As I hope you have figured out, tomorrow the winner of our GIVEAWAY will be announced. Some of you may be waiting to see what your Chocolate Priestess thinks about the five final products Blue Bunny sent her free coupons for -- in this case containers you can scoop your ice cream from. Tomorrow morning, I'll go through the process of selecting the winner who will have my favorites sent directly to his/her home. You can't enter the GIVEAWAY here, you must follow this link and follow the directions there.
Now on to today's Saturday Sacrament.
Previously I looked at five different novelty items from Blue Bunny and ranked them 1-5 in terms of their chocolate content and quality. I'm going to do the same today with five 1.75 quart containers of ice cream. How many of you remember when ice cream came in pints, two quarts and then gallon containers from the grocery stores? I remember. I also remember when one by one all the companies reduced the size of the two quart but not the price. Any way, let's get on with the five flavors I choose.
Four of the varieties were Premium meaning the highest fat and sugar content, or REAL ICE CREAM if you prefer. The first I used as a foundational taste in the form of Homemade Chocolate the idea being that I could then compare the other varieties which had chocolate. The color, as you can see, is not as deep as on the plastic container. This has a slight cocoa scent and a good cocoa flavor, slightly dark. While it is creamy and smooth as it should be it also has this strong sweet flavor that takes threatens to take over my taste buds.
There was a new variety that I wanted to try that I couldn't find at the Walmart where I used my freebie coupons so I turned to what I hoped would be another intense chocolaty variety: Super Fudge Brownie. This has the chocolate base above but a deeper brown color, dark pieces of brownies and a stronger chocolaty scent. The sweetness is still here but dampened when I hit a brownie piece that are fudgy in texture, even chewy, and very intensely chocolaty. These off-set the sweetness and give this an extra kick that made it my favorite of the five varieties I tried.
Chunky Chocolate Chip was another variety we tried for the simple structure of two flavors -- vanilla ice cream and chocolate chips that are really more large chocolate shavings or pieces than chips. Vanilla ice cream should taste like vanilla however this really tastes sweet and I wouldn't describe vanilla as sweet really, it is a unique flavor that I just didn't find here. In terms of the chips these are more pieces or curls of chocolate than chips. These have a rather bitter taste so I tried some by themselves and discovered the bitterness was intensified with the ice cream but not by themselves suggesting that my tongue is comparing the two essences. Sadly this is really cocoa with a lot of added ingredients, not even cocoa butter.
Now what if you added a few more flavors into that mix to get Super Chunky Cookie Dough ice cream? One thing that happens is that the chocolate scent is toned down but so is the sweetness of the ice cream and that allows the chocolate pieces, the same as in the previous variety, come through more strongly. The cookie pieces aren't too solid, they are a definite doughy taste while the chocolate pieces are more solid and even crunch a bit. I think this brand allowed more of the cocoa essence to come through compared to the previous one but neither were as chocolaty as the first two I tried.
Since I revealed on light or no sugar added for each of the four brands we've done featured reviews about this month, I continued that trend with the No Sugar Added Reduced Fat Ice Cream from Blue Bunny in the Mint Chocolate Chip version. This was also the mint flavor that one of our Acolytes and one of my family members wanted to try each time. Less added sugar resulted in a much less sweet ice cream and this allowed both the cooling mint and the bitter chocolate to come through more strongly. Normally I'm not a big fan of the mint because I believe it really tones down any chocolaty essence but in this cause the sweetness is what has been hiding the cocoa so without that added fat, the chocolate pieces could come through very well. In the future I want to try more of the no added sugar varieties and see if this observation proves correct.
When I first mentioned this giveaway of Blue Bunny I had a few private emails from people saying that they'd love to enter but frankly they found this brand too sweet. In my childhood memories that sweetness didn't stand out but then I was likely more drawn to sweet than really to chocolate as I am as an adult. A disappointed in three of these, the bottom three on the list below, is that they had cocoa but not chocolate itself and yes, that does taste different. The Chocolate Priestess must focus on the cocoa and chocolate content and from that view point, I rank these 1.75 quarts as follows from most chocolaty to least.
1. Super Fudge Brownie
2. Homemade Chocolate
3. No Sugar Added Reduced Fat Mint Chocolate Chip
4. Super Chunky Cookie Dough
5. Chunky Chocolate Chip
There you go, a total of ten ice cream products from Blue Bunny that I, my family and my Acolytes all tried so that you, Sisters and Brothers, can make a wise decision. Don't worry though, in August we'll have even more ice cream reviews and maybe I'll get to use my new ice cream maker and share that adventure with you all. Remember today, Saturday, July 30, 2011, is the LAST day to enter the GIVEAWAY so go to that post, read the guidelines and enter.
Now on to today's Saturday Sacrament.
Previously I looked at five different novelty items from Blue Bunny and ranked them 1-5 in terms of their chocolate content and quality. I'm going to do the same today with five 1.75 quart containers of ice cream. How many of you remember when ice cream came in pints, two quarts and then gallon containers from the grocery stores? I remember. I also remember when one by one all the companies reduced the size of the two quart but not the price. Any way, let's get on with the five flavors I choose.
When I first mentioned this giveaway of Blue Bunny I had a few private emails from people saying that they'd love to enter but frankly they found this brand too sweet. In my childhood memories that sweetness didn't stand out but then I was likely more drawn to sweet than really to chocolate as I am as an adult. A disappointed in three of these, the bottom three on the list below, is that they had cocoa but not chocolate itself and yes, that does taste different. The Chocolate Priestess must focus on the cocoa and chocolate content and from that view point, I rank these 1.75 quarts as follows from most chocolaty to least.
1. Super Fudge Brownie
2. Homemade Chocolate
3. No Sugar Added Reduced Fat Mint Chocolate Chip
4. Super Chunky Cookie Dough
5. Chunky Chocolate Chip
There you go, a total of ten ice cream products from Blue Bunny that I, my family and my Acolytes all tried so that you, Sisters and Brothers, can make a wise decision. Don't worry though, in August we'll have even more ice cream reviews and maybe I'll get to use my new ice cream maker and share that adventure with you all. Remember today, Saturday, July 30, 2011, is the LAST day to enter the GIVEAWAY so go to that post, read the guidelines and enter.
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