Apr. 9—When someone states how two great things don't always go together, they usually cite the combination of pizza and ice cream.
The New York-based ice cream company Van Leeuwan raises the bar and asks "What about macaroni and cheese ice cream?"
Partnering with Kraft, the company released a limited edition Kraft Macaroni & Cheese ice cream ($4.99 per pint, available at Walmart) and the results are mixed.
The ice cream's promotional pitch states: "You know you've always wondered what this mash-up would taste like. Or at least you do now."
As a lover of both foods, I have never wondered this and am undecided on if I should have ever known.
Mixing traditional ice cream elements like cream, milk, and cane sugar with Kraft cheese sauce mix, it gives the ice cream an appropriately weird combination of sweet and bitter flavors.
Breaking a pint of this out with some friends, most noted that right when ripping off the seal that it smelled like macaroni and cheese. It has that weird tint of yellow you usually associate with Kraft mac and cheese. And the taste: It has the sweetness of ice cream with the salty, slightly bitter aftertaste of the popular entrée.
Reactions from my friends ranged from "Surprisingly good" to quitting after a small, spoon-sized bite of it. We all agreed it was a novelty and not worth trying more than a scoop of it.
Since novelty flavors seem to be Van Leeuwan's bag, we also tried the Pizza flavor ($4.99 per pint. Available at Walmart). It was worse.
While it also has the rich, sugary taste of ice cream mixed with some surprisingly sweet basil crust pieces, it also has tomato swirls that made it absolutely vile. If you've ever done the Harry Potter/Bertie Bott's Jelly Beans challenge and ate one of their gross flavors, like dirt or earwax, it's similar to that.
The real question: Is your curiosity worth $5? I'd say the Macaroni & Cheese Ice Cream is fun enough to break out at a party to see how others react. On its own, you're better off just eating the two separate and imagining how they would go together.
Andrew Gaug can be reached at andrew.gaug@newspressnow.com.
Follow him on Twitter: @NPNOWGaug