call itself "green tea" because it actually has real green tea flavour. To her, if you don't like this ice cream, you probably don't like real green tea much.

As for me, I'm kind of neutral on it. The flavour is good, but I only really enjoy it for the first few bites before I get turned off. I think the issue is actually less about the taste and more about the mouth feel of this stuff. To me, it's too high fat, too creamy, for a tea ice cream. Creamy richness goes well with coffee flavours, but I feel like it's way too much for tea. I like green tea a lot, but I'm not sure it fits with a full fat ice cream like this. It's weird because I didn't feel this way about the Haagen Dazs one, but maybe that's because the dominant flavour there wasn't actually green tea.

However...

 When I was trying to finish off the rest of the container, I mixed this ice cream with some 1% milk in the blender to make a green tea milkshake. By diluting the flavour somewhat, as well as the fat content, this product was much more enjoyable. So if you're looking to make like a green tea smoothie/milkshake, this ice cream plus a low fat milk makes a pretty tasty concoction.

 Recommend to a friend? If you really like green tea, you may be a fan of this Island Farms endeavour. But you really have to like it.
Repurchase? J: Yes B: No, wouldn't be worth it for me.

New Island Farms TV Ads

If you want your children to be afraid of cows for life, just let them watch TV when this new Island Farms ad comes on.

Seriously, I know Halloween is coming up, but this is just unnecessarily creepy. Buying local is good, point taken. Crazy grocery store stalker in a cow suit...hoooo boy.

Review: Ben and Jerry's "If I Had 1,000,000 Flavours" Ice Cream

As proud Canadians, we were excited to get our hands on this creation by Ben and Jerry's: If I Had 1,000,000 Flavours. Note the "u" in "flavours"! This is one of several Ben and Jerry's ice creams based on songs or bands, and is inspired by the Barenaked Ladies song "If I Had A Million Dollars". True, BNL has had some scandal over the past couple of years, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy the song that still frequents the muzak of grocery stores everywhere. Especially when it comes in ice cream form.

Disappointingly, this ice cream does not literally contain 1,000,00 flavours, but I supposed that would have been extremely hard to fit into one carton. It's a "collision of chocolate & vanilla ice creams mixed with chocolate-covered toffee, white chocolate chunks, peanut butter cups, and chocolate-covered almonds." It's 999,994 flavours short of a million, but it still sounds delicious and does give more variety than the average pint.

We divided the cartoon between us and dug in to see just how many flavours we could find. There was a fairly even distribution of chocolate and vanilla ice creams, and the chocolate was quite nice. The vanilla tasted OK but it had this weird gritty texture to it. I didn't notice it at first, but once J called my attention to it, it was pretty hard to ignore. It wasn't ice crystals or mix-ins. It was almost...dusty feeling and not at all pleasant. And it was only present in the vanilla for some reason.

In the battle of penny VS peanut butter cup, the peanut butter cup takes home the prize!

As for the mix-ins, Ben and Jerry's did not skimp, especially on the peanut butter cups. Those suckers were HUGE. The white chocolate chunks were also a decent size, and while we found very few chocolate-covered almonds, they were a nice size. J swears she found a chocolate covered peanut in hers, not something listed in the ingredients. However, neither of us were able to find any toffee in either of our bowls. Overall, we felt like the distribution was more like "If I Had 1,000,000 Peanut Butter Cups" than "1,000,000 Flavours".

Our overall feeling on this flavour is that is was good but it felt more like variations on the theme of chocolate, rather than the true mix that is suggested by the name. We love peanut butter cups, and chocolate, but would have loved even more the addition of something like cookie pieces, caramel, nuts, coconut... And the dusty, gritty texture of the vanilla was really hard to ignore. Perhaps having a more even distribution of mix-ins would've made this a more exciting experience (and actually having some toffee would have been nice!)

There is also a nice article written about the band's reaction to the release of this flavour.

Recommend to a friend? Yes, especially if you consider yourself to be a chocoholic. We think that the texture issue with the vanilla was a freak occurrence, but if it was not, then we would be much more hesitant to recommend this.
Repurchase? J: If the texture of the vanilla was improved, yes. B: Since this ice cream was so much about the peanut butter cups, at least in our pint, I would be inclined to get Island Farms "Moose Tracks" instead and get more ice cream for my money.

Web 2.0, ahoy!

If you want an easier way to keep up to date with what's going on at Two Girls, One Scoop, we now have a Facebook page. Because I was worried I might be annoying people on my friends list by posting updates via my personal status. And because not everyone who reads this is friends with me on Facebook. :)

Also, we have just started a profile on Consmr, a rating and review site for grocery and drugstore products. What we post there will just be shortened versions of the reviews we have here, but it's a neat site that covers a lot more products than just ice cream and has reviews and ratings from a ton of consumers.

B

Review: Haagen Dazs "Green Tea & Honey Vanilla" Ice Cream

As mentioned before, when my sister came over for Thanksgiving, we had initially intended to find a carton of Island Farms green tea flavour ice cream to review, but were unable to locate any (as we discovered a week and a half later, we had neglected to visit the one grocery store in town that carried it...review upcoming!). Even after my sister had gone home, J and I still had a desire to try something frozen and green tea, so we picked up a container of Haagen Dazs Green Tea & Honey Vanilla, which proclaimed itself to be "new".

We were a bit skeptical at first: both of us like green tea, especially J who is much more of a tea connoisseur and who has had a lot of green tea during her time in Japan. We weren't entirely sure how the vanilla and honey flavours were going to compliment the flavour of green tea. I like tea lattes and tea mistos as much as the next commercial coffee shop addict, but green tea was one I tended to stay away from because it can easily be botched (at least in my experience). Upon opening, we found a very pale green ice cream that was easily divided between the pair of us.

Like almost all Haagen Dazs ice creams, this one is simple and gets right to the point. In this case, however, it kind of gets to the point in reverse order.  By that we mean that the flavours dominate in the reverse order of how they are listed on the package. While vanilla is listed last, we found this to be the most dominant flavour, with the honey coming in to sweeten it nicely (although to be fair, this ice cream contains both sugar and honey and while J said she could taste the honey, all I could taste was "sweet" and nothing discernibly honey-like). In fact, if you hadn't told us what this ice cream was called, and if we ignored the colour, I think both of us would have called it a funny-tasting vanilla ice cream. The green tea is there. Kinda. If you're really looking for it, you can taste it, but otherwise it is mostly present as an aftertaste, or as a very subtle tea-like note at the end. Basically, this ice cream is vanilla infused with green tea, rather than being a straight-up green tea ice cream. So I guess, in a way, it's more complex than we originally thought?

Recommend to a friend? If you are expecting in-your-face green tea flavour, you will be disappointed. However, if you want to experience a light and non-threatening variation on green tea, you will probably enjoy this.
Repurchase? J: Maybe. It's a good ice cream, but it doesn't deliver the green tea taste I was hoping for. B: It wouldn't be first on my list, but I enjoyed this. Would repurchase if I was in the mood.

Review: Purdy's "Hedgehog" Ice Cream

If you like to browse entries by "labels" or "tags", or if you ever wondered where you can find these products for yourself, you will be pleased to know that we have added tags to all of our entries showing where we purchased the ice creams. Sometimes the point of purchase is due to a sale or discount, proximity, or lack of availability at other stores - we are not affiliated with any of the grocery stores where we buy ice cream. Some of the products are available at multiple grocery chains - we are simply letting you know where we found them so that you might be able to find them on your own.

As big fans of Purdy's chocolates, we were excited to try their line of ice creams available in BC grocery stores, produced by Island Farms. The flavours include milk chocolate, sweet georgia browns, mint meltie, peanut butter, and hedgehog, the flavour we decided to sample. Not only do we like chocolate hedgehogs, but J used to own a couple of hedgehogs as pets (and was quite excited about them).

This is a simple ice cream. It doesn't waste time with mix-ins or textural variations. This stuff is exactly what it proclaims to be: hedgehog ice cream. It tastes just like hedgehog chocolate filling in frozen form. It's an extremely rich mix of milk chocolate and hazelnut, with a very smooth, almost "thick" texture. There isn't much more to say: this taste isn't just a good tribute, it's exactly like the real thing. It just needs to be in small servings since, like we said, it's very, very rich.

Recommend to a friend? If you like hedgehogs, you will love this ice cream. It's like eating a hedgehog chocolate.
Repurchase? J + B: Absolutely, especially for times when we have a real chocolate craving.

Review: Chapman's "Raspberry Sorbet"

 Our third pink ice cream selection in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month: 

Oh my. Where to start. From the time we purchased this product to the time I sat down to make this review, I feel like our experience with Chapman's Raspberry Sorbet has turned into a saga of epic proportions. The highs were high. The lows were low. Words cannot possibly describe the fiasco that is Chapman's Raspberry Sorbet. Well, actually, I suppose they can. Let me tell you the story...

It all started prior to the Thanksgiving weekend. Because the family dinner was going to be held on the Island, B's sister (whose name also starts with B - because our parents are creative - and who will be referred to using the colour green: B) was going to be visiting, and she was excited to help us review an ice cream and thereby make a guest appearance on the blog. When the day finally came to choose an ice cream, we searched high and low for Island Farms green tea flavor, but could not find it anywhere. So instead, B selected what we all thought would be a safe and most likely delicious flavour: Chapman's raspberry sorbet. We were all very excited to take this product home and enjoy it.

The packaging is appealing enough. We certainly appreciated that this sorbet was clearly marked as being fat free, cholesterol free, peanut free, lactose free, and gluten free. If you have allergies, or will be serving something to a large group of people whose allergies may be unknown, like a children's birthday party, this would be a safe bet.

 The first thing I noticed when I took the lid off the container was that I could smell the sorbet. Which is kind of odd, because normally frozen foods tend not to have much of an aroma. But the sorbet in question had a distinctive smell of something akin to koolaid or fruit punch or bubblegum. Something artificial. Hmm. I guess that's OK. And it looks relatively normal. I mean, sure, it is a rather shocking shade of magenta, but rapsberries are quite a colourful fruit. When we scooped it out, it had a relatively soft and "fluffy" consistency, similar to the texture of the other Chapman's flavour we had previously tried, Hokey Pokey. It kind of feels like it has gelatin in it, and after consulting the ingredients, though it did not contain gelatin, it did contain five different types of gums.

So the only thing to do at this point is to taste it. We divided a few scoops among the three of us and took a bite.

For starters this thing...tastes exactly like it smells. Which is not like raspberry. Which is not a good thing. For something that is based on a tangy fruit, this sorbet displays no tartness whatsoever. In fact, it's incredibly sweet. It has a kind of artificial raspberry taste to it, which is odd because the ingredients say that it contains actual raspberry puree. We found no evidence to support this, though we did find plenty of evidence of "natural flavour" that was added. We don't really understand why, if you are using a fruit that is as flavourful as raspberries, you would be inclined to add chemical flavouring, even if it's "natural." The taste reminded us a lot of bubblegum, or of blue raspberry flavoured candy, like a Ring Pop. Which is fine for candy, where the expectation of realistic flavours is minimal, but when you purchase a sorbet that proclaims to use the actual fruit it's pretty awful.

When we began testing this sorbet, we tried to be open-minded about the product. When we tried to consider the ideal consumer for this sorbet, we kept going back to the idea of kids, as the flavour is very sweet and candy-like. B said that the "flavour is OK - I wouldn't stop eating it, but I wouldn't buy it again." Not long after, however, she had changed her mind: "I retract my previous statement! I want to stop eating this right now!" She followed this comment up by saying "I feel like I'm eating... packs of gum! Bubble tape!" which, considering how many gums are in the thing, isn't a totally unreasonable assessment. We offered a spoonful to my mother to taste, and she was as excited as we initially were to try a raspberry sorbet. Mere seconds later, however, she had spit it in the sink in disgust, proclaiming it to be "slimy" and bad-tasting. 

So far, this flavour was leaving an extremely bad taste, not to mention alarming colour, in our mouths. But the story doesn't end there...

We noticed that on the side of the container there was a "satisfaction guarantee" followed by a hotline number to call. Well, we were extremely dissatisfied with this product, and since we were going to post about our dissatisfaction on the internet, we figured it would be a good idea to give this number a call. This is a brief summary of what transpired:  A very kindly female representative repeatedly assured us that the Raspberry Sorbet is indeed made entirely from natural raspberry puree and that it is one of their top selling items.  She implied something might have been wrong with the container of Sorbet we had purchased as she could not imagine we would have found it as sweet and artificial as we did.  We expressed our extreme dissatisfaction with the product and relayed the spitting of a sample into the sink and were asked to provide our contact information to receive some sort of compensation in the mail.  This compensation has yet to arrive of course, and so we will have to update later regarding the details.

After trying this flavour one more time before writing this review, we found that time had not altered our opinion of it, and so the rest of it was washed down the kitchen sink. Thus concludes the saga of the Chapman's Raspberry Sorbet. Until, of course, we receive some mail from Chapman's.

Recommend to a friend? Like we stated earlier, the only possible market we feel might enjoy this would be children, because of the candy-like taste and the lack of allergens. For anyone who actually enjoys raspberries, however, avoid like the plague.
Repurchase? J + B: you could not pay us enough to eat this again! So awful!

Review: Dorgel "Tangerine Raspberry Mango" Gelato

 Edited to add: Forgot to mention that today marks the one month birthday of Two Girls, One Scoop! Exciting!! In our introductory month of blogging about all things ice cream, we have received over 1,100 page views from web surfers in over 10 different countries! Thank you to everyone who has been reading so far - we hope to keep blogging well into the future! :)


 Our second pink ice cream selection in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month:

 Though not pink in its entirety, Dorgel Tangerine Raspberry Mango Gelato does have a raspberry element, which is a nice colour of pink. Besides, after perusing the frozen foods section of Save-on-Foods, so many of the pink selections were strawberry, and we have already discussed our distaste for this particular flavour. So after much deliberation, we decided to give this one a try. Bonus: it's fat free!

Upon opening the container, we discovered that it looks....extremely unappealing. In terms of aesthetics, the real deal looks nothing like the fun-coloured scoops on the front of the container. It almost looks like a rainbow threw up in there. Once we scooped past the very top layer, it did improve slightly in appearance, but not significantly. The texture is what you might expect from a commercial gelato or sorbet: not crumbly, not creamy, not flaky....just not very cohesive. After all, it's essentially frozen juice with some added gums for stabilization, so it doesn't have the smoothness of a normal ice cream. As J said, it's basically like a "soft popsicle" in a carton.

This flavour is supposed to encompass three different fruits: mango, raspberry, and tangerine. Though we were able to isolate each of the flavours, the mango is definitely dominant. You can easily find the raspberry if you are so inclined, but the tangerine is extremely hard to get on its own. If you're eating the whole thing together, it mostly tastes like a sweet mango. The overall flavour is sweet and fruity, while the texture is very light and refreshing. After a whole slew of dairy-heavy ice creams, this light, fat-free option was a nice change, even if it looks like tie-dye gone wrong.

Recommend to a friend? If you are looking for something light and fruity, and the colouring doesn't put you off, this is a nice, sweet dessert. Especially if you like mango.
Repurchase? J: Perhaps, though I didn't think it was exceptional. It was fine, but not amazing. B: I really enjoyed this gelato, and would purchase again.

Review: President's Choice "Pink Lemonade"

 Our first pink ice cream selection in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month:

The weather is starting to turn chilly, so we decided we wanted a little taste of summer to boost our spirits. What better way to do this than sampling pink lemonade in ice cream form, one of the flavours in the President's Choice ice cream shop line? And yes, it's an ice cream - not a sorbet, a sherbet, or a gelato, an ice cream. Maybe a bit odd for a citrus flavour...but we're curious to see how President's Choice makes this work!

The things you learn when you're blogging: pink lemonade is apparently the same as regular lemonade, except that it is dyed with pink food colouring to sometimes indicate that it is somewhat sweeter. It can also, however, be dyed with natural substances such as grenadine and cranberry juice which will not only sweeten it but also alter the flavour slightly. Thanks wikipedia! The colour of this ice cream is, indeed, pink, almost like a bubblegum or cotton candy pink. It was a bit weird to be eating a citrus dessert of this colour, but not really a big deal. This ice cream was easy to scoop out and almost had a "fluffy" texture, like it had been whipped or something.

In terms of taste, the closest comparison is probably lemon yogurt. J regularly buys lemon yogurt to eat with breakfast or as a snack, so it's a taste we were both familiar with already. Otherwise, the combination of citrus and dairy might have been a bit off-putting. Normally lemon-flavoured frozen desserts take the form of a sorbet or a gelato, which lets the taste of the lemon juice shine through uninhibited - such desserts have a really clean and refreshing flavour. The flavour of PC pink lemonade was refreshing in its own way, but the dairy aspect gave it a certain depth or richness that you wouldn't find in a gelato. It almost tones down the lemon flavour, the way that would add sour cream to a spicy salsa to balance the flavours. If you are expecting the same experience you would get with a lemon gelato or sorbet, you will be initially thrown off when you taste this product, but overall it is a pleasant ice cream.

Recommend to a friend? If you like lemon yogurt, you will most likely enjoy this. This flavour won't be for everyone, but it adds an innovative richness to the array of currently available citrus frozen desserts.
Repurchase? J: Absolutely B: Maybe. I feel like I might be more inclined to purchase lemon yogurt if I were craving this flavour, as I am more partial to the clean, fresh taste you would get in a citrus gelato. But I certainly wouldn't blacklist this one.

Breast Cancer Awareness Month

First off, happy thanksgiving to all of our Canadian readers! Hope you are enjoying your turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, and, of course, your pumpkin pie!

J and I recently learned that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Like all forms of cancer, breast cancer is a debilitating disease that affects both men and women: according to 2007 statistics, approximately one in nine women will develop some form of breast cancer by age 85, and it is one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths among women.

There is very little that we, as bloggers, can do to help in the fight against breast cancer, but we felt we could at least do something to help raise awareness. It is important to be aware of potential risk factors, to do regular self-exams and, if you are older or notice something amiss, to see your doctor and potentially get a mammogram done.

We felt that one way we might be able to raise awareness about breast cancer during the month of October is to do three reviews of pink ice cream, the colour often associated with breast cancer awareness. Stay tuned for these reviews, and we hope that they will remind you to take care of yourselves and to get checked out if you think something doesn't feel right!

B

Review: DQ Blizzard of the Month - Pumpkin Pie

When the calender rolled over to October 1st, B and I waited for Dairy Queen to advertise the new Blizzard of the Month.  We drove by several times, only to see that the poster still displayed September's flavor: Ooey Gooey Caramel Brownie.  Finally, we decided to take action.  I approached the counter to inquire, and discovered that Dairy Queen often waits to change displays until the first weekday of the month. This does not mean that the Blizzard of the Month is not available until the change in signage.  In honor of Canadian Thanksgiving, October's Blizzard Of The Month is Pumpkin Pie.

The DQ employees have graced us with a very photogenic Blizzard!

Having sampled President's Choice Pumpkin Pie ice cream a short time ago, it is difficult not to compare the two.  They are the same flavour, after all.  It is important to remember though, that Dairy Queen is a fast food establishment and uses their signature creamy soft serve as a base for their Blizzards.  They are in a completely different category than premium hard ice cream.

One of the "pie crust" pieces

Digging into our Blizzards, B and I discovered crunchy penny-sized pieces of what seemed to be a corn-based cereal.  Amongst the smooth light orange soft serve (flecked with brown spice bits and potential pumpkin puree) this created a satisfying texture.  We assume the crunchy cereal bits were marauding as pieces of pie crust, but in fairness felt that actual pie crust would  have become soft and unable to provide the satisfying crunch of the cereal bits.  The soft serve had a fairly complex pumpkin flavor, including nutmeg, more nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves, and maybe even mace. Also nutmeg. I concurred with B that the cereal bits could have been replaced with graham cookie pieces or some other spiced cookie to vault the Blizzard into the exceptional category.  But "love does not alter when it alteration finds".  The Pumpkin Pie Blizzard is what it is, and I found the bottom of mine before B did.

Recommend to a friend? Get one before the month is over!

Repurchase? J: Yaaa B: Certainly

Review: Haagen Dazs "Strawberry"

Our final Haagen Dazs flavour review is of a more traditional ice cream flavour: Strawberry. The thing is...J and I don't actually like strawberry ice cream. I mean, if it's there, maybe we'll eat it, but it's definitely not something either of us would go out of our way to buy. There is so much that you can do wrong with strawberry that it can be a pretty risky venture. But we wanted to challenge ourselves, so strawberry Haagen Dazs it is!

 Under the lid and protective seal, Haagen Dazs has given us a pale pink ice cream with visible chunks of strawberry (not totally clear in this shot, but they're just beneath the surface) and strawberry seeds. Nice to see some actual fruit in there, as many brands of strawberry ice cream tend to be a plain ice cream base with a strawberry flavoured syrup blended in. This results in an artificial taste that often has no resemblance to actual strawberries, and is one of the reasons J and I generally stay away from strawberry ice cream.

This ice cream was much firmer than both the chocolate peanut butter and dulce de leche flavours, but it is still creamy in texture and taste. There is a gentle strawberry flavour to the ice cream, that essentially tastes like berries and cream...which, after consulting the short ingredient list, is essentially what it is. The chunks of strawberry add a nice difference in texture with a burst of fresh flavour and a subtle tartness. We greatly appreciate that this ice cream clearly, both visibly and flavour-wise, has actual fruit in it.

So was Haagen Dazs able to turn us over to the "dark side" of strawberry ice cream? While it is probably the best example of strawberry ice cream either of us has tasted, we are still not sold on this particular flavour. It's nothing against Haagen Dazs, it's just not a flavour combo we're crazy about. We will say this, though: if we had to choose a strawberry ice cream to eat, it would be this one.

Recommend to a friend? If you like strawberry ice cream, then this flavour comes exactly as advertised. Strawberry fans will rejoice!
Repurchase? J + B: It does a good job of capturing "strawberry" in ice cream form, but it is still not for us. Would not repurchase based on personal taste.

Review: Haagen Dazs "Dulce de Leche"

Our second Haagen Dazs flavour up for review is Dulce de Leche. Dulce de leche is a milk-based caramel that originated in South America - it can be bought in select grocery and specialty foods stores, or can be made at home by cooking a can of condensed milk.

So we are not talking about normal 100% sugar-based caramel for this ice cream treat, but something a bit smoother and a bit richer. Nonetheless, we had some concerns that this flavour might be too sweet, and we did not want to repeat our Hokey Pokey experience. When we opened the container, we found a pale golden-brown ice cream with visible swirls of dulce de leche.

This ice cream was quite easy to spoon out of the little container and into our own bowls, so without much ado we got down to the taste testing. This ice cream has a nice, light caramel flavour, and the pockets of dulce de leche are rich but not overwhelming. While it is sweet, it's definitely not sickly sweet; we felt that Haagen Dazs did a good job of balancing the sugar while maintaining the distinctively smooth taste and texture of dulce de leche. This is a simple flavour that Haagen Dazs has done very well.

Recommend to a friend? If you haven't tried dulce de leche before, this would be a great introduction to the flavour. If you like caramel, you will probably enjoy this, especially as it isn't as harshly sweet as traditional caramel but has a very pleasant flavour.
Repurchase: J: Yes - it might be really nice with a fruit torte - B: Yes, though this is definitely something to eat in moderation - if you're looking to down a pint after a break up, this is probably going to be too much sugar for one sitting.

Review: Haagen Dazs "Chocolate Peanut Butter"

Haagen Dazs ice creams... generally delicious and high quality, but damn are they expensive! So are we ever pleased that they are available in individually sized cups - at 3/$5, J and I can sample and review multiple flavours without totally breaking the bank (not to mention that it relieves the pressure of having to finish off a full carton for each flavour!)

The first in our line up of Haagen Dazs flavours for review is Chocolate Peanut Butter. Chocolate and peanut butter has got to be one of the most iconic combinations of all time. It's right up there with bacon and cheeseburger! OK, J is a vegetarian, so maybe they're not that comparable. But chocolate and peanut butter are definitely a winning pair. Unless you have peanut allergies...Well, darn.

Once we got the lid off (which was actually quite a challenge, though it did reveal the tiny spoon that was included in the container), we found a rich chocolate ice cream with peanut butter pockets throughout. It was extremely hard to see the peanut butter, even when digging through the ice cream, but you could definitely notice it once you were actually eating. The texture of the peanut butter in the ice cream is a bit waxy at first, but once it warms up, it's smooth like just peanut butter from a jar.

I must admit that when I think of chocolate and peanut butter, I think of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The peanut butter in the candy is a bit salty and somewhat gritty because it has some coarsely ground peanuts in it. So as a result, I was expecting something similar from the peanut butter in this ice cream. However, the peanut butter in Haagen Dazs is, as J put it, essentially what you would expect if you were getting Kraft peanut butter from a jar. It's smooth and tastes mostly like roasted peanut, rather than added sugar or salt. I think I would have liked it to be a little saltier, just for the contrast with the sweetness of the ice cream, but J appreciated that it didn't conform to my preconceived notion of what chocolate and peanut butter should be. And I do have to agree, this is an original and purist take on chocolate-peanut butter, not something trying to imitate the classic candy.

Recommend to a friend? Yes
Repurchase? J + B: Yes

Review: The Udder Guy's "Roasted Coconut" Ice Cream

Today we bring you a review of an ice cream we actually had to purchase twice because somebody decided to eat half of the container without taking any photos. These things happen when you're dead tired and crave ice cream. Especially when that ice cream is The Udder Guy's Roasted Coconut, made by a local company that operates out of Cowichan Bay, Vancouver Island.

You know an ice cream manufacturer is grassroots when they don't have different cartons for each flavour. And the carton design looks like it might have been a high school art project. And the flavour is put on the rim of the lid on a sticker. And it's written in Comic Sans MS (my least favourite font of all time). But we'll try not to hold it against them. After all, it's what's inside that counts.

Hard to tell much from this photo, but basically what we have is a yellowy-white ice cream with bits of shredded and roasted coconut throughout (and not in skimpy amounts either). According to The Udder Guy's website, "We husk, shred and roast all our own coconut to avoid commercial shredded coconut, which often contains sodium meta-bisulphate, the most highly regulated additive in Canada. This product is banned in many parts of the world. (It is used to clean equipment in brewing companies.)" We don't really know if this is actually a common concern with commercially available shredded coconut, but if someone is willing to do that much work with their own coconuts, we're willing to take their word for it. It's times like this that I wish I had paid better attention in that food science class... 

So is the taste of this flavour enough to make us willing to overlook the less-than-flashy carton design? Heck yes it is!

This ice cream is smooth and creamy and doesn't feel or taste like it has a ton of chemicals in it, which is refreshing. The ice cream base has a nice, sweet coconut flavour to it that isn't TOO sweet or overpowering. It reminds me a bit of coconut extract rather than eating actual coconut. The coconut shreds are well toasted so the flavour really comes out, and you can tell that, unlike a lot of commercially available shredded coconut, it is not sweetened. Which is nice, because the sweetness of the ice cream itself is sufficient. We both really, really liked it. What this ice cream really tastes like is MORE, which definitely made having to purchase it twice easy to swallow!

Recommend to a friend? Definitely. This would pair well with a variety of desserts, and unless you hate coconut, you will probably love this. Don't shy away from the basic-looking carton: this stuff is dynamite!
Repurchase? J + B: Already have, and would again. Can't wait to try the other flavours by this local company!

Nanaimo: Waterfront Confections

With J away for a week in her home town, I had to find another temporary partner in crime for the sampling of ice cream. Luckily, I was able to convince my friend K that what we really needed after a day at school was some ice cream. And since the weather was nice, we decided to go down to the downtown waterfront promenade (boardwalk?) just past Maffeo Sutton Park to sample some ice cream from Waterfront Confections.

 This little shop is both an ice cream and a candy store. They have an excellent selection of modern and nostalgic sweets, including a good variety of imported licorice treats. K is a real candy connoisseur, so I'm sure he will be back at some point to check out the candy again, but for now we came for ice cream.

Although there are three shops on the promenade that serve ice cream, Waterfront Confections is the only one that makes its own ice cream on site (the others scoop brands like Island Farms that can be found at the grocery store). They had an interesting selection of flavours including the standard chocolate and vanilla, to tiger (my sister's favourite regardless of maker) and white chocolate-raspberry.

No matter how many times I rotate and save this image, it is still upside down...

But you get the idea.

 K opted for a triple scoop in a waffle cone. He chose white chocolate-raspberry, black cherry, and bubblegum. When asked why he chose those flavours, he said that he enjoys eating food that does not look natural in colour, and in that regard I think he made a good choice.

According the K, all three had a nice flavour. He appreciated that the bubblegum did not have pieces of gum in it, as usually when ice cream manufacturers opt to do this, the gum is of poor quality, and it's hard to chew gum and eat ice cream at the same time. The black cherry ice cream had a good quality of fruit in it, and the white chocolate-raspberry was probably more white chocolate than raspberry but captured both flavours well enough.

For my cone I chose to go with wild blackberry sorbet and seaside caramel.

Blackberries grow like weeds around here, so being able to find local wild blackberries should be relatively easy, even if it might be a pain to find enough to make this flavour regularly. The taste of it reminded me of a light blackberry jam flavour that wasn't too sweet or too tart. I chose seaside caramel, because since we were right by the water, I thought it would be appropriate to select one of their ice creams named with a nautical theme. (I believe one of the others was chocolate barnacle swirl, or something to that effect...obviously containing no real barnacles) Seaside caramel was a very buttery caramel taste and though I'm not sure it combined well with the blackberry sorbet, it was still very nice. I would buy both flavours again.

In conclusion, if you're looking for some ice cream and a nice stroll by the docks, skip the other places on the promenade and go to Waterfront Confections, where you can get home-made ice cream to top off your trip to the seaside.