Ben & Jerry's Salted Caramel Core Ice Cream

[By Nick, New for 2014] When we first received word about the new Ben & Jerry’s core flavors, I immediately called dibs on this one.

Ben & Jerry's Salted Caramel Core Ice Cream

 Sweet Cream Ice Cream with Blonde Brownies & a Salted Caramel Core

There are a various reasons why I wanted to review this flavor but one stands out the most. Unlike the other cores, this one doesn’t involve their lackluster chocolate base which I complain about in every review. I mean, come on, why did they have to use the chocolate in 3 out of the 4? At least one could’ve used their milk chocolate from Peanut Butter World or even the vanilla bean from the recently departed Late Night Snack. Speaking of that, I find it funny how this flavor is comprised of components from flavors that have been sent to the graveyard. You have the sweet cream base found in both Imagine Whirled Peace and Chocolate Nougat Crunch, the salted caramel from Late Night Snack and the blondies from Maple Blondie (I know they’re back in Rockin’ Blondies but just go along with it) It’s as if Ben & Jerry’s pulled a Subway and took ingredients they already had on hand to produce a new product. Honestly though, I thoroughly enjoy all of those components so I’m rather excited to try this flavor. There’s only so much that can go wrong when blondies and salted caramel are involved.

Things are look good from the beginning. While not fully centered, I can see more of the core this time. That and there are bits of blondies everywhere which is always a good thing.

Let’s start with the pros first. The sweet cream base is just how I remember it. It’s not going to blow your mind but there’s something satisfying about its simplicity. I honestly prefer it over their regular vanilla base just for that reason. The blondies, while not as big as in Rockin’ Blondies, the little bits are everywhere. Their size hinders their textural impact but not their flavor. The buttery brown sugar melds perfectly with the sweet cream base.

This would be a solid flavor as is but Ben & Jerry’s had to add the core.  This is where the cons begin. While not bad in very small doses, the core is way too salty. A little goes a long way with this one. I made the stupid decision to try the core alone and needed to get a drink of water afterwards. All you get is salt, salt, slight butteriness which is rounded out with some more salt. Salted caramel should be just that caramel with salt. What we have here is salt with a hint of caramel. I’m having the complete opposite experience here than what I did with Karamel Sutra. While I wanted to just eat the core, I want to eat everything but it here. It’s disappointing too because this is a very good flavor otherwise.

Ben & Jerry’s would’ve been better off either using that core again for this one or using the salted caramel but incorporating it as a swirl so it’s not so concentrated. For a comparison, Karamel Sutra contains 70mg of sodium per serving while Salted Caramel comes in at 180mg per serving. That’s more than 2.5 times more sodium in a serving.

All I can say is what the heck is going on with these cores? I didn’t get to try their original core lineup in 2002 but I think I know why they failed. We only have one more core flavor left to review so here’s hoping that there will be a saving grace to this line.

Verdict?  Way too salty to properly enjoy.
Buy Again?  If I feel like dehydrating myself with ice cream.