In the past, I have loved Blue Bell's Christmas season offerings, and when I noticed that they added a new one, Fudge Divinity, well, I just had to try it. The Informant's official review was complimentary, which piqued my interest, and I was especially intrigued by what a "marshmallow ice cream" might taste like, as i could not recall every having eaten this flavor of base, from Blue Bell or any other ice cream company. Combine this with the promise that Fudge Divinity contains roasted pecans and a milk chocolate swirl and I was primed to dig in.
Opening the lid, I noticed what looked like a typical vanilla-fudge type ice cream: An off-white colored base with a few swirls of chocolate syrup. Digging my spoon through the mix did reveal the pieces of roasted pecan and more milk chocolate swirl, which improved the visual aesthetics of the ice cream, but for someone who craves big chunks of mix-ins, not very impressive. However, what turned out to be quite impressive was the taste of Fudge Divinity once i got around to transferring some from spoon to mouth. The roasted pecan pieces were plentiful, as were the ribbons of milk chocolate. Even better, the milk chocolate ribbons blended very well with the ice cream and nuts, achieving a taste synergy I doubt could have been achieved had Blue Bell used one of their thicker, chewier fudge sauces instead. Best of all was the base: I am not a very big fan of marshmallows, as i find their taste too sweet and their texture too sticky and fluffy for my palette. And, I feared Blue Bell might try to pass off a vanilla base with a hint of marshmallow flavoring as a "marshmallow ice cream". But my goodness! Blue Bell has managed to create a base that is definitely marshmallow through-and-through, and yet has the rich, creamy texture of an ice cream, not the fluffy stickiness of actual marshmallow. From the first spoonful, I was taken aback by the rich flavor of this base, so much so that I actually preferred scoops that were almost all-base to ones that were mixes of the base and the nuts and chocolate sauce!
Overall, Fudge Divinity is a tasty treat. You really do get the experience of eating a good piece of fudge divinity candy. That said, I do have some qualms that prevent a top-level grade. Since the pecan pieces are small, they don't really add much flavor, rather they serve as a kind of crunchy experience in the mouth. Blue Bell should have used larger pecan chunks, of the kind they use in their Pecan Praline flavor. Also, I'm not sure why this flavor is in the Christmas lineup, as it doesn't seem to have much seasonal relevance. I couldn't help but notice that Fudge Divinity has taken the place of their awesome Gingerbread House flavor in this rotation, and it suffers by the comparison. And finally, I still prefer ice creams that are loaded with mix-ins, and this isn't one of those. For those reasons, I will eat several tubs of their A-graded Christmas Cookies before I revisit this flavor. Still, well worth the 3200 calories I gained by eating the tub.
Grade: B