Haagen-Dazs Extra Righ Light Caramel Cone

Faced with my strong desire for the sweet taste of ice cream and conscious of my health, I chose Haagen-Dazs Extra Rich Light Caramel Cone Ice Cream recently. By chance, my friend chose Haagen-Dazs Caramel Cone Ice Cream, providing me the opportunity to try the two versions side-by-side.

Unlike the Phoood review of Haagen-Dazs Extra Rich Light Caramel Cone Ice Cream, I found drastic taste and textural differences between the two versions of Haagen-Dazs Caramel Cone Ice cream.


The Haagen-Dazs Extra Rich Light Caramel Cone Ice Cream looked appetizing enough, until compared with the regular version of the same ice cream flavor. In the Extra Rich Light Caramel Cone Ice Cream, the chocolate pieces appeared rampant amidst the caramel ice cream, but upon my first spoonful, the chocolate was just flecked throughout the ice cream. Additionally, the "cone" of this lightened version of ice cream tasted soggy. It was not pleasant to chew on the soggy pieces of ice cream cone. The caramel ice cream didn't taste like it had been churned properly but instead tasted and felt like it was icy.

Made with: skim milk, corn syrup, sugar, chocolaty coated cone pieces, cream, caramel sauce, egg yolks, natural flavor, butter, salt, pectin, baking soda.


Conversely, the Haagen-Dazs Caramel Cone Ice Cream was drastically better than the Haagen-Dazs Extra Rich Light Caramel Cone Ice Cream, visually, texturally, and tastefully. The chocolate in this version of ice cream was in chunks, neither too small like the flecks in the lightened ice cream nor too large to bite with ease. Unlike the lightened ice cream, the "cone" of the regular version was crispy, as if I were chewing pieces of a freshly baked waffle cone. Finally, the caramel ice cream was more dense and creamy than the lightened version, which was thin, as if watered down, and melted quickly in the summer heat.

Made with: cream, skim milk, chocolaty coating with cone pieces, sugar, caramel sauce, sweetened condensed skim milk, corn syrup, egg yolks, butter, natural flavor, salt, pectin, vanilla extract, baking soda.

If you have a craving for ice cream, don't skimp and fall for the tricks of the lightened versions which leave you craving more. You'll be highly satisfied with the real stuff.

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.