The old-time, handmade look of the pint of Maryland-based Gifford's Ice Cream and Candy Company 72% Chocolate Chocolate Chip stood out among the other pints in the store because of the color and simplicity of the packaging. Unlike the loud packaging most brands use to lure us to purchase their products, Gifford's is packaged in pastel yellow with powder blue accent. Somehow I felt like it would taste fresh (because of the baby colors).
Every pint is the same color scheme with the accent being the title/flavor bar, which is a different color on each pint. Making all-natural ice cream (we would expect no less of this brand if it was true old-school ice cream) since 1938, Gifford's wants you to know they have been producing from a little-old building pictured on the packaging just like the one your parents grew up patronizing. It was nostalgic in feel, just enough to sucker me into the purchase (I would have bought it anyway to survey...see what I do for you?).
Now 72% chocolate is about my favorite when it's in candy bar style, so you can imagine my glee when seeing that this Chocolate Chocolate Chip was made with the semi-sweet line of chocolate. We ripped off the safety seal, which reminded us of a milk jug's safety zipper seal (nice touch) and lid to find the handmade ice cream had shrunk about 1/4" from the top. Not too bad, but noticeable. The color was slightly darker than milk chocolate, and smelled oh, so good! This was exciting! I could see one chocolate chip poking out of the top and pursued it promptly.
The chip was very small and irregular shaped, like someone had hand-chopped a bar of chocolate on a cutting board. No two chips were the same, which reinforced the homemade feel I was supposed to achieve. The taste of each piece was high-grade and semi-sweet. The chips were well distributed. The ice cream itself was very good; dense and creamy and not at all bitter. It left me disappointed though as it just taste like really good chocolate, but not dark like I thought 72% would taste. The texture was dense and creamy and boy, I could certainly eat a lot of this ice cream!
A surprise crunch came in the third bite or so and it concerned me until I realized that this was a "cocoa nib" advertised in small print on the front of the container. These were not consistent throughout the ice cream, but when chomped, gave a slight bitterness to the sweet treat, which was not a bad thing. I thought the flavor could have done without the nibs myself since the consistency was off and the random crunch sent more concern of a chipped tooth or a piece of sand than satisfaction. If this was hand-dipped in the store, I would definitely be satisfied, but as a packaged pint purchased in the grocery store, it fell just a touch short.
- Kris