Considering this blog has been in existence for well over a year and holds well over 300 personal reviews, there’s hardly any flavors from Ben & Jerry’s that haven’t been featured. From exclusives to limited batches to scoop shop only options, only a few have been able to evade my camera lens. Although I’ve seen the pint pictured above a few times in Walmart and passed, I finally figured their Vanilla Caramel Fudge was intriguing enough to warrant a review. While the ingredient list of vanilla ice cream with swirls of caramel & fudge seems to way to simple to keep my taste buds entertained, I reminisced on the flowing river of caramel I found in my pint of Karamel Sutra. If they had decided to include these thick, liquid swirls at an above average volume, Vanilla Caramel Fudge could possibly be a pint I had been sleeping on.
As soon as I popped off the top to this 280 calorie per serving, pint of super-premium, I knew I had made a solid decision by picking this one up. While most of the first layer was comprised of Ben & Jerry’s off-white vanilla base, a substantial portion was made up of the sizable swirls that held the lid hostage as I tried to pry it upwards. I use my first bite to reacquaint myself with Ben & Jerry's Fairtrade vanilla base. The ice cream is sweet, simple, and although it lacks the complexity of a vanilla bean, should work well with the thick swirls to come. I run into the sticky caramel sauce first. The golden swirl strings up and out of the pint as I pull some out.
The rich flavors of buttery caramel mix perfectly with the vanilla base, but only gets better from here. The darker, fudge swirl not builds on the richness of the caramel, but combines with the other two flavors to round out the classic vanilla, chocolate, caramel combination. Even though this one wasn’t overly complicated, Ben & Jerry’s still shows why they’re considered one of the best when it comes to time-tested combinations. They've taken a flavor like Vanilla Caramel Fudge to remind us how good some of their staple flavor ingredients can be. With that said, brownies, cookies or some type of crunchy mix-in could have easily raised this to an A.
Where I Found It: Walmart
Grade: B
