Flavor Review: Blue Bell 'Banana Pudding'

   As stated in a prior post, I will post my thoughts on the commercial stuff found at local stores in case readers out there want to try them out, but are wary. I am here to ease that fear. I tastes all things ice cream.

   My quest brought me to a safe haven this week, and I had the fortune to trod on familiar grounds. I was intrigued by this flavor after falling in love with Banana Creme Pie ice cream. Blue Bell usually does well with creating flavors; though at times, it can taste cheap and manufactured. I enjoyed Banana Pudding. It was creamy, but not quite as creamy as I think gourmet ice creams should be. The banana flavor was startlingly huge. Blue Bell nailed that fake banana flavor found in banana puddings, especially the Jell-o mixes. I personally like that fake taste.
   My brother and I were talking the other day about certain flavors, strawberry to be exact, and how often the real flavor loses us. Real strawberry ice cream made from fresh strawberries is good and natural, but it's only good, not great. It can get icy faster than you can say Millennium Falcon, and is a bit bitter. Then we got to talking about how good the strawberry shakes are from Burger King, which we used to slurp down in our childhood. They weren't made from fresh strawberries; rather, they were made by blending a syrup into ice cream. This, people, can be done if it's worth it, meaning it produces good results. I'm all for natural ingredients, but if there is another alternative that creates a better flavor, then I will look into that too.
   All this to say, the fake banana taste is great, and I am all for it.

   Blue Bell improvised the meringue topping by creating a sugary cream swirl that was spot on. It tasted like frozen meringue. Brilliant. In my Banana Creme Pie I use a marshmallow swirl to emulate this, but what they did works too. It was copiously swirled in, which gave the ice cream a nice balance of banana flavor and meringue flavor.

   The highlight of the ice cream was the chunks of vanilla wafers. They were of varying sizes, but all were spots of buttery, bread-y goodness that punched a whole in the wall of texture (as seen in the photo to the right where a bold wafer juts out like the bastion of the Citadel in Minas Tirith). It's good to have that opposite texture balance. The banana ice cream and meringue were smooth and creamy, but the wafers offered a much needed oasis of soft chewiness.

   This flavor was great. I wouldn't change anything from what they did to recreate the classic banana pudding dessert. Well done Blue Bell. You provided blissful rest in my enduring quest. After a few days with your best flavor to date, I must plunge back into the frozen world in search for true, gourmet ice creams. Farewell.

-Reese O'Shirey Esq.