Dove Irresistibly Raspberry Ice Cream Review

you know, irresistibly is a really really hard word to spell, remind me to never name a flavor with that word (oh wait, it looks like they already registered it, guess it's not an issue then)

To celebrate national ice cream day, we decided to break open something we've never had on the blog before, Dove Ice Cream. It's been over 2 years but for whatever reason, Dove just hasnt shown up yet (well, there is one minor exception).

You know, I can actually (vaguely) remember the first time I had Dove ice cream.  My (step) uncle ran into the store and came out with Dove ice cream bars for himself, me, and my dad. Oh man was it heavenly (and the answer is no, I'm not the only ice cream fan in the family)

Here is our very fancy looking Dove Irresistibly Raspberry Ice Cream. It's Vanilla Ice Cream with Raspberry Sorbet Swirls and Chocolate Chunks. Ever notice how high end ice creams never show what they look like on the container but main stream ice creams do? I just thought of that now... how weird. I wonder why that is.

HAHAHAHA! Nice touch! I was not expecting that when I pulled off the lid. Rather than a piece of plastic, they've used chocolate to try and seal in the ice cream and keep it fresh. Unfortunately it was no match for my freezer after the pint fell on it's side, still very cool though.

Wow, now we're talking chocolate chunks! Now they mentioned vanilla ice cream with a raspberry sorbet swirl, but this looks like raspberry ice cream with a mild vanilla ice cream swirl. Occasionally you do see those dark pink sorbet specific spots, but in general the sorbet has blended with the vanilla. What this means is we're going to wind up with something that is way more like ice cream than it is sorbet (I'm not complaining in particular, just don't set yourself up for one thing and then be disappointed)

First off, let's talk about these chocolate chunks. The great thing here is that Dove is first and foremost a chocolate company, so that means these bits should be top notch... and they are. They have a perfect crunch to them and then there is the fact that there are just so many of them. It's... it's awesome really and I'm totally loving these bits. Really just spot on the money. Not too milky, not to dark, not to hard, not to soft - just right.

Now the thing is, well, I need to say about how I feel on a whole. I do like this product, but it's totally the opposite of what I was expecting. As much as I enjoyed the bits, the overall flavor of this treat is eerily similar to Turkey Hill's light Raspberry Chocolate Chunk ice cream.... and right about now you are thinking "say wha? that doesn't make a whole lot of sense" but hear me out. The unique chocolate chunks in the Turkey Hill meld with their raspberry flavor into a unique flavor. I'm not a gigantic fan of it, but it's different. Funny thing is, I get the exact same vibe here, except now I have crisp chunks instead of soft chunks (well, and a lot more fat)

Recap: This is not what I expected, but that doesn't mean we didn't enjoy it yesterday. In fact, I could have easily finished off the container. It's a fine product with excellent chip bits, but it just also happens to not be what I expected. This is one of those flavors you should try, but I don't see it being a freezer regular.

One more bright point: The use of sorbet helps bring down the fat content and actually makes this the healthiest of all the Dove ice cream flavors.

2012 Update: This has been discontinued and the chocolate ganish layer has been removed from the few flavors that remain. I get that it was expensive to do, but at the same time, it made these pints unique. Please click here to see my review of their 2013 lineup.