Ben & Jerry's Dairy Ice Cream, Chocolate Fudge Brownie

I was rushing through our local Asda the other evening, where we tend to get the odd bits and pieces only, what with Morrisons, and surprisingly the Co-op being our main groceries/food providers. I’ve recently become addicted to Asda’s cranberry juice, so while trawling the aisles on my way to the checkout, I noticed a special offer on Ben & Jerry’s ice cream range of buy two for £5. I believe they normally retail around the £3.30 mark, or so. Despite that, I still resisted what I thought was still an excessive price, despite all the good reviews I read about their products.

Cue, literally, the following day, and Susan comes up with an opinion about their caramel chew chew variety, siting exactly the same offer aforementioned. Susan’s op had me salivating from the start, and cursing myself for being a tight old so and so for not buying some the preceding day, when I’ve been well known to waste money on frivolous and needless things and foodstuffs.

Off I drag myself in the car to Asda the following day, rushing to the back end of the supermarket, where they keep the lovely stuff in the freezer compartments, loading my basket with not 1,2, or 3, but 4 500ml tubs. I’ve got the caramel chew chew, chocolate fudge brownie, and phish food varieties. Somehow, I did not fancy the Baked variety, don’t ask me why.

First to grace my gob was the caramel one, with big chocolate pieces with……caramel! Enriched with thick swirls of …….caramel! That was followed by the phish variety, with marshmallows and thick crunchy chocolate pieces. Last, but not least was my favourite of all, CFG (choc fudge brownie) – absolutely delicious, even in this weather.

Ben & Jerry pride themselves on using the most natural ingredients possible, with rich, wholesome lashings/fillings of whatever the ice cream concerned is, be it chocolate, biscuits, caramel and so on. I have no quarrels with them there. The helpings in each variety were certainly the best I’ve had up till now, and I have tasted many brands in the past to justify that statement. The ice cream was smooth, milky, rich in texture and chocolaty to the max in taste. The tub was packed to the absolute top that my mum had difficulty opening the cover at first as the chocolate was stuck and packed to the brim inside. The brownie helpings were aplenty with even distribution all throughout. They had exactly the right moistness and softness, not too hard, not too soft, and combined heavenly with the creamy tasty chocolate .

Full list of ingredients;

Cream 25.79%, liquid sugar, skimmed milk, chocolate fudge brownie 12.65% (sugar, water, wheat flour, cocoa 7.85%, butter, eggs, egg whites, sugar, soy flour, salt, raising agent : sodium bicarbonate, vanilla extract), cocoa 4.91%, egg yolks, stabilisers : guar gum and carrageenan.

The product is obviously to be kept frozen and eaten on day of purchase if it is not kept frozen. One guess on how long it took us to demolish the four tubs between the three of us. Less than 30 hours would be a good guesstimate.

So, quality of product has been proven beyond doubt. What about value for money? Despite the fact that there was a considerable saving with this special offer, at £2.50 a pop, this ice cream is still not cheap, though compared to another famous brand, which tried to run them out of business, allegedly (only adding this word in case of legal prosecution by Haggen-Daz, like I care!). That said, it is quite easily the tastiest chocolaty-based ice cream I’ve ever tasted (Carte D’or runs a close-ish second).

All varieties come in very nice paper-based packaging, as opposed to plastic, with appetising colourings in relevance to the variety concerned. We are also honoured by the presence of two cow images on the back, one staring right at the consumer, giving the distinct impression of the caption ‘watcha lookin’ at, come have a go if you think you’re hard enough’ – must be that hippy streak in Ben & Jerry.

The package lists full ingredients in various languages, but misses any calorie information, so as not to feel guilty afterwards.

Anyone interested in further information can visit the official website at www.benjerry.comENJOY