Belmont Peanut Butter S'mores
I bet you ten dollars that you've never heard of Belmont ice cream before. So, what is it? Belmont is the in-house ice cream brand of ALDI grocery stores, and sells for something like $3 for 1.5 qts. I guess I would describe ALDI as a discount grocery store, but discount isn't really the right word. It's owned by the same company that owns Trader Joe's and keeps prices down by, among other things, selling mostly in-store brands and stocking a limited number of items. I feel like calling it a 'discount' grocery store is selling it a bit short, but this is an ice cream review blog not a grocery store review blog.
First things first, this is cheap ice cream. This raises the philosophical issue of how to review cheap ice cream. We mostly review ice cream and frozen desserts that are on the ~fancier~ side. Discount ice cream is certainly not that. So, do you review it objectively, or do you only compare it to other discount ice creams? What a philosophical quandary! I'll try to hit some sort of middle ground.
While Lizzy and I were at ALDI we cruised by the ice cream aisle (obviously!) not expecting to pick anything up, but Lizzy's eagle eyes spied the intriguing Peanut Butter S'mores, and into our cart it went! This flavor is described as
Toasted marshmallow flavored ice cream with marshmallow graham swirl, peanut butter bits, and chocolate flavored flakes.
Objectively this ice cream was ok; not great and not terrible. The toasted marshmallow base was very sweet. It tasted like a combination of cotton candy and marshmallow. Side note, I would totally eat that in real life. On my second serving I knew what to expect, and was able to taste the toasted aspect of the base. I don't have any other toasted marshmallow bases to compare this to, but I could have done with more toastiness and less cotton-candy sweetness.
I could smell the graham from the marshmallow graham swirl, but the flavor was similar enough to the base that I couldn't really taste it in the ice cream.
The peanut butter bits were objectively good, not just good for budget ice cream. The bits were quite large about 1/3'' x 1/4'' and I got one approximately every other bite. They were soft and chewy and a good balance between salty and a sweet.
The chocolate chips were small and well distributed throughout the pint. For a real s'mores experience I would have preferred a chocolate swirl to mimic melted chocolate or larger chunks more reminiscent of a Hershey's bar.
Finally, the texture of the ice cream is what most belayed its status as a discount ice cream. It was very light and airy rather than dense and creamy as you expect from a super-premium product.
Objectively, this ice cream was decent. You could tell it was a budget product from the texture and the too-sweet base flavor. However, I give this ice cream tons of credit for tackling an adventurous flavor. Although I'm sure they're out there, I've never seen a Peanut Butter S'mores before, and I can't think of any other flavors with a toasted marshmallow base. If you're an ALDI shopper and your ice cream budget is limited, I would definitely check out Peanut Butter S'mores!
First things first, this is cheap ice cream. This raises the philosophical issue of how to review cheap ice cream. We mostly review ice cream and frozen desserts that are on the ~fancier~ side. Discount ice cream is certainly not that. So, do you review it objectively, or do you only compare it to other discount ice creams? What a philosophical quandary! I'll try to hit some sort of middle ground.
While Lizzy and I were at ALDI we cruised by the ice cream aisle (obviously!) not expecting to pick anything up, but Lizzy's eagle eyes spied the intriguing Peanut Butter S'mores, and into our cart it went! This flavor is described as
Toasted marshmallow flavored ice cream with marshmallow graham swirl, peanut butter bits, and chocolate flavored flakes.
Objectively this ice cream was ok; not great and not terrible. The toasted marshmallow base was very sweet. It tasted like a combination of cotton candy and marshmallow. Side note, I would totally eat that in real life. On my second serving I knew what to expect, and was able to taste the toasted aspect of the base. I don't have any other toasted marshmallow bases to compare this to, but I could have done with more toastiness and less cotton-candy sweetness.
I could smell the graham from the marshmallow graham swirl, but the flavor was similar enough to the base that I couldn't really taste it in the ice cream.
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| I think this picture really belies the fact that this is discount ice cream |
The peanut butter bits were objectively good, not just good for budget ice cream. The bits were quite large about 1/3'' x 1/4'' and I got one approximately every other bite. They were soft and chewy and a good balance between salty and a sweet.
The chocolate chips were small and well distributed throughout the pint. For a real s'mores experience I would have preferred a chocolate swirl to mimic melted chocolate or larger chunks more reminiscent of a Hershey's bar.
Finally, the texture of the ice cream is what most belayed its status as a discount ice cream. It was very light and airy rather than dense and creamy as you expect from a super-premium product.
Objectively, this ice cream was decent. You could tell it was a budget product from the texture and the too-sweet base flavor. However, I give this ice cream tons of credit for tackling an adventurous flavor. Although I'm sure they're out there, I've never seen a Peanut Butter S'mores before, and I can't think of any other flavors with a toasted marshmallow base. If you're an ALDI shopper and your ice cream budget is limited, I would definitely check out Peanut Butter S'mores!
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