Ice cream. Yum! I love the stuff – but since I know it is not good for me, I needed to find a more charitable justification for continued consumption. I decided that every once-in-a-while I will share my thought with you regarding a new flavor. You are most welcome.
This week: Häagen-Dazs Sea Salt Caramel Gelato.
I can already here the screams of defiance. “Heresy! It isn’t even ice cream – it is GELATO!” It is a valid point. My first ice cream review is not even about ice cream. Here I’m just getting started, and I’ve already lost half of you.
The main thing to know about gelato: In theory, it is made with less cream, and less air than ice cream. So, again in theory, it is more dense, and has less calories than ice cream.
If you want the best gelato, you need to go here: Florence, Italy.
The gelato in Florence is the best I have ever tasted. I’m not sure how much of it has to do with the gelato, or how much has to do with the fact that you are in Florence – but if you ever go, I recommend trying as many flavors as you can, multiple times a day. And see the “David,” but finish your gelato outside, because no food, or cameras, are allowed inside. (Oops.)
Where was I? Right. Häagen-Dazs.
I am a big caramel fan. One of my favorite Häagen-Dazs ice creams is Dulce de Leche. (Pronounced “dool-say de lay-chay” NOT “dull-chay de lay-chee.”)
Many of you are familiar with dulce de leche from Latin American missions. It is a version of caramel that is a little different from out regular “caramel apple” caramel. It is not as sweet, and a little more…milky. (?) I love the stuff.
So I bought the gelato to give it a try. It is good. It is sweeter than Dulce de Leche, like I suspected – but they added a touch of sea salt. That is clever: The sea salt knocks back the sweetness just enough to make you want to keep eating it. The salt is a really nice touch.
Here’s the funny part: The gelato and ice cream both have the same number of calories. The gelato has more sugar to offset a 30% reduction in fat So if you thought you might save calories by eating the gelato – guess again. I think it is a bit deceptive – just like Häagen-Dazs evil practice of not putting a full-pint into the container. (See post here)
It comes in the same handy, single-serving container as the ice cream.
(Gelato: 945 calories, 38.5 grams fat. Ice cream: 945 calories and 56 grams of fat.)
Oh – and gelato melts faster than ice cream, too.
On a scale of 10, I give it 7.5 Ms.
MMMMMMMm
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I’ve never had Haagen Dazs, is it worth the money? Blue Bell is my personal favorite and I would eat it every day if I could afford it financially and physically.
-Tom
I just got back from Italy. Somehow I ended up with the same picture of the David as you…gladd to know I’m not the only rule breaker. I was there for 6 days, and got gelato a total of 11 times!! Yikes. I loved it, but my favorite was in Rome. And I have to be honest, I never tasted the difference between ice cream and gelato.
If you can ever find it, try Talenti gelato – delicious! Their sea salt caramel is amazing.
My husband (who is a middle-aged mormon man, but not THE Middle-aged Mormon Man) went to Argentina on his mission and came back with a love of dulce de leche. I get him cans of it when I can find it, which is easier to do now than it was 20-25 years ago. And he loves the dulce de leche ice cream too.
Funny…my hubby just brought home some of that gelato yesturday. Vanilla Bean and Dark Chocolate Chip. He ate the vanilla and said it was just ok. I ate half of the chocolate and thought it was alright, but I’m glad he got it on sale. We ate gelato everyday…sometimes twice a day when we were in Florence. We even saw some missionaries on the street and bought them each a gelato…my husband’s excuse to eat it twice in one afternoon. 🙂 But the best we had was in the little seaside town of Gaeta, Italy. Hands down, every flavor we tried there was perfection!
Thought you were boycotting Haagen Dazs?
I was, but they lured me back with good sales prices. I guess I wasn’t as committed as I thought.
Makes sense. I was lured back by lemon sorbet.