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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsBen & Jerry's Is Unleashing 7 New Flavours Topped with Chocolate Ganache
https://www.thrillist.com/news/nation/ben-and-jerrys-new-flavors-chocolate-ganacheDespite what feels like a near-constant rotation of new flavours rolling out of Ben & Jerry's ice cream lab and into grocery store freezer sections, the Vermont-based creamery has anything but run out of new ice cream innovations. On Thursday, the ever-trusted ice cream maker dropped a game changer: an entire line of pints topped with chocolate ganache. The new roster of flavours, officially dubbed Ben & Jerry's Topped, includes seven all-new flavour combos. Here's what to expect, according to a spokesperson for the company:
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I think I just gained 5 pounds reading this post.
leftieNanner
(15,173 posts)has white chocolate on top. I would have to scrape that off. White Chocolate isn't chocolate. It's grease. Sorry. I do have an attitude about that.
The Thick Mint sounds wonderful!
Celerity
(43,579 posts)For years, connoisseurs dismissed white chocolate - a confection made with cocoa butter, milk solids and sugar, but with none of the cocoa solids that give darker chocolate its recognizable flavor and color. "White chocolate or white lie?" one online video asks. The host opens with: "If you love white chocolate, I hate to break it to you. You're not eating chocolate." Besides the absence of cocoa solids, the reputation stems from the fact that white chocolate products often contain such additives as palm oil and other fillers, plus an excess of sweeteners. But a growing number of specialty chocolate companies are now giving the same attention to white chocolate as dark or milk chocolate, and trying to highlight the ways it can showcase flavour.
A cocoa bean is made up of roughly equal parts cocoa butter and cacao nibs. Cocoa butter is what gives chocolate its rich mouthfeel, and the nibs hold most of the distinctive smell and taste. Absent of nibs, "white chocolate is basically just sweet fat," says Clay Gordon, creator of the Chocolate Life website, "with a melt that is unencumbered by the nonfat cocoa solids, or cocoa powder." For a chocolate to be labelled as chocolate, as opposed to candy, the Food and Drug Administration requires that the bar be made up of at least 10 percent cocoa mass (nibs plus the cocoa fat inherent to the bean), with no specifications about cocoa butter. White chocolate, on the other hand, has to have a cocoa butter content of at least 20 percent and does not require the inclusion of nibs. The FDA established these standards in 2004 in response to petitions filed by the Hershey Company and the Chocolate Manufacturers Association (now part of the National Confectioners Association).
Pastry chef and cookbook author David Lebovitz, an avowed white chocolate fan, disputes the idea that it's not really chocolate. "Bickering over the nomenclature becomes tiring," he said in an email. "We still call hamburgers by that name, even though they are not made of ham, and milkshakes actually aren't shaken these days, but blended. So I think it's okay to group white chocolate in with the rest of the variety of things made from cacao beans, since they all have the same base." The history of white chocolate is largely unclear, but "the general consensus," says Eagranie Yuh, author of "The Chocolate Tasting Kit" (Chronicle, 2014), "is that Nestlé was the first to develop white chocolate commercially in 1936 in Switzerland. The story is that it was a way to use up excess milk powder that had been produced for World War I and was no longer in demand."
White chocolate is also a way to use up extra cocoa butter that is extracted from the cocoa bean when making cocoa powder. This fat is the most highly regarded byproduct of chocolate production, valued not only in chocolate but cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. Cocoa butter is typically filtered, bleached with clay minerals that absorb color components and deodorized, through steam distillation or solvents that reduce the volatile compounds that contribute to its aroma. It remains stable at room temperature and is rich in saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids. Because of these qualities, the cost of cocoa butter more than doubled between 2005 and 2015, and it's why many large-scale manufacturers substitute a portion of their deodorized cocoa butter with fillers such as vegetable oil that significantly reduce cost. The rise in price also led some makers to expand their efforts to produce quality white chocolate. "We started manufacturing white chocolate ourselves because there is very little white chocolate on the market that is pure and made only with cocoa butter, milk and sugar," says Denise Castronovo, founder of Florida's Castronovo Chocolate. "For us, it's a chance to educate our consumers about what real white chocolate actually is."
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Is White Chocolate Real Chocolate? 3 Misconceptions Debunked
https://foodensity.com/is-white-chocolate-real-chocolate/
leftieNanner
(15,173 posts)about "an excess of sweeteners" is what turns me off. I'm actually not a huge fan of some milk chocolate for the same reason.
I will keep an open mind. Ben & Jerry's always makes a quality product.
Thanks for sharing this.
Siwsan
(26,298 posts)Everyone else in my family loves it, but they know there would be a severe penalty if they EVER brought any to my house.
drmeow
(5,027 posts)Hamburger is already screwed up - it is not a burger made with ham and doesn't say anything about beef, buffalo, pork, lamb, or even meat. You don't hear "veggie hamburger" you hear "veggie burger." The fact that they have to call it "white chocolate" is acknowledgement that when you say "chocolate" the expectation is and our association is that it will contain the distinct flavor of the nibs. The name white chocolate is merely an attempt to capitalize on the the popularity of chocolate to sell sweetened solid fat because a cocoa butter bar was not going to sell. It's a marketing gimmick and they know there would be hell to pay if you sold someone "chocolate" and gave them cocoa butter plus sugar with no nibs exteact.
Siwsan
(26,298 posts)I have the same dislike. To me it's like artificial cocoa butter.
Kroger has a brown butter bourbon truffle ice cream and it is lovely. And it had real chocolate.
leftieNanner
(15,173 posts)We have Fred Meyer's here in our area, which is a Kroger company store. I'll have to look next time I go. Thanks.
Siwsan
(26,298 posts)Although I just bought the Kroger brand of Neapolitan Ice Cream and it contains massive frozen strawberries. Nice surprise - who ever was their previous supplier made strawberry ice cream that certainly didn't taste like it's name, and there were never any fruit.
leftieNanner
(15,173 posts)Is that they come in smaller containers. Better for my diet.
That is, unless I sit down with the carton and a spoon!
BusyBeingBest
(8,059 posts)leftieNanner
(15,173 posts)electric_blue68
(14,955 posts)leftieNanner
(15,173 posts)But just look at all those calories we wouldn't consume!
electric_blue68
(14,955 posts)alphafemale
(18,497 posts)I have never had a disappointment from Ben & Jerry, though.
Celerity
(43,579 posts)alphafemale
(18,497 posts)Live is too short for bargain bin ice cream in the plastic gallon bucket.
Celerity
(43,579 posts)I was going to UCLA and it was pure shite. Forget the exact brand, I think it was a store brand from Ralphs or Vons. It was in the same big plastic tub you mentioned.
We have some insanely good small boutique ice cream and gelato makers here in Sweden. Swedish milk and dairy products are world class IMHO, even the big brands like Arla.
electric_blue68
(14,955 posts)(actually more of a 1 1/2 than a 2nd fav 😁 ) is...
New York Super Fudge Chunk! 🥰
nykym
(3,063 posts)I found it to be rather difficult to eat and did not enjoy it.
Sticking to my fav Chocolate Therapy and don't mess with it.
dawg day
(7,947 posts)Must check this out.
Gothmog
(145,631 posts)I am not into peanut butter or strawberry
The Velveteen Ocelot
(115,879 posts)Wish I weren't on a diet...
underpants
(182,925 posts)My teenage daughter and I discovered that my wife didnt know what Netflix and chill actually is.
happybird
(4,637 posts)Supposedly you can get it at the cone shops, but meh. The closest cone shop is in a mall an hour away. I want to be able to buy a pint (or 4) at the grocery store or at 711. They have a Brownie Batter Core one now, but its just not the same. Sigh.
TexasBushwhacker
(20,220 posts)My Pet Orangutan
(9,328 posts)is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Unilever
electric_blue68
(14,955 posts)I'll try the Mascapone one.
electric_blue68
(14,955 posts)what kind of mint do they mean?
Is is Spearmint? (😒 )
I know peppermint (🙂 ) is named as such.