New-to-Me Brand Alert! Luna & Larry's Organic Coconut Bliss Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge
What an age we live in. When I was growing up, being vegan or lactose intolerant meant eating sorbet or no frozen desserts at all. And now, I am about to review a fabulous non-dairy ice cream on the same day Ben & Jerry's has released their long-anticipated non-dairy line of ice creams. A long time ago Madeline reviewed Luna and Larry's Chocolate Walnut Brownie and loved it. I'm personally a huge supported of non-dairy ice creams and its about time I got around to reviewing a Luna and Larry flavor.
Luna and Larry, based in Eugene, Oregon, are exactly the kind of natural food hippies you want making your dairy free ice cream. According to the adorable story book on their website (which you can also download as a coloring book to color yourself), the pair loved ice cream, but were worried about the environmental impacts of the dairy industry. However, they thought soy and rice milk ice creams were pretty gross, and I have to agree. So in 2004 they took a trip to a Goodwill and bought a hand crank ice cream maker for $1.50. And as the story goes for any small ice cream company, they shared their ice cream with friends, the friends loved it, they started selling it in stores, and the rest is history. And in case you were wondering, they use organic ingredients and get their coconuts from Thailand. Also their ingredients are fair trade, as well.
There is no description for this flavor, but I would describe it as a chocolate base with a chocolate fudge swirl and whole, roasted hazelnuts.
I'll start with the base. The chocolate was delicious. It was even pretty dark chocolate. And if you had not told me this ice cream was dairy-free I wouldn't have guessed. Coconut milk is a great ice cream base. It was creamy and dense, and the tiniest bit icier than a milk ice cream, but it was barely discernible. There was a slight, coconutty undertone to the flavor, but since this was a nutty flavor, it was an enhancement to the flavor, not a detractor. I would even say the flavor needed the nutty undertones, since although there were hazelnuts, but they weren't incredibly frequent.
The hazelnuts were, however, superb. I wished there were more of them. I was shocked they were whole, but it was great. They were so super crunchy. And even though they weren't frequent they did pack a great hazelnut flavor punch.
Lastly, the swirl was a bit odd. It was fudgey and gooey in texture, not liquidy, which I appreciated. The chocolate flavor was also on the darker side, but there was also an odd and strong almost alcoholic burn to it. From looking at the ingredients list the only ingredient I could think which would cause this is they used vanilla extract. But the burn was so strong I am having trouble believing that is the cause. The only other reviews of this flavor I could find were from vegan bloggers, not the standard ice cream bloggers. No one else mentioned this flavor, but I'm going to be honest, I don't trust these vegan bloggers as much as I do other ice cream bloggers.
But all in all, the odd taste of the swirl didn't totally ruin this flavor. It is quite amazing, especially considering it is dairy free. And considering there aren't a ton of chocolate hazelnut flavors on the market, I definitely recommend picking up a pint!
Luna and Larry, based in Eugene, Oregon, are exactly the kind of natural food hippies you want making your dairy free ice cream. According to the adorable story book on their website (which you can also download as a coloring book to color yourself), the pair loved ice cream, but were worried about the environmental impacts of the dairy industry. However, they thought soy and rice milk ice creams were pretty gross, and I have to agree. So in 2004 they took a trip to a Goodwill and bought a hand crank ice cream maker for $1.50. And as the story goes for any small ice cream company, they shared their ice cream with friends, the friends loved it, they started selling it in stores, and the rest is history. And in case you were wondering, they use organic ingredients and get their coconuts from Thailand. Also their ingredients are fair trade, as well.
There is no description for this flavor, but I would describe it as a chocolate base with a chocolate fudge swirl and whole, roasted hazelnuts.
I'll start with the base. The chocolate was delicious. It was even pretty dark chocolate. And if you had not told me this ice cream was dairy-free I wouldn't have guessed. Coconut milk is a great ice cream base. It was creamy and dense, and the tiniest bit icier than a milk ice cream, but it was barely discernible. There was a slight, coconutty undertone to the flavor, but since this was a nutty flavor, it was an enhancement to the flavor, not a detractor. I would even say the flavor needed the nutty undertones, since although there were hazelnuts, but they weren't incredibly frequent.
The hazelnuts were, however, superb. I wished there were more of them. I was shocked they were whole, but it was great. They were so super crunchy. And even though they weren't frequent they did pack a great hazelnut flavor punch.
Lastly, the swirl was a bit odd. It was fudgey and gooey in texture, not liquidy, which I appreciated. The chocolate flavor was also on the darker side, but there was also an odd and strong almost alcoholic burn to it. From looking at the ingredients list the only ingredient I could think which would cause this is they used vanilla extract. But the burn was so strong I am having trouble believing that is the cause. The only other reviews of this flavor I could find were from vegan bloggers, not the standard ice cream bloggers. No one else mentioned this flavor, but I'm going to be honest, I don't trust these vegan bloggers as much as I do other ice cream bloggers.
But all in all, the odd taste of the swirl didn't totally ruin this flavor. It is quite amazing, especially considering it is dairy free. And considering there aren't a ton of chocolate hazelnut flavors on the market, I definitely recommend picking up a pint!
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