Once again I've turned to some UK bloggers to provide some insight into some of Ben & Jerry's new flavors available abroad. This time, Kevin from Kev's Snack Reviews, gives us the insider scoop on another one of their new Core offerings, Peanut Butter Me Up.
It wasn't so long ago that fellow snacks blogger Creamy Steaks wrote a post decrying the lack of interesting ice cream flavours here in the UK. And it's true; whilst the US are treated to new Ben & Jerry's varieties such as Red Velvet Cake and Key Lime Pie, the most exciting new flavours we get here in the UK are Karamel Sutra and Apple Pie. Luckily, Ben & Jerry's UK must have sensed our pain and have recently added this new "Peanut Butter Me Up" variety to their "Core" range, as well as a "Blondie Brownie" variety. Described as "A raspberry jam core surrounded by peanut butter and vanilla ice creams with chocolatey covered peanut butter cups", I found this in Sainsbury's for a hefty £4.99.
The ice cream contains only 4% peanuts, which had me doubting how "peanutty" it would actually taste. My suspicions turned out to be right, as it didn't turn out to be quite the intense peanut butter and chocolate experience I had hoped. The "jam core" took centre stage and played a big part in the overall taste. I guess the idea was to emulate the classic "Peanut butter and jelly" (PB&J) combination popular in America (over there "jelly" is the same thing as "jam" here in the UK). The "jam" was really more of a fudgey, firm sauce, which tasted ok but there was far too much of it. It overpowered the peanut butter ice cream on the one side and the vanilla ice cream & peanut butter cups on the other. The PB cups & vanilla ice cream portion was very tasty; each little cup delivered a nice hit of peanut butter and chocolate, which was delicious combined with the vanilla ice cream. The peanut butter ice cream portion was nice and nutty, but a little tame. I would have preferred more of the vanilla ice cream & PB cups to be honest!
Don't get me wrong, this is a tasty ice cream from Ben & Jerry's, but I think the peanut butter cups should have been the star attraction. The jam "core" is an interesting idea and I guess PB&J fans will enjoy it, but it's not really my thing. Overall, I think this "Peanut Butter Me Up" is a nice idea and it's good to finally get some interesting Ben & Jerry's flavours in the UK. Personally though I would like a tub of peanut butter cups and ice cream without the jam.
Where Kev Found It: Sainbury's (in the UK)
Kev's Grade: C
