Actually, I take that back. In my hometown in central Pennsylvania, there'd be folks in line for ice cream at The Igloo all throughout the winter months. And the Berkey Creamery at Penn State never closed even in the freezing cold. I guess it's just part of the culture when you live in places surrounded by dairy farms.
At any rate, we never shy away from newfangled ice cream from Trader Joe's even if it's cold outside, so let's dig in. The actual ice cream here is gingerbread flavored. There are also nice big pieces of ginger cookies and a molasses-esque "gingerbread swirl." I think a vanilla base would have worked a little better here than the spicy brown base they used. A bit more creamy and sweet would have helped put the ginger spices in check, in the manner of Cookie Butter Ice Cream.
Still, this is a decent ice cream flavor, particularly if you love gingerrific ginger snaps. Every few bites or so, we got a piece of powerful, sinus-clearing raw ginger. I didn't really mind it since it wasn't in every bite. There were enough sweet and desserty elements that the raw ginger bits helped to balance them out, and they blended well with the molasses, cinnamon, and nutmeg flavors.
$3.79 for the pint. In summary, this ice cream is a festive, high quality, specialty dessert. It'll hit the spot for folks that absolutely love ginger. For other folks like Sonia and me, it was fun to try just once, but we'll return to vanilla-based ice creams that balance out the ginger spices a little better in the future. Three and a half stars a piece from the beautiful wifey and me for Trader Joe's Gingerbread Ice Cream.
Bottom line: 7 out of 10.
The Midwest winters didn't slow my consumption. Probably wouldn't eat it outside, but indoors is always ice cream weather. Is this a new product? Seems familiar. My first bite I thought, eh, I've had better. But now it's almost gone and I'm sad. Thankfully have not gotten any raw ginger!
ReplyDeleteI think it was around last year, too. No raw ginger at all? Lucky.
DeleteI actually prefer ice cream in the winter; it stays cold instead of having to wolf it down in less than 3 minutes before it becomes a soupy mess. Also, the last thing I want on a hot summer day is sweet dairy. In the words of Ron Burgundy "It's so hot, milk was a bad choice".
ReplyDeleteMore on topic I adore this ice cream but it makes me pine for the long-discontinued lemon and triple gingersnap ice cream. That was a top 5 TJ's item for me.
Gotta love Ron Burgundy! And I totally agree about the lemon triple gingersnap stuff. One of the best flavors ever.
DeleteTrader Joe's is on a mission to hurt us. 😥
DeleteMy gingerbread swirl was literally a gingerbread flood whenever I put the spoon in. I had to tilt the container so it didn't ooze over the side. Never had that happen before!
ReplyDeleteWow! Sounds like you had way more swirl than we did...
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