Boulder Ice Cream: Caramel Pecan and Coconut Crunch

While I've reviewed many different treat shops to date - Gelazzi Gelato, CJ's Custard, and Sweet Action Ice Cream - it's about time I gave my two cents on some sold-in-stores stuff.

I spent over two decades living in Boulder and I never tried Boulder Ice Cream until last week. It went on sale at my local Whole Foods for $2.5/pint, and I figured it was time to put it to the taste test.

Boulder Ice Cream flavors are either All Natural or Organic, and they have about an equal number of varieties in either category. All ice creams are batch churned and use local dairies for milk and cream.

The two flavors I purchased were All-Natural Caramel Pecan, and Organic Coconut Crunch.

The Caramel Pecan was excellent. The ice cream had a smooth, velvety texture and rich flavor that reminded me of Ben & Jerry's.

I love lots of "mix-ins" in my ice cream, so I was happy to see large pecan pieces everywhere. The caramel in this ice cream came in the form of the caramel-flavored ice cream base and caramelized pecans.

Nutritionals and ingredients:

I checked this against some Ben & Jerry's we had in the house and noticed that Boulder Ice Cream contains more fat but less sugar than Ben & Jerry's (this applies to both flavors).

Next up for a taste test was Coconut Crunch.

The coconut ice cream base tasted and smelled strongly of coconut, but that was only the result of added coconut flavor. There's no actual coconut in this ice cream. While I was excited to find a coconut-flavored ice cream, I was disappointed there were no coconut pieces in it.

The "crunch" in the name comes from toffee pieces in the coconut ice cream base. I was hoping for substantial, rich chunks of toffee, but instead found only tiny pieces that didn't contribute a strong toffee taste.

Finally, the texture of the Coconut Crunch wasn't as creamy and smooth as the Caramel Pecan. It was harder to spoon out and had a bit of an icy taste. I'm not sure if this was a result of all-organic ingredients in the Coconut Crunch or if it was due to a different issue. Still, this was a good ice cream flavor, but it didn't impress me like the Caramel Pecan did.

Coconut Crunch Nutritionals:

I definitely preferred the Caramel Pecan, but my husband loved the Coconut Crunch. 

I was very pleasantly surprised with the texture and quality of ingredients in the Caramel Pecan. It rivals some of my favorite national premium ice cream brands, but its base price is more expensive. I'll be happy to buy it again when it goes on sale to promote a local company. 

Website:

http://www.boulderhomemadeicecream.com