If you haven't noticed by now, we're in the midst of a salted caramel epidemic. Having just endured the widespread obsession with red velvet, it seems like every company has been churning out some form of this sweet and salty combination. I've enjoyed all the purple, limited-edition pints prior to this, so I was interested to see what the dignified folks at Häagen-Dazs would be able to pull off given these ingredients. Their flavors always seem to land slightly higher than average on my rating scale, but with the stout competition in this category, how would they measure up?
In true Häagen-Dazs fashion, their fancy description uses a smooth writing style and emits confidence in their finished product. They've combined their luscious caramel with a slight sprinkling of fluer de sel, a traditional sea salt, along with a sweet-cream base and chocolate truffles to create this trio of favorites. The thought of a Häagen-Dazs salty swirl has me salivating. After peeling off the patented seal, the sweet cream ice cream looks pretty basic, but the chocolate truffles lying right beneath the surface bode well.
The sweet cream base is about as close to vanilla as you're going to find, just a bit more complex. But because it's made by Häagen-Dazs, it's smooth, creamy and the perfect foundation to show off something salty. Other flavors like Talenti's Sea Salt Caramel and Jeni's Splendid Salty Caramel incorporate the brininess right into their base ice cream, but like Ben & Jerry's Late Night Snack, Häagen-Dazs allows their swirl do the talking for them. It doesn't take too long before I'm spoon-deep in a salty caramel pool.
Although it's petite and only comes in dainty doses, this swirl is sensational. Perfectly balanced, this creates a combination that doesn't bounce back and forth between sweetness and saltiness like others, but creates another flavor profile entirely. The consistency is top-notch, too. I'm still baffled how these companies can keep caramel so soft and stringy, despite being frozen for most of it's life. The caramel swirl in one of their other flavors, Häagen-Dazs Dulce le Leche Caramel, is simply no comparison to it's salty counterpart.
I could have been content simply with the swirl, but then come these Talenti truffle impersonators. Even sharing the same three ridges on top, these tiny truffles bring the same high quality ingredients as those from Talenti. Häagen-Dazs is rather reserved when it comes to mix-ins, but not here. There are way more of these mini-Rolo candies that I had expected. At least one of these made their way onto the end of my spoon every other bite or so. The added richness from the chocolate, along with the soft and chewy filling of the truffles were a nice compliment to the other components. But when combined with sweet cream and salty caramel, it created one of the best Häagen-Dazs flavors available.
Where I Found It: Super Wal-Mart
Grade: A
