Sunday, December 23, 2012

Not The Chocolatey Flavor One Might Hope From An Ice Cream Called “Kodiak Island Fudge!”


The Good: Reasonably priced, Nothing bad in it
The Bad: Chocolate flavor is not very strong, Waxy aftertaste
The Basics: Dean’s Country Fresh Kodiak Island Fudge Ice Cream is not entirely disappointing, though it underwhelms on the fudge front!


I can always tell when my wife is upset when we’re out shopping (seething remarks aside), because whenever I attempt to end a conflict and she’s not ready to, any question I ask is met with a terse “I don’t know.” This is particularly obvious when the question I am asking is something she obviously does know the answer to. So, the other day, when we were out grocery shopping and I said something stupid that led to a conflict, and she threw a half gallon of Dean’s Country Fresh Kodiak Island Fudge ice cream into the cart and I asked, “Is Kodiak Island Fudge a Michigan thing?” and she snarled “I don’t know,” I knew I was still in the doghouse. My wife is a born and raised Michigander and if Kodiak Island Fudge (which I had never before heard of) was a Michigan thing, I know she knows it (and, as it turns out, it is!).

Unfortunately, after we got home and got through the issue we had at the grocery store, my wife re-committed to her diet and left me to finish up the Kodiak Island Fudge ice cream. The Dean’s Country Fresh’s Kodiak Island Fudge Ice Cream is a simple ice cream with a fudge swirl and small chunks of fudge in the ice cream. It is, sadly, not the most robustly chocolate flavored ice cream I have had of late and thus left me significantly underwhelmed, if not outright disappointed.

Basics

Dean’s Country Fresh ice cream comes in a typical half gallon (actually 1.75 quarts) container. The Kodiak Island Fudge Ice Cream is a mostly smooth ice cream: the basic ice cream has the occasional piece of chocolate fudge in it. It is a white vanilla ice cream with a fudge swirl mixed in and pieces of fudge.

At (locally) $3.99 a half gallon, the Dean’s Country Fresh ice cream is an inexpensive ice cream that is more than just a basic ice cream, yet tastes more basic than extraordinary.  Kodiak Island Fudge is only the second Dean's Country Fresh ice cream I have had, after the Peppermint Stick (reviewed here!)

Ease Of Preparation

The Kodiak Island Fudge Ice Cream is an ice cream. As an ice cream, preparation is ridiculously simple: one need only open the top of the container, scoop out a half cup and consume! There is no trick to preparing or eating the Kodiak Island Fudge Ice Cream.

Taste

The Kodiak Island Fudge ice cream smells strongly like chocolate fudge. The smell is thick and inviting to anyone who likes the taste of chocolate. This fudge aroma is the archetype of fudge!

On the tongue, however, the Kodiak Island Fudge is mostly dominated by the vanilla ice cream the fudge pieces are embedded in. The vanilla base is a very basic, unremarkable vanilla ice cream that is more bland than flavorful. The chocolate swirl is unfortunately mild, though the fudge chunks are sufficiently chocolatey as the ice cream warms up. At its coolest, though, the fudge chips are problematically waxy. But, as it warms, the ice cream melts away and the fudge flavor comes out nicely.

Kodiak Island Fudge ice cream does not have any aftertaste, though the fudge does leave an oddly waxy feeling in the mouth.

Nutrition

The Dean’s Country Fresh Kodiak Island Fudge Ice Cream is a fairly heavy ice cream with a partially intrusive additive (the fudge pieces never quite get soft enough to truly integrate with this ice cream). The half gallon represents fourteen half-cup servings. In the half-cup serving, there are 150 calories, 70 of which are from fat. The eight grams of fat represent 12% of the RDA of fat, with 24% of one’s RDA of saturated fat coming in the 4.5 grams of saturated fat in this ice cream. One serving has 25 mg of cholesterol (that’s 8% of the RDA!) and 45 mg of Sodium (2% RDA). The only other real nutrient is two grams of protein, though there is also 6% of the RDA of Calcium in the Kodiak Island Fudge Ice Cream.

Dean’s Country Fresh Kodiak Island Fudge has decent ingredients. Made primarily of Milkfat and nonfat milk, chocolate fudge, and sugar, the Kodiak Island Fudge is not, technically, an ice cream, though it sure mimics one well! There is nothing unpronounceable in the ingredients list. The Kodiak Island Fudge Dean’s Country Fresh ice cream is Kosher, but not gluten free. There are allergy warnings on the package for milk (which seemed obvious to me), soy, peanut, and coconut.

Storage/Clean-Up

Dean’s Country Fresh ice cream is both a frozen and a dairy product, so it is pretty obvious that it must be kept frozen in order to remain viable. Kept frozen it remains fresh for months, though I could not find an expiration date on ours!

The Kodiak Island Fudge ice cream is fairly light frozen dairy dessert. However, when the ice cream melts and gets onto fabrics, it will require one to wash it right out. On nonporous surfaces, the ice cream wipes off exceptionally easily.

Overall

The Dean’s Country Fresh Kodiak Island Fudge ice cream is, at best, an average ice cream that fails to sell this consumer on the greatness of Kodiak Island Fudge.

For other ice creams, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Edy's Limited Edition Egg Nog Ice Cream
Breyers Oreo Cookies & Cream Mint Ice Cream
Ben & Jerry's New York Super Fudge Chunk

4/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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