Tuesday, March 18, 2008

New product Wednesday, in Dallas stores: Haagen Dazs Reserve Series ice cream

By Teresa Gubbins

The Haagen-Dazs Reserve ice cream series is finally showing up in Dallas-area stores. The line was initially introduced in spring '07, but sold only in limited parts of the country, which of course excluded Dallas. (And if you look at the list of places it is officially available, Texas still doesn't show up.) But I bought two at a Kroger, and other Kroger stores confirmed that they have them.

The Reserve is Haagen-Dazs' foray into artisanal, single-origin foodie la-la -- just check out the awesome copywriter descriptions of the flavors, as well as HD's silly attempt to pair the ice creams with wine and other ingredients.

But marketing aside, the flavors intrigued, and the two sampled satisfied in flavor and novelty value. (How anyone can be content with a tub of Blue Bell vanilla day after day is beyond me.)

As of this week, there are six flavors (there were only five last week, fleur de sel just got added), as follows, with relevant descriptions cribbed from the HD site:

Fleur de Sel caramel: "Fleur de Sel caramels covered in a chocolaty coating blended into caramel ice cream with caramel ribbons and French sea salt accents. Crisp, salty nuances harmonize with rich, creamy caramel for the ultimate combination of sweet and salty." (See what I'm saying about the copywriting.)

This was one of the two sampled. The ribbons of caramel were appealingly fat, and if you like chunks of stuff in your ice cream (I do not), you'll enjoy the chocolate-coated caramels, approximately the size of an edamame bean. The big deal here is the salt, salty, salty caramel, whoa, salty and sweet, how crazy. In Dallas, we've sort of been there and done that thanks to Paciugo's Mediterranean sea salt caramel gelato, but HD's fleur de sel is surely more interesting than the one-note (no salt!) dulce de leche.

Brazilian açai berry sorbet: "Nutritious and complex Açai berry ... notes of sweet blueberries, wild blackberries and a hint of grape, all delivered through a velvety, pear-like texture." Açai: v.v. hot right now, almost as hot as pomegranate (see below).

Amazon Valley chocolate: "Deep, rich chocolate and hints of chili, roasted nutshells, and truffles. ... made with the rare Criollo cocoa bean—the exquisite ingredient that gives this ice cream its intense and nutty flavor." One site calls the Criollo "the Rolls Royce of cocoa beans", favored by the new wave of chocolate makers such as Scharffenberger and El Rey.

Pomegranate chip: "Creamy mixture of tart pomegranate, sweet cranberries and ripe, sun-warmed grapes. Next to arrive are melting chunks of intense dark chocolate." This was the second flavor tried. Keeping in mind that I'm not a fan of junk in my ice cream, this guy's observation that it'd be better without the chocolate chips sounded right on, though I wonder if straight pomegranate ice cream would be boring?

Hawaiian Lehua honey and sweet cream: "Lehua honey comes from the remote volcanic slopes of Mauna Loa on the Big Island of Hawaii. There, honeybees gather nectar from the Ohia tree's fragrant Lehua blossoms. These beautiful red flowers are the unique flavor source for this rare, amber honey. Rich, sumptuous waves of cream mingle with evocative glimpses of tropical honey. The rare and delicate texture of the Lehua honey is entirely different from any honey you've ever tasted." Howzat for a description!

Toasted coconut sesame brittle: "Toasted coconut steeped in cream and coconut milk, then blended with crunchy pieces of ginger-infused sesame brittle. ... with a hint of ginger." The interesting story behind this flavor is that it was first created for a Haagen-Dazs contest that aired on the Food Network; Sticky Toffee Pudding won the contest but some people thought this flavor sounded promising and it would appear that HD agrees.

Related stories

• New product Wednesday, at Dallas-area Braum’s: Flavors for spring ‘08 (April 16, 2008)
• New product Wednesday, in Dallas stores: Haagen Dazs is on a honey kick (April 2, 2008)
• Week in View: Good Friday Edition (March 20, 2008)

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• Food and Drink

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