Overwhelmed: The Ben & Jerry's That's My Core Ice Cream Entirely Underwhelms!

The Good: Interesting concept, Chocolate flavor is distinctive, Wonderful ingredients
The Bad: VERY low nutritional value, Not a strong flavor or a good mix of flavors
The Basics: Ben & Jerry’s That's My Jam Core Ice Cream is a cool concept with some mild elements that blend to form an ice cream that still gets overwhelmed by the chocolate in it.


A few months ago, I finally got my first try of one of the Ben & Jerry's Core flavors. Despite being somewhat unimpressed by the Peanut Butter Fudge Core Ice Cream (reviewed here!), I decided to give the Core flavors another chance. I was super excited to try the That's My Jam Core ice cream. Sadly, I found it to be an incredibly poor blending of the flavors involved and one that was not actually worth trying.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, Core flavors of ice cream are ice cream flavors that have, essentially, the “topping” of the ice cream in the pint, presented as a cylinder going through the center. So, for example, in the Caramel Sutra Core, if one looks at the top of it, there is a circle in the center of caramel (it is actually a column that goes straight down to the bottom of the pint) surrounded by ice cream. It’s a neat concept and the That's My Jam Core has two flavors of ice cream swirled around the raspberry jam column in the center of the ice cream.

Basics

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream comes in a pint container. The That's My Jam Core Ice Cream is a smooth ice cream on the chocolate side and chunky on the raspberry side because of the fudge chips in it. The raspberry jam core is obvious and there are fudge bits mixed discretely in the raspberry ice cream half of the That's My Jam Core pint, such that almost every bite of the raspberry ice cream has fudge in it.

At (locally) $5.99 a pint, the Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is an expensive ice cream, especially compared to other ice creams and while the Core concept is unique to Ben & Jerry’s, it is not such an incredible execution of the concept as to justify the inflated ice cream price.

Ease Of Preparation

The That's My Jam Core Ice Cream is a loaded ice cream. As an ice cream, preparation is ridiculously simple: one need only to open the top of the container, scoop out a half cup and consume! There is no trick to preparing or eating the That's My Jam Core Ice Cream! No matter how one tries to consume it - blended together or with each of its independent elements, it is in no way extraordinary.

Taste

That's My Jam Core ice cream has almost no aroma to it. This is an ice cream that has virtually no scent to it, even as it nears its melting point.

In the mouth, Ben & Jerry’s That's My Jam Core ice cream is very mild as well. The raspberry half is almost so mild as to taste like vanilla, as opposed to anything that bears a fruit flavor. The fudge chips add a rich, dark chocolate flavor that overwhelms the raspberry ice cream flavor. The chocolate ice cream is a very bland, standard flavor of ice cream. The raspberry jam core to these pints is sweet and only vaguely fruity.

Mixed together for any bite with all four of the elements, the chocolate and fudge completely overwhelm the raspberry ice cream and the jam. The jam contributes a slight sweet aftertaste to the ice cream, but this is a powerfully chocolate-dominated flavor.

Nutrition

The Ben & Jerry’s That's My Jam Core Ice Cream is a fairly light ice cream with a noticeable additive and it is not at all healthy, though it does use decent ingredients. The pint represents four half-cup servings. In the half-cup serving, there are 260 calories, 120 of which are from fat. The thirtteen grams of fat represent 20% of the RDA of fat, with 45% of one’s RDA of saturated fat coming in the 9 grams of saturated fat in this ice cream. One serving has 55 mg of cholesterol (that’s 18% of the RDA!) and 45 mg of Sodium (2% RDA). The only other real nutrients are four grams of protein, 10% of the RDA of Calcium and 8% of the RDA of Vitamin A and Iron in the That's My Jam Core Ice Cream.

Ben & Jerry’s That's My Jam Core has decent ingredients. Made primarily of Cream, Skim milk, and liquid sugar! There is nothing unpronounceable in the ingredients list. The That's My Jam Core Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is Kosher, but not marked as gluten free. There are no allergy warnings on the pint.

Storage/Clean-Up

Ben & Jerry’s ice cream is both a frozen and a dairy product, so it is pretty obvious that it must be kept frozen in order to remain viable. Kept frozen it remains fresh for months (the pint I purchased in April would have lasted until December 30, 2016 had I not enjoyed it so much before then!).

The That's My Jam Core ice cream is fairly light in color for the raspberry half, but predictably dark for the chocolate side and fudge pieces, so it will absolutely stain fabrics. Consult a fabric guide for getting the dairy or chocolate components out of whatever you get it on. On nonporous surfaces, the ice cream wipes off exceptionally easily.

Overall

The Ben & Jerry’s That's My Jam Core ice cream is one of the all-around disappointments from the Ben & Jerry's ice cream line!

For other Ben & Jerry’s ice creams, be sure to visit my reviews of:
Ben & Jerry's Mint Chocolate Cookie ice cream
Blueberry Vanilla Graham Greek Frozen Yogurt
Coffee Caramel Buzz ice cream

2.5/10

For other food reviews, please visit my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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