If you have a sweet tooth, then there are high chances that ice-cream is on your list of tasty treats. I grew up eating as much ice-cream as I could-well as much ice-cream as my mother would allow me to have. However, over the years, my ice-cream craving ways have slowly dwindled. A lot of this has to do with the fact that I feel like Ice-cream quality isn’t what it was. Well, that is changing with the increasing popularity of ice-cream joints such as Coldstone and Planet Yoghurt.
So when I was invited to a tasting of the Haagen Dazs Ice-cream, I was pretty excited to try out the different flavours. Haagen Dazs is a premium world renowned Ice-cream brand which recently delved into the Kenyan Market. It was founded by Reuben and Rose Mattus in 1961 starting with only three flavours: vanilla, chocolate, and coffee. Reuben and his wife’s dream was to make ice-cream that could also be enjoyed by adults as well as children. As of now, they have over 50 ice-cream flavours distributed all over the world. In Kenya, there are currently 12 flavours in the market;
- Belgian Chocolate
- Blueberries and Cream
- Caramel Biscuit and Cream
- Cookie Dough
- Cookies and Cream
- Dulche Le Luche
- Macadamia Nut Brittle
- Mango Raspberry
- Mint Leaves and Chocolate
- Salted Caramel
- Strawberries and Cream
- Vanilla and Cream.
Their ice-cream is made from 100% natural ingredients with no flavouring and no added colouring. This statement proved true as we test tasted the different flavours. For example, the strawberry and cream flavour was not entirely pink. The extremely pink colour you normally see in some ice cream brands comes from additional colouring. The only ingredients used in this flavour are; condensed skimmed milk, fresh cream, strawberries and sugar egg yolk. The strawberries were actually red as opposed to the darker purple strawberry puree. This made the ice-cream all that much sweeter.
Another one that stood out for me was the cookies and cream flavour. The chocolate tasted so natural. It felt like eating cookies and milk. Haagen Dazs holds such importance to the quality of the products that they utilize ingredients from the best growing regions. Their strawberries come from Poland, Vanilla from Madagascar, Banana from Costa Rica, and Coffee from Brazil. Haagen Dazs uses a rigorous testing procedure called the ‘Gold Standard Protocol’ which is designed to guarantee the quality of its products.
My favourite ice-cream flavour was the Mango and Raspberry flavour. Whoever decided to mix those two ingredients in whatever potions is just pure genius. The fruits balanced perfectly to give you a sweet yet flavorful experience. Another flavour that also held my taste buds hostage was the salted caramel flavour. Seeing as I am a sweet tooth I was actually shocked to love this specific flavour. My body thinks the idea of mixing sugar and salt is criminal. Ironically, I loved it for that same reason. Actually, that is one of the number one bestselling flavours in Kenya so far.
Haagen Dazs produces one of the creamiest ice-creams because they limit the amount of air that is whipped into the product. Their products have about 27% air as opposed to the 67% you find in other brands. This way, the creamy taste lingers a lot longer. It is also the reason behind that velvety texture you will find in all their ice-cream flavours. At the end of the session, we were each given a goody bag with our favourite ice-creams. I boarded two vehicles and the ice-cream had barely melted by the time I got home. And it was actually a really sunny afternoon.
The Company plans to bring in more flavours into the country next year. Their flavours are available in pints, mini-cups, and sticks. You can find their products in Nairobi in Carrefour, Zucchini, and Chandarana among other stores. Their products are also available in other towns such as Diani, Watamu, and Nanyuki. If you love ice-cream, then I highly suggest you try these flavours out! If you are not too enthusiastic about ice-cream, I can guarantee that these brand will pull you over to the dark side.
