I have been attempting to read Barbara Kingsolver's Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, an exercise in frustration that I will report on another day, but it has made me more aware of seasonal food changes. Not that I do anything about them, per se, but there was pumpkin ice cream on the shelf and I picked it right up.
Because I generally eat non-dairy ice creams Double Rainbow Perfectly Pumpkin was the first of the San Francisco company's flavors I've tried. It's super-premium, which means a minimum of air whipped in, and also hekshered OU, and gluten free. Oh, and did I mention it's really good? Extremely impressive (although at this moment I'm considering what BiRite would do with pumpkin ice cream and nothing could compare to that), natural tasting, fairly subtle pumpkin flavoring and a light, creamy texture. Following it with Mudslinger's Chocococo does not reflect well on that brand. If you click on the link, you'll see a charming flash opening in which a contemptuous little girl insists "I hate wussy ice cream." And in truth, Mudslingers has tried too damn hard to pretend it's not making a dairy-free product. They're supposed to taste different, as Coconut Bliss has brilliantly demonstrated, but Maggie Mudd's has tried to make regular ice cream out of coconut and what emerges is a heavy, gooey article that doesn't have the refreshing quality of either milk or coconut milk (they create something called coconut cream as a base by gumming it up). The chocolate flavor is deep and intense, but the experience of eating it is just not that fabulous. They do make a variety with whiskey and fudge, however, so I'm not giving up hope for them yet.
What do you eat with ice cream? Why cookies of course (and a big glass of ice water because the Mudslingers is going to make you hella thirsty)! But not these cookies, specifically the wheat-free, dairy-free versions. I don't know that I've ever had a bad Newman's Own product, but these come close. I blame the wheat-free aspect. They're not even gluten-free with all that, so why waste the time? Anyhow, they've still got the quality Newman chocolate, but they're also dry and have a seriously bitter aftertaste. At least they're hekshered (OU dairy, presumably because of the equipment being used to make dairy products). But there are a lot of alternatives to try before you end up here.
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