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.