Haagen Dazs Vanilla Honey Bee

Although I am not finished with my series of Paris posts, I wanted to mention how good I felt about the last pint of Haagen Dazs ice cream that I ate, not only because it lasted five days (instead of the usual hour to an hour and a half), but because purchasing one of Haagen Dazs' "Honey Bee-dependent Flavors" helps fund honeybee research.


Honeybees help pollinate about 30% of the fruits and vegetables that we eat. Additionally, they help pollinate the foods that are fed to the animals which many people eventually eat. Unfortunately, honeybees are quickly vanishing in large numbers due to what scientists call Colony Collapse Disorder. The problem is particularly mystifying because the honeybees are simply vanishing; honeybee keepers afflicted by the disorder simply open their hives to find them absent of worker bees.

Haagen Dazs has a vested interest in maintaining the honeybee population because their products are made from all natural flavors, many derived from fruits pollinated by honeybees. In addition to their line of "Honey Bee-dependent Flavors", Haagen Dazs has donated $250,000 to both Pennsylvania State University and the University of California, Davis to fund honeybee research, particularly the Colony Collapse Disorder.

Purchasing select Haagen Dazs flavors won't just make you feel good about your contribution towards honeybee and sustainable pollination research, but you'll feel good about ingesting something quite delicious too. I picked up the Vanilla Honey Bee Haagen Dazs flavor and while I am used to the heavy swirls of ingredients found in many novelty ice creams, I was deceived into thinking the ice cream would taste mostly of vanilla with little honey flavor.

The Haagen Dazs Vanilla Honey Bee ice cream is white in color, but a single spoonful has intense honey flavor. The amount of honey is mellow enough to still taste the pure vanilla that Haagen Dazs uses. I am an economic shopper, but luckily Haagen Dazs was recently on sale at the grocery store. Unlike the other ice creams I usually purchase, I didn't have to use my spoon as an ice pick because the Haagen Dazs remained soft and creamy the five days that it lasted. Although the smooth texture was largely due to the fat content of the total six ingredients (cream, skim milk, honey, egg yolks, sugar, natural vanilla), this was a very worthy splurge financially, health wise, and especially environmentally.