Graeter's Ice Cream > Anything else that calls itself ice cream

Last Friday, a beautiful box arrived on my doorstep.

 

 

What does that say? This box contains ice cream? Why yes, yes it does.  However what it should say is it contains the best freaking ice cream I have ever eaten. Now I consider myself somewhat of an ice cream connoisseur. You don't get a tush my size without your spoon seeing the better part of a pint every now and then- and I thought I knew good ice cream.  I'm here to admit, I knew NOTHING about good ice cream.

 

  Graeter's started making French Pot Ice Cream in Cincinnati way back in 1870. Back then, things were different and they didn't mass produce the product but rather used the method to make just two gallons at a time- and that's the way they still make it. They say the result is a creaminess that can't be matched- but I must admit I was skeptical, because all ice creams claim to be super creamy.

 

Two pints of Salted Caramel, Black Raspberry Chip and Black Cherry Chocolate Chip were in that magic box and I could not wait to dig in. The first thing I noticed? Each pint weighed almost a full POUND. Seriously, when I went to Giant Eagle today I pulled a pint of Graeter's out of the freezer and half gallon of another brand and the pint easily outweighed the half gallon.

 

Graeter's uses fresh cream and egg custard as a base and then chills it in the special French Pot Freezer. They fold in the ingredients and when they are done they are left with an extremely dense product that needs to be packed by hand to get it into that little container.

 

Of course I had to try the Salted Carmel right away- because that just sounded like heaven on a spoon.

 

 

When I peeled the lid off it just came out of the deep freeze, so I was expecting the ice cream to be a little hard. Nope. My spoon went through it like butter- and it was so rich and creamy that it actually did the ice cream curl on my spoon.

 

Now, I would love to show you beautiful pictures of it in the bowl, looking perfect. But you want the truth? After one bite, this stuff was far too good to put in a bowl. It's eat-it-right-from-the-pint-because-Im-not-sharing-with-anyone-good. I have never tasted ice cream so creamy, and the caramel flavor was full but subtle so it didn't overwhelm you with sweetness.  Plus the little salty aftertaste to balance out the sweet and cream- I drool a little just thinking about it.

 

 

Next up was the Black Raspberry Chocolate Chip.  They should call it chocolate chunk, because seriously the chips in this were amazing sized.  There was no itty bitty pieces here, they were all perfect mouthful sized bites of dark chocolate.  Again, the creaminess and flavor cant be beat. Absolutely delish- and perfect on a summer night because even though its so rich, it doesn't feel heavy with the light raspberry flavor.  So really when you think about it, its dark chocolate and fruit- so its ice cream that's good for you!

 

Check out those chunks! Again- it didn't make it into a bowl.  (Hey, it was 89 and we don't have air conditioning. Don't judge.)

 

The last flavor I indulged in was the Black Cherry Chocolate Chip.  It was so smooth, even with all of the bits of real cherry pieces and chocolate. I actually shared this one with my neighbor- meaning she came over and stole the pint out of my hand after I had my first bite.  Ten minutes later and she had devoured half the pint and was heading to Giant Eagle to get some of her own. So easy to say, this one's another winner.  

 

The best part? They just started selling these flavors at my local Giant Eagle. But if you don't live close, don't fret- they ship their ice cream anywhere from their website! They also come in a ton of other flavors, and I cant imagine that any of them are anything but amaze-balls. In fact, I'm pretty sure Graeter's could make green bean ice cream taste scrumptious.

 

Visit them here to have a pint of cookies and cream, chocolate, peanut butter cup and salted caramel sent to me and we'll be best friends.  No seriously, if I can't find these flavors in store I will accept mail in donations!!  Either that, or Cincinnati is on the way to the in-laws house and Ill pack my cooler full of dry ice and Ill be headed that way.  At least then Ill have two willing baby sitters to keep Grayson busy as I eat my ice cream :)

 

***This is not a paid or sponsored post. I was simply provided a product to review and all opinions and thoughts states in this post are that of my own***