The grocery storeice cream aisleis a wondrous place.
Should you stick with your comforting go-to?
It’s a struggle.
Photos: The brands. Design: Eat This, Not That!
I nabbed a 1.5-quart container of the frozen dairy dessert for $4.49 at my local Giant Eagle market.
Meanwhile, the strawberry portion comes in a somewhat standard peachy pink shade with real berry chunks sprinkled in.
The taste:Strawberry is the only flavor with any personality.
Photo: Megan Hageman, Eat This, Not That!
I was able to score a pint of theSalted Dark Chocolateat a nearby Whole Foods priced at $8.39.
The look:Smooth in one uniform shade, landing somewhere between light brown and caramel.
It’s an unusual sensation and one which made me furrow my brow in confusion.
Photo: Megan Hageman, Eat This, Not That!
For dark chocolate superfans, this pint may just be a hit.
For more traditional chocolate lovers like me, though, it’s not something I would grab again.
No extraterrestrial beings or star-shaped add-ins disrupt the Super Moon’s lustrous surface.
Photo: Megan Hageman, Eat This, Not That!
The taste:Jeni’s says this flavor “tastes like candied violet and marshmallows.
Almost like cereal milk!”
I concur…kind of.
Photo: Megan Hageman, Eat This, Not That!
It does remind me of cereal milk.
Perhaps the other three flavors offer more in terms of celestial bliss.
The taste:Fluffy as a cloudeven straight out of the freezerbut overpowered by chocolate sauce.
Photo: Megan Hageman, Eat This, Not That!
In my first couple of bites, that’s all I could taste.
This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, I was just hoping for more balance and diversity in flavor.
The taste:I can’t say that I’ve tried Tillamook’s OG take on chocolate.
Photo: Megan Hageman, Eat This, Not That!
It’s rich and unquestionably creamy, just nothing over the top.
The brownie bits, on the other hand, certainly are.
The only problem is there isn’t nearly enough of them to go around.
Photo: Megan Hageman, Eat This, Not That!
The brand has also gone green with the launch ofPistachio Almond.
A 1.5-quart container of the ice cream cost me $4.99.
The look:An aesthetically pleasing shade of minty green with almond slivers lodged into nearly every crevice.
Photo: Megan Hageman, Eat This, Not That!
The taste:Smooth and refreshing.
Ben & Jerry’s Impretzively Fudged
Wacky flavor combinations are Ben & Jerry’s forte.
One such innovation that just hit shelves at the start of the year is theImpretzively Fudgedpint.
Photo: Megan Hageman, Eat This, Not That!
The look:A deep shade of brown, almost like dark chocolate.
An abundance of chocolate-covered pretzel chunks and tan-colored ripples are also packed tightly into the container.
The fudge all on its own is also delectable with a melt-in-your-mouth character.
Photo: Megan Hageman, Eat This, Not That!
Then, the pretzel “swirls” are their own kind of tasty.
Then, it raises the stakes even higher with the addition of peanut butter cups.
The look:Lightly tannot nearly as dark as the packaging displayswith pockets of white marshmallow fluff.
Sizeable half peanut butter cups stick out like a sore thumb, as do graham cracker pockets.
It makes for the sweetest and most sumptuous base that just gets better and better with each spoonful.
The soft graham cracker strips elevate the mix further with an almost buttery crust-like presence.
On top of it all, the chocolate and peanut butter cups are quality in their own right.
Two fresh flavors have emerged in the Haagen-Dazs lineup includingNew York Strawberry Cheesecakeand Vanilla Caramel Pecan.
As an avid cheesecake lover, I had to give the first a whirl.
The look:White ice cream with consistent ribbons of pink strawberry puree.
The taste:It really is like cheesecake, just bundled into a frozen dessert.
The strawberry sauce isn’t too jelly- or coulis-like as it sometimes can be in ice cream.
This one was an immediate yes in my book.
A Jeni’s pint once again cost me $9.29.
The look:Cream-colored with scattered divots of pie crust.
The taste:At its core, it’s sneakily similar to Ben and Jerry’s PB S’more.
But, it’s somehow even creamier with a deliciously simplified peanut butter nature.
Jumbo-sized add-ins don’t detract from the overall experience.
Instead, the crust chunks are more sparing but pop up frequently enough as a chewy and pleasant surprise.
They almost remind me of a cinnamon sugar donut or something similar.
Maybe it’s the nostalgia factor that has me awe-struck.
