Great Value Banana Puddin'

Since I live in Minneapolis, where Target is headquartered, there are Targets EVERYWHERE and Wal-Marts are few and far between, so when I do make it to a Wal-Mart, I always make sure to pick up a Wal-Mart only ice cream. With the seeming demise of the Sam's Choice ice cream, I've started turning to the Great Value brand. Within *I think* the last year, the Great Value brand of ice cream has undergone a bit of a makeover - new packaging, new flavors, and slightly bizarre new names. Most recently, Banana Puddin' caught my eye. (Why, just why, is it "Puddin'" instead of "Pudding"? It's so unnecessary.) Banaa Puddin' is Banana flavored ice cream with whipped cream flavored ribbon and vanilla wafer pieces.

Real talk, I was BLOWN AWAY by the base. I'm going to go there and say it's the best banana ice cream I've ever tried. From Wal-Mart. I KNOW. Banana puree is the first ingredient listed after the requisite dairy elements, so there's no fake banana flavor here, and also no overripe banana flavor. Pure perfection.  Condensed milk is not listed as an ingredient, but Great Value nailed that vanilla/condensed milk flavor that is the hallmark of pudding. If this were just a banana pudding base with no mix-ins, I would give this a🍦🍦🍦🍦/4 rating.

This is ... actually the color of a banana

Alas, I was promised whipped cream ribbon and vanilla wafer pieces and didn't really feel the flavor lived up to this promise. The whipped cream ribbon was very thin and blended into the base. I could tell it added a bit of a lighter sweeter flavor, but it wasn't very prominent. The vanilla wafer pieces were infrequent and bland. I occasionally got a big piece that added some texture, but most pieces were quite small.

Because of the lack of mix-ins, I'm knocking this down to a 🍦🍦🍦/4. It was really good but it could have been so much better!