Ben & Jerry’s recently released a new flavor, but since I don’t consider myself a major mint fan, I was skeptical at first of picking up Chocolate Peppermint Crunch. They give you their decent chocolate base, peppermint and fudge swirls, and some little mint chocolate cookie balls. Throughout the pint, I really paid attention to each individual component. Overall this reminded me of Chocolate Therapy, with a mint cookie twist to it of course. After opening the pint, I already saw a few cookie pieces sitting on the top as well as a small white swirl. Ben & Jerry’s chocolate base seems to get mixed reviews, but I find it about average. It can’t quite compete with some of the smaller, craft ice cream operations that utilize chocolate ice cream. It’s not overly rich or powerful like some chocolates, but still translates into a decent base for many of the flavors for Ben & Jerry’s.
As far as the fudge and mint swirls are concerned, I’d give them a B. As soon as you open the pint you see the white and darker fudge swirls. The mint is not very strong, but has just enough flavoring to let you know what you’re dealing with. The fudge was on the richer side and more powerful than the chocolate ice cream. The trifecta of chocolate, fudge and mint work very well together. Even though I’m not typically a fan of mint in my ice cream, I could tolerate this because of its mildness.
The chocolate mint cookie balls were my favorite part of the pint. Even in my very scoop, it was evident that Ben & Jerry’s had included a ton of these. As with most mix-ins from Ben & Jerry’s these are included in a high amount. These cookie pieces had a nice crunch to them and another slight addition of mint flavoring, but still not enough to overpower the chocolate and fudge aspects of the pint. Chocolate Peppermint Crunch pleasantly surprised me and even though I’m not a mint guy, I was still impressed.
Where Bob Found It: Super Wal-Mart
Bob's Grade: B
