The Haagen-Dazs Topic

[H. du Bois]

Oooh, good topic. Depending on my mood,

Chocolate chocolate chip - the flavor that taught me to like chocolate ice cream. (I was a vanilla girl when I was young - have spent much of my adult life rectifying that imbalance).

Vanilla swiss almond, because it's sublime.

I have a bunch of female friends who went beserk when Dulce de Leche came on the market.

E.

[kaneel]

My fav is their chocolate from the ones i've tried.

Their dulce de leche was alittle too sweet for me.

I think i am gonna try a new flavor tommorow when i go grocery shopping

MMM ....black walnut and i wanna try all the flavors they have in japan

Does anybody know if they make pistachio or almond /amaretto ice cream ...it is my fav flavor these days!!

[Pan]

If you want to know if Haagen Dazs makes a flavor, just check their website (linked to in the first post in this thread).

John, the reason I mentioned artisanal gelato is that although I do agree that it's a different product from what I guess I could call regular (or, if you like, premium) American ice cream, it's similar enough for me to compare the two products and consider the gelato (i.e., such as I had in good gelaterie in Siena) far superior. But yes, Haagen-Dazs puts out a consistently good product, or rather, many consistently good products. And as for the flavors I don't like, that just means more containers of them are available to those who like them.

[JohnL]

If you want to know if Haagen Dazs makes a flavor, just check their website (linked to in the first post in this thread).

John, the reason I mentioned artisanal gelato is that although I do agree that it's a different product from what I guess I could call regular (or, if you like, premium) American ice cream, it's similar enough for me to compare the two products and consider the gelato (i.e., such as I had in good gelaterie in Siena) far superior. But yes, Haagen-Dazs puts out a consistently good product, or rather, many consistently good products. And as for the flavors I don't like, that just means more containers of them are available to those who like them.

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Good points Pan.

I think the one thing that is amazing is how these major food conglomerates seem to have left HD alone (and may have improved upon it by adding a wide range of flavors).

With any superb ice cream (yes I would include the better efforts in the gelato area) the keys for me are ingredients. Do the basic flavors actually taste like they should--HD strawberry really does have a taste as though one took fresh strawberries and added them to a really good vanilla ice cream.

Also--many ice creams are simply too sweet and thus cloying.

Finally--maybe the most overlooked attribute--mouthfeel.

A really good ice cream relies upon its natural butterfat content for a smoothness and richness.

Too many ice creams today (mostly commercial) are loaded up with stabilizers and other stuff--carageneen and guar gum--and have a gummy or bubble gum consistency and they melt in your mouth differently. Ben and Jerry's for eg. (recently, Andy Rooney did a bit on how cream and half and half often contains these stabilizers--I look for "organic" cream and half and half now).

[Alex]

I recently tried a new flavor: almond hazelnut swirl ice cream. It includes hazelnut paste and little almond bits, and it tastes like a kind of poor man's hazelnut gelato. Since I loved hazelnut gelato (usually cioccolato e nocciola) in Italy, I can enjoy this Haagen-Dazs flavor here.

I also noticed an alluring new flavor on the Haagen-Dazs website: english toffee ice cream. I want some of that! Anyone tried it yet? I haven't seen it in stores so far.

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The almond hazelnut swirl sounds wonderful. Unfortunately, the web site indicated it's not being sold (at least not yet) in my area.

[misstenacity]

After whining further up this thread about my college-age love of B&J Frozen Yogurt in Blueberry Cheesecake flavor (and how they no longer made it), I was cruising the HD website today and saw this:

Light Blueberry Cheesecake!!!

Now to just watch for when it hits the store and I'm all over it....

For the regular HD connoiseurs here, I do want to let you know that today I finally ate some REGULAR, PLAIN, VANILLA Haagen Dazs all by itself. (Not the vanilla bean variety, just "vanilla" - not sure the flavor difference)

It was fantastic, but in my frozen delights I think I still prefer to get down and dirty with the dark chocolate. Yum.

Andrea

http://tenacity.net

[Kris]

I don't know about sherbet, but I loved the "Sorbet and Cream" line they had years ago. Vanilla Ice Cream with a swirl of tart sorbet running through it. I remember orange, raspberry and lime. Lime was the tartest, my favorite, and it was about the same white color as the vanilla, so it was more of a tart surprise when you ate it.

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Yes, the raspberry sorbet and vanilla ice-cream was divine. I loved it! But alas...they don't make it anymore.

I also used to like the blueberry/vanilla combo and the honey vanilla flavors, but those are history as well.

HD is my favorite brand of commercially made ice-cream. The flavor I buy on a particular day is totally dependent on my mood and what my taste buds are craving at that moment. But some of my favorites are:

Chocolate - just plain old chocolate, which is what is in my freezer as I type this.

Vanila Fudge

Strawberry - it tastes so pure to me compared to other commercial brands, with real strawberries and a natural looking strawberry color

Chocolate Chip cookie dough

Cookies and Cream

Rum Raisin - I love the fact that the raisins are rum soaked.

Chocolate Chocolate Chip

I've tried the dulce de leche (too sweet) and tres leches (didn't like at all - the flavor seemed insipid and lacking).

[kumquatmay]

in high school I worked for the local HD. Interestingly I actually lost weight working, despite the sundae dinners.

My favorite, which I don't think they're making anymore, was the soft serve raspberry sorbet. That, swirled with vanilla yogurt, or the vanilla ice cream, was to die for. the perfect soft consistency, and just sweet enough. Man, i miss that stuff!

[Alexis]

HD is, IMO, the best mass-produced ice-cream... and I've been eating it since I could hold a spoon. (New York native).

Chocolate and strawberry are my all time faves. And you can tell their strawberry is the real deal because it's not luridly pink.

The carrot cake was part of the "Extraas" line about 10 years ago--there was a brownie one that was excellent too and got brought back briefly. I miss sorbet & cream myself but you can sort of duplicate it at home with a pint of vanilla and a pint of your favourite sorbet.

Some of the new flavors are a bit too complicated but I try them when I go home anyway. I like the strawberry shortcake even if it is just strawberry with cake pieces. Mango is good.

We don't get nearly enough flavours here and they're about £3.50 for 500ml

British supermarket ice-cream is terrible though. Over here they have to specify if it's dairy... because cheap stuff is made with VEGETABLE OIL!!! ANd even fairly expensive stuff often has stabilisers in it. Sigh.

[ErinM]

Disclosure: I rarely eat ice cream. Not that I don't like it, I just don't keep it around the house.

With that said, my favorite HD flavor is the chocolate chocolate chip mint. I think the last time I ate it was sometime in the 1990s. I'm glad to hear it can still be found in the scoop shops...next time I'm near one, I may need to check it out!

[Gigi4808]

The Mayan Chocolate is hands down the best new flavor since Dulce De Leche.

But for classic's it is hard to beat the coffee.

[H. du Bois]

Tried the black raspberry chocolate chip recently. Divine.

[Gigi4808]

Tried the black raspberry chocolate chip recently.  Divine.

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thank you for mentioning that- I have been wanting to try it but was worried that the raspberry would have that cough syrup like taste. I will be picking up a pint!

[Cook456]

in high school I worked for the local HD.  Interestingly I actually lost weight working, despite the sundae dinners.

My favorite, which I don't think they're making anymore, was the soft serve raspberry sorbet.  That, swirled with vanilla yogurt, or the vanilla ice cream, was to die for.  the perfect soft consistency, and just sweet enough.  Man, i miss that stuff!

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They sell HD raspberry sorbet covered vanilla bars in packages in the supermarket. They sorta remind you of a creamsicle, only so much better.

[liri]

in high school I worked for the local HD.  Interestingly I actually lost weight working, despite the sundae dinners.

My favorite, which I don't think they're making anymore, was the soft serve raspberry sorbet.  That, swirled with vanilla yogurt, or the vanilla ice cream, was to die for.  the perfect soft consistency, and just sweet enough.  Man, i miss that stuff!

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I have some of this in my freezer right now. Still good.

[Alex]

I just picked up a pint (and ate some, of course) of Eggnog, a limited edition flavor. Pretty darn good, although I don't think I'd want to eat it on a regular basis. Still no Mayan Chocolate here.

[Jason Perlow]

The Mayan Chocolate is hands down the best new flavor since Dulce De Leche.

But for classic's it is hard to beat the coffee.

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Agreed. Pure genius to do a flavor that tastes like a super-intense version of Ibarra. The cinammon with the fudge is brilliant.

What flavor can we expect next? Brazo Gitano cake? Flan/Creme Brulee?

[cathrynapple]

yes. i've bought three pints of the mayan chocolate this week. the texture alone is AMAZING. unlike anything i've ever put in my mouth. it's so creamy and teh cinnamon puts everything over the edge. it's dangerous, i tell you!

[jenc]

classic: Honey vanilla - lots of good memories eating this with my dad and sister.

current: caramel cone explosion - first discovered this in the bar format. loooove this flavour.

light: raspberry sorbet - it's uh... healthy!! I usually scoff at light anything, but this one is really yummy. I don't eat it because it's 97% fat-free!

Need to try: Mayan Chocolate and this Pineapple Coconut everyone's talking about..! Though I don't think the latter is available to me...

Edited June 15, 2006 by jenc (log)

[Pan]

[...]What flavor can we expect next? Brazo Gitano cake? Flan/Creme Brulee?

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Crème brulée ice cream has been available in my neighborhood convenience stores for months if not a year or more. I'm sorry to say that I don't find it very interesting; too insipidly creamy and not enough burnt (brulée) taste, from what I remember.

I like the looks of that Mayan Chocolate flavor, but lately, I've been sticking to yogurt.

[Jason Perlow]

I like the looks of that Mayan Chocolate flavor, but lately, I've been sticking to yogurt.

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Ideally, a creme brulee ice cream should be custardy, have a strong vanilla flavor, and have peices of burnt sugar in it. If thats not what the H-D flavor tastes like then they failed at it.

[annarborfoodie]

The bad thing about the Mayan Chocolate, is that I found myself eating more and more to get to the swirls of cinnamon. The pint did not last long in our house!

[jenc]

Tried the Mayan Chocolate - is it sacriligious to say that I don't love this one? I think I need to get a tub of Leche and do a scoop of each...

[tryska]

The bad thing about the Mayan Chocolate, is that I found myself eating more and more to get to the swirls of cinnamon.  The pint did not last long in our house!

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this my main beef with ben and Jerry's as i do the same thing with their pints.

My Haagen-Dasz mainstays are cookies and cream, and everyonce in a while rocky road as far as mints go. I like Baileys to make guiness floats with.

I'm going to have to give the Mayan Chocolate a whirl.

And i'm embarassed to say i've never had their Dulce De Leche. But i think i will - I bet my cat will be all over me to get some. (he only responds to Breyer's Caramel Praline Crunch at the moment)

[CMA]

This is a two-part Haagen-Dazs/celebrity-consumption related posting:

Back in the early 1990's I was living in Atlanta, Georgia and attending Georgia State University to earn my M.S. degree. I attended grad school part-time and also worked full time to support myself. At one point I was working as an assistant manager of the Haagen-Dazs store which probably still is located in the food court area of the basement of Lenox Mall. Being an assistant manager I worked the daytime hours when the store was less busy so administrative-type work could get done with less interruption, and attended classes in the evenings.

Part of my job was to also wait on customers while I was working, as needed, since the staffing ratio was typically lowest during the day. One day, if I recall correctly, then it was a weekday in the early afternoon, and I was out in the front counter area by myself for whatever purpose. I noticed a group of people (5-8) who appeared to be approaching our counter. So, I quickly finished what I was doing and prepared to wait on them. I looked up, and standing there were the two Milli Vanilli performers, two women who looked like they very well could be hookers, and several other non-descript males. They had on clothes/outfits which you would expect Milli Vanilli to be wearing at the time, and apparently were not attempting be incognito that day. Also, the group had a weird collective smell. I'll probably never figure out exactly what that smell was, but I do know it was something funky/smoky I had never smelled before or since (and no, it wasn't patchouli or marijuana or that famous Indian incense whatever it's called...I do know what those smell like).

At the time I was in my late 20's, so I instantly knew who they were and was totally surprised to see them standing there. Wow! It's Milli Vanilli in person! Of the two Milli Vanilli guys, only the taller one spoke, and unfortunately he was pompous, insolent, and condescending. UGH! The other, smaller one did not speak, but one of the other non-descript guys ordered for him. I don't recall what either one ordered, but I do remember the taller, offensive one wanted five flavors in one cup.

The Milli Vanilli guys were the only ones who got any ice cream, and the females accompanying them never spoke. As all this was happening a large crowd of onlookers had congregated behind their little group, and no one else approached the counter for the 5 to 10 minutes they were there. Then they quickly walked away and the crowd parted. After they departed everyone rushed up and asked for whatever it was they had gotten, and I gave whatever it was to them...but, again, I have since forgotten.

The other celebrity experience I had while working for the same Haagen-Dazs shop in the basement of Lenox Mall occurred in a similar manner as the Milli Vanilli encounter. But, this encounter was one-on-one with Steven Tyler of Aerosmith. I will sum up the experience by saying it was actually a bit creepy, but at the same time truly exciting. I have definitely enjoyed Aerosmith's music for years (not a BIG fan, but generally like their music) and was astonished to come to face-to-face with him so unexpectedly.

I was again in the counter area on a weekday in the early afternoon when the Mall was generally pretty empty. I was doing something in one of the ice cream cases up front by myself (preparing an order or something probably), and in my peripheral vision I see someone rapidly walking directly toward the counter. I look up and I quickly realize it's Steven Tyler from Aerosmith! What!!!??? At this point in my memory everything slows down to a movie-like dream sequence. Up close, he looked sort of bizarre. He had strikingly prominent cheekbones covered by a preternaturally taut and smooth skin that was somewhat unnaturally tinted, and had noticably large and wide, dark eyes. He was dressed mostly in black as I recall, and his unique appearance made him almost surreal. He spoke politely and with good diction, but somewhat quietly.

He ordered one scoop of Honey Vanilla in a cup. I scooped it and handed it to him. When he reached out to grasp the cup, his hand resembled a claw during its seemingly ultra-slow-motion movement to reach out and grasp the cup. As his fingers laced around the cup, I noticed his fingernails had both black and white nail polish on each nail. The black and white polishes on his nails were divided vertically with one half being black and the other half being white. Creepy! Then he handed me a five dollar bill with his other hand sporting the same strikingly painted fingernails. Creepy again! I set the five dollar bill on the register rather than in the drawer with all the other money because I intended to replace his with my own five dollar bill later, and keep his as a souvenir which I did.

While I was looking down to make change for him, he apparently walked away because when I looked up he was suddenly gone. That's when I first noticed a very dense crowd of people had formed a wide ring around the store, and had been watching this whole encounter transpire. I slowly closed the drawer and thought to myself...well, he must have just left the balance as my tip, after all he is Steven Tyler...so I put the five dollar bill in my pocket. As I'm doing this I happen to notice Steven Tyler walking back towards me. He got to the counter and said, "You forgot to give me my change". Then I sheepishly said something along the lines of, "I'm sorry for that, but when I made your change and looked up to give it to you, you had just disappeared". He said, "I went to throw away a napkin in the trash". To which I basically said, "o.k.". So, I quickly reopened the register, gave him his change, and then he walked directly away from the counter through the crowd. He did not return again. Immediately after he left, that large crowd rushed up the counter and demanded to know what he had gotten. I told them it was the Honey Vanilla. That tub was emptied and then we quickly went through another.

These couple of interesting, fun (mostly...see tall Milli Vanilli guy part), and totally unexpected life experiences with a Haagen-Dazs twist happened within just a couple of months of each other...hope you enjoyed reading them!

Edited June 16, 2006 by CMA (log)