KLIMON Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert

[Reformulated for 2024] Do you remember when KLIMON hit Walmart in 2022? At the time, they had 5 flavors that used an almond base, so I never brought them home to try. Well, I got an email from them a few weeks ago asking if I wanted to check out their reformulated lineup, and I thought, why not? Their 11 current flavors are made in a facility where nuts are present, but I asked for the flavors that didn't specifically contain any nuts, so they sent over....

Klimon Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert

 

I really want to start with Caramel Brulee, but it has 14% of your daily sodium per serving. That might be the most I've seen in a frozen scoopable treat.... ahh, I cant help myself, I'm stealing a few smalls bites. Ok, I'm getting the saltiness, but I'm also getting a coffee vibe. I can tell that they were going for Crème Brulee, but it's got that darkness/richness of a coffee flavor.

So vanilla and chocolate next? The chocolate isn't bad, but it has a little bit of a non-dairy finish to it. Nothing crazy, but it's pops in after the fairly mild chocolate-ness of this flavor fades away. I really thought something named Chocolate Meltdown would be a lot stronger.

Next I try Vanilla Boom.... and I really like it actually! It's just a nice, clean flavor. It's got enough vanilla-ness to it, and I'm not really getting any non-dairy notes. Granted the texture is a little different than a normal ice cream, but wow, easily my favorite of the first three!

I try Cherry Bomb next and I like it, but I like the part with the cherry swirl more than I like the base by itself. These pints have been out for awhile now and they are starting to be half frozen, half icy. It's decent, but I think I get a bit of non-dairy flavoring notes from the base (which the swirl then cancels out).

Mint Condition is next! I do love mint, and this is a nice mild mint flavor that easily hides the non-dairy-ness of it all. It's reminding me of something (in a good way). I have grown to really enjoy mint flavors over the years and I dig how this one is dialed in.

Banana Ohh Na-Na scares me most, so I try it last... and oh my, that is strong! I don't think it's artificial tasting, but it is very strong, as least to my personal preferences. It's just a straight up banana flavor (versus something that has a more mild banana bread vibe) and there's not a ton of cherries or chocolate to break things up. Also, unfortunately, I could still taste this one a few hours later.

I run through the flavors one more time to verify my thoughts. I just need to test chocolate again (meh, non-dairy) and then finish with vanilla (geez, why is that so good?).

Mix-in thoughts: not a ton of mix-ins here, which I think is fine for something mild like the mint condition, but than not super helpful for the mildly flavored chocolate meltdown.

Texture thoughts: This obviously isn't dairy based ice cream, and you do need to let them temper, but the texture was fine on all of them except the cherry. I would hazard a guess that it's the fact that it's a more sugary/watery treat (with the cherries and swirl) that has then been forced to go through the dry ice shipping. Plenty of treats can handle shipping this way, but sometimes particular flavors can have trouble.

Big thanks to KLIMON's marketing team for sending these free samples over! It's always a gamble sending non-dairy things to someone who's a huge dairy fan, but I think they did a nice job here and I wish them success with the new lineup. 

Note: They also sent over one of their five sandwich varieties, but I'm going to put that in it's own post.

On Second Scoop: Ok, let's officially rank these flavors! I've been pulling one flavor out each day to confirm that I still feel the same way about them. Vanilla comes in first easily. I decide to rank Mint second, because like the vanilla, it does a great job of masking any non-dairy-ness. Cherry comes in a close third. The secret is to get a little bit of swirl in every bite. 

The last three are in a debatable order. Chocolate Meltdown really needs a swirl and some chocolate chips. I realize that Caramel Brulee suffers from the same iciness that the cherry had (I assume it's from the shipping). I appreciate the creativeness here, but I'd prefer that it be less salty and a bit more sweet and caramelly. I'm ranking the Banana last because is just way too potent for my liking (though I am sure some of you would dig how potent it is).

Verdict?  a mix of hits and misses
Buy Again?  yes to some of them

Allergy Note: made in a facility that processes nuts