2nd Street Creamery: Copper Kettle Caramel
When I went to Casey's General Store not too long ago, the other 2nd Street Creamery flavor I picked up was Copper Kettle Caramel. I bought the Cannoli di Nonni because I was really excited about it, and I bought this flavor because I had read a really amazing review of it on the blog The Ice Cream Informant. Not that I wasn't excited about this flavor or anything, but so many people are doing salted caramel flavors these days that I am just skeptical about all of them. I have had some bad salted caramel ice creams. But cannoli isn't done much so I have instant respect for a brand that decides to tackle it. But I generally trust The Ice Cream Informant reviews so I was excited for this pint.
As you know from Madeline and I, what makes this brand special is that amazing stories inspire their flavors. The description of this flavor is Caramel Flavored Ice Cream with Caramel Ribbon and Sea Salt Fudge Truffles
The short version, found on the pint, of this flavor's story reads, "We created this flavor for the women of the Hospital Auxiliary, who are famous for a sweet and buttery little delicacy known as the Auxiliary Caramel. Here's to you, ladies!"
The long version of the story, found on their website reads, "Because everyone can't live in Le Mars, we wanted to share one of the tastiest and best kept secrets in town. Known for their home-made candy sales, among other delicious confections like chocolate candies and fudge, the women of the Hospital Auxiliary are famous for a little delicacy known as the Auxiliary Caramel. Available ONLY during the winter holidays- and sometimes for Valentine's Day- this little treat, hand made and hand cut then wrapped in squares of waxed paper are sold by the piece or by the pound. Nothing melts the heart of thrills the palette quite like biting into a Hospital Auxiliary Caramel. Our goal was to pay tribute to these ladies' handiwork by creating a flavor that not only captured the essence of these melt-in your mouth caramels we crave, but also pay tribute to the oh, so good fudge and chocolate candies that sell alongside the caramels. Copper Kettle Caramel is about as close as you are going to get to the home-made flavors of the Hospital Auxiliary Caramels."
So for me this story opens a lot of questions. Get ready for a long post dearest reader. First, where is Le Mars? Le Mars is in Iowa and is the self-proclaimed ice cream capital of the world. They call themselves this because it is home to Wells Enterprises and is thus the world's largest producer of ice cream novelties in one location. Wells Enterprises is the world's largest family-owned and -managed ice cream maker in the US. It is the third largest ice cream maker in the US behind Nestle (which owns Dreyer's) and Unilever (which owns Breyers). Wells owns 2nd Street Creamery, Blue Bunny, Bomb Pop, Weight Watchers ice creams, and Yoplait Frozen Yogurt. I have to say I'm kinda disappointed that 2nd Street Creamery isn't independent. However, the fact that Wells Enterprises is family owned makes me feel better about it for some reason. I also haven't reviewed any Blue Bunny on this blog, so I can't really say that I think Wells is as bad as some of its competitors. -cough Breyers-
The other question that this story opens up for me is, are there actually Hospital Auxiliary Caramels in this ice cream? There are phrases like "captured the essence" and "pay tribute" in the story and it never actually says there are Hospital Auxiliary made candies in this ice cream. So I'm assuming there aren't. But WHY not?! That's confusing to me. But whatever. I'll just talk about ice cream now.
When I first opened the pint, I really only saw the base. I also managed to have my first bite be just the base. The flavor was relatively mild. I could taste salt, butter, and sweetness, but it wasn't over powering or that strong, which I was expecting. The next bite I got had a bit of the caramel ribbon in it. The caramel ribbon was on the thing side and more liquidy than gooey. However, this was where the flavor was hiding. Definitely salty, buttery, and sweet. The flavor was on point. I was expecting the swirl to get thicker as I went on, and it did, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. As I am writing this post, I've been looking at pictures other bloggers have taken of this flavor and it seems like other people have had more luck with the thickness of this caramel ribbon. I'll officially wait to judge until I have another pint of it, but as of now, I'm not terribly impressed. Last, but most definitely not least are the truffles. As Madeline was impressed with the truffles in a pint of Graeter's, these ones had designs in them as well. I thought that was a super awesome touch. They were kinda small, but they were super abundant. You could easily get 3-5 in a bite! The chocolate was rich, fudgey, and soft. And the caramel was the saltiest and butteriest component of the ice cream. It was also very thick and had a really good pull to it. These guys were really what made this pint. Overall, this flavor was super awesome and is now my official recommendation for someone looking for a salty caramel ice cream!
Here are all my sauces:
http://www.wellsenterprisesinc.com/
http://www.2ndstcreamery.com/products/copper-kettle-caramel
http://www.lemarsiowa.com/default.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_Enterprises
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mars,_Iowa
As you know from Madeline and I, what makes this brand special is that amazing stories inspire their flavors. The description of this flavor is Caramel Flavored Ice Cream with Caramel Ribbon and Sea Salt Fudge Truffles
The short version, found on the pint, of this flavor's story reads, "We created this flavor for the women of the Hospital Auxiliary, who are famous for a sweet and buttery little delicacy known as the Auxiliary Caramel. Here's to you, ladies!"
The long version of the story, found on their website reads, "Because everyone can't live in Le Mars, we wanted to share one of the tastiest and best kept secrets in town. Known for their home-made candy sales, among other delicious confections like chocolate candies and fudge, the women of the Hospital Auxiliary are famous for a little delicacy known as the Auxiliary Caramel. Available ONLY during the winter holidays- and sometimes for Valentine's Day- this little treat, hand made and hand cut then wrapped in squares of waxed paper are sold by the piece or by the pound. Nothing melts the heart of thrills the palette quite like biting into a Hospital Auxiliary Caramel. Our goal was to pay tribute to these ladies' handiwork by creating a flavor that not only captured the essence of these melt-in your mouth caramels we crave, but also pay tribute to the oh, so good fudge and chocolate candies that sell alongside the caramels. Copper Kettle Caramel is about as close as you are going to get to the home-made flavors of the Hospital Auxiliary Caramels."
So for me this story opens a lot of questions. Get ready for a long post dearest reader. First, where is Le Mars? Le Mars is in Iowa and is the self-proclaimed ice cream capital of the world. They call themselves this because it is home to Wells Enterprises and is thus the world's largest producer of ice cream novelties in one location. Wells Enterprises is the world's largest family-owned and -managed ice cream maker in the US. It is the third largest ice cream maker in the US behind Nestle (which owns Dreyer's) and Unilever (which owns Breyers). Wells owns 2nd Street Creamery, Blue Bunny, Bomb Pop, Weight Watchers ice creams, and Yoplait Frozen Yogurt. I have to say I'm kinda disappointed that 2nd Street Creamery isn't independent. However, the fact that Wells Enterprises is family owned makes me feel better about it for some reason. I also haven't reviewed any Blue Bunny on this blog, so I can't really say that I think Wells is as bad as some of its competitors. -cough Breyers-
The other question that this story opens up for me is, are there actually Hospital Auxiliary Caramels in this ice cream? There are phrases like "captured the essence" and "pay tribute" in the story and it never actually says there are Hospital Auxiliary made candies in this ice cream. So I'm assuming there aren't. But WHY not?! That's confusing to me. But whatever. I'll just talk about ice cream now.
When I first opened the pint, I really only saw the base. I also managed to have my first bite be just the base. The flavor was relatively mild. I could taste salt, butter, and sweetness, but it wasn't over powering or that strong, which I was expecting. The next bite I got had a bit of the caramel ribbon in it. The caramel ribbon was on the thing side and more liquidy than gooey. However, this was where the flavor was hiding. Definitely salty, buttery, and sweet. The flavor was on point. I was expecting the swirl to get thicker as I went on, and it did, but not nearly as much as I would have liked. As I am writing this post, I've been looking at pictures other bloggers have taken of this flavor and it seems like other people have had more luck with the thickness of this caramel ribbon. I'll officially wait to judge until I have another pint of it, but as of now, I'm not terribly impressed. Last, but most definitely not least are the truffles. As Madeline was impressed with the truffles in a pint of Graeter's, these ones had designs in them as well. I thought that was a super awesome touch. They were kinda small, but they were super abundant. You could easily get 3-5 in a bite! The chocolate was rich, fudgey, and soft. And the caramel was the saltiest and butteriest component of the ice cream. It was also very thick and had a really good pull to it. These guys were really what made this pint. Overall, this flavor was super awesome and is now my official recommendation for someone looking for a salty caramel ice cream!
Here are all my sauces:
http://www.wellsenterprisesinc.com/
http://www.2ndstcreamery.com/products/copper-kettle-caramel
http://www.lemarsiowa.com/default.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_Enterprises
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mars,_Iowa
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