Ice Cream Madness: A Tantalyzing Taste Test Part I

The case upon arrival

Note that both have been opened and are propped up due to excessive pre photo sampling

Hudsonville rolls out some newbies just in time for the season to begin in earnest

By Ken DeLaat
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There are some definite perks to being part of an online news site.
After all there are the press passes for local high school sports but of course you also need to write the games up for posting. There are the invitations to grand openings also requiring a write up of course, and then there are the opportunities that seem to fall out of the sky like some small miracle. 
Recently Near North Now received an email from Hudsonville Ice Cream asking if we were interested in sampling their new products and giving them a bit of a review.
“Whoa! You mean ice cream in several incarnations delivered to my door with the requirement of giving them a try? How can this be? What  did I possibly do to deserve this and I need to immediately go out and buy a lottery ticket!”

A few days later the goods arrived packed with dry ice (which by the way looks very cool when you dump water on it and it returns to a gaseous state). There before us were cartons of 

• Peach Cobbler—new all-season flavor
• Coffee Chip—new all-season flavor
• Mint Deer Traxx—new all-season flavor
• Traverse City Cherry Fudge (Ice Cream Bar)—same great flavor, now as a bar
• Brownie Batter Cookie dough (Ice Cream Bar)—same great flavor, now as a bar 
• Tropical Twist (Summer Limited Edition)—new Limited Edition flavor, only available for a limited time!

It was decided these tantalizing treats are just too good to be limited to a group review so over the next few days we will deliver a little critique of the products two at a time.

Today we will feature the bars. Both are stick borne siblings of a pair of H-ville’s long time faves and both deliver their traditional tastes in a most convenient manner. My first venture was the Brownie Batter Cookie Dough soon after the arrival. Being a chocolaholic (pre-recovery) I was surprised that I’d never grabbed one of the cartons of this flavor before. I have a few regulars when it comes to ice cream and often vacillate between their Chocolate Almond and Toasted Coconut so not only was the bar a different twist it was a totally new taste to me.
It won me over in a heartbeat. The rich flavor was evident from bite one and the stick itself held up well, holding fast to the last of the frozen treat to make for a pleasant lick to the finish.
Then came the Traverse City Cherry Fudge. 

Look, I liked the BBCD a lot but after a bite of the TC Cherry Fudge I remembered why this flavor had been a favorite years ago and it was a welcome reunion indeed. Since the first day the bars have slowly dwindled and I must admit that once I got a taste for them I failed to ask for other volunteers. After all, what was left to say?

Now here’s the thing about having these frigid treats in bar form. They appear to be the perfect amount. When I dish up on my own there’s a tendency to sometimes…well, most times…, go a bit overboard. These bars are great for that right sized treat as it left me in that space where you’re happy with what you had  but not feeling you might have overindulged.

On a side note, another bar benefit is how much easier it is  to go undetected when you slip one of these beauts out of the freezer as opposed to requiring a bowl, a scoop and some rather noisy effort when your spousal companion might be busy  working on a quilt in her sewing room..
You know, just saying…

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