What on earth happened to Cherry Garcia?

[chappie]

Tried a pint of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia for the first time in ages, and something's definitely wrong. First pint of premium ice cream I haven't wanted to finish, and I used to like the flavor. Now, the base is flavorless, the chocolate chalky and almost acrid. But by far the worst offender are the "cherries," which suddenly taste like bad chemicals.

Did I get a bad batch or have they secretly changed the formula?

[rickster]

Food companies are constantly tweaking inredients and formulas to lower costs. If you haven't had any in a couple of years, you've probably missed 4 rounds of cost reductions and the difference will be really apparent.

[chappie]

I really wish someone else would try it. I mean, it's not just "not as good." It's horrible. These cherries taste like poison.

[Alcuin]

I recently tried some Cherry Garcia, after years of not eating it. I didn't like it at all, though I used to in the past. I didn't notice that it tasted chemically, but I did think the ice cream itself just tasted like sugar and not much else. The cherries were bad and did remind me of sugar-bomb imitation maraschino cherries though; the chocolate is also not good.

I chalked it up to the fact that I live in a town that has really good local ice cream and that's all I've been eating for a while. It seriously paled in comparison and I won't be eating it again.

[chappie]

Good point; I've had tons of good homemade ice cream over the years -- plus made it myself a lot -- so my tastes have evolved. I still think Cherry Garcia has bombed since then. And I've only grown to appreciate plain Haagen Dazs vanilla more and more over the same timeframe.

[pax]

Maybe it's the ice cream. Probably it's the ice cream. But maybe, just maybe, you've grown super spectacular taste buds!

Edited January 30, 2009 by pax (log)

[Lilija]

I think B&J changed everything about everything. For the worse. You could easily insert any flavor in this post, and have the same results. Even their vanilla has started to suck. Not only are the flavors off, but the texture is weird, it's all foamy and soft. I definitely pick up the chemical-ness that you're talking about too.

[chappie]

Did you taste the actual cherries? They're spit-out-worthy, and believe me, I'll finish anything -- even foods I'm not wild about, and especially ice cream.

It was like someone was playing a cruel experiment on me. Oh well, I'll just stick to my Haagen Dazs vanilla with a sprinkling of coarse sea salt and a splash of Grade B maple syrup -- absolute bliss.

[muichoi]

I'm not sure if your Haagen-Dazs is the same as what we get, but if it is it is massively overrated!

[Allura]

I noticed recently that B&J has been using "chocolatey" chips, not "chocolate." In other words, garbage. It's definitely turned me away.

[jeffreys1]

Ben & Jerry's was sold to Unilever in 2000. Although the founders are still engaged with the company, they do not hold any board or management position and are not involved in day-to-day management of the company. This was the start of the deterioration in quality that has led to the inferior product sold today.

[abadoozy]

I'm not sure if your Haagen-Dazs is the same as what we get, but if it is it is massively overrated!

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Really? Haagen-Dazs is about the only ice cream around here that doesn't have tons of additives - guar gum, ten different preservatives, etc. etc. The ingredients are typically "Cream, sugar, vanilla", stuff like that. And it comes through in the flavor. WAY better than Ben & Jerries and most other "premium" brands.

[petite tête de chou]

Tried a pint of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia for the first time in ages, and something's definitely wrong. First pint of premium ice cream I haven't wanted to finish, and I used to like the flavor. Now, the base is flavorless, the chocolate chalky and almost acrid. But by far the worst offender are the "cherries," which suddenly taste like bad chemicals.

Did I get a bad batch or have they secretly changed the formula?

←

Though I prefer smooth ice-creams, Cherry Garcia was my favorite ice-cream that had a lot of "stuff" in it. I'm very, very fond of the whole Black Forest flavor profile, and this ice-cream no longer *deserves* to be associated with rich, dark chocolate and deeply flavorful black cherries. I completely agree that whatever "flavor" remains is artificial tasting. It's what disappointment tastes like.

[Alex]

I noticed recently that B&J has been using "chocolatey" chips, not "chocolate." In other words, garbage. It's definitely turned me away.

←

That's correct. It changed a while ago. Feh.

The Cherry Garcia bars are still pretty good, albeit expensive, so long as one doesn't expect a duplicate of the original pint experience.