Ben & Jerry's Key Lime Pie Ice Cream: Limited Edition

Dear Ben & Jerry:

Why, oh WHY, do you never consult me before launching one of your limited edition products? You guys really missed a golden opportunity with this one.

I know you love to do special flavors that pair a celebrity with their pet charity, such as Elton John's "Goodbye Yellow Brickle Road," which helps support Aids research. Stephan Colbert's "Americone Dream," which helps give aid to the disadvantaged. Dave Matthews' flavor, which helps cure the munchies.

And what do we have here? A Key Lime flavored ice cream! Where do Key Limes come from? Well, the Florida Keys. And who is the favorite son of the Florida Keys? Why, Jimmy Buffet, of course! And one of Jimmy's favorite charities is Save The Manatee. Think of how cool this could have been...you could have had the same flavor and called it "Jimmy Buffett's "Oh The Humanatee!"

Look how awesome the pint art could have been!



But NOOOOOOOO, you guys went with boring old "Key Lime Pie," of which, so far as I know, none of the proceeds go to either manatees or Jimmy Buffett. (Though it may actually help with the munchies, so at least some good has come out of it). For shame, Ben and Jerry! For shame!

(By the way, should this flavor be re-marketed that way, you boys had better remember: either me or the manatees get the money... What?! Don't look at me like that! The manatees WANT me to have some money. I'm the one who thought of the manatees in the first place! The manatees think I deserve a new Mazda 3... OK, a used Mazda 3...hell, I'll settle for something with working air conditioning.)

Regardless, I do love the thought of this flavor. Key Lime Pie is a lime-flavored ice cream base, with meringue swirls and bits of pie crust. Seriously, NOTHING bad could possibly come of that! I can't think of ever having seen a lime ice cream before -- lime sherbets and sorbets for sure -- but there aren't a lot of citrus flavored ice creams out there.



The base lime ice cream is very, very, very mild. It's more like the idea of what lime ice cream should taste like, rather than an ice cream that is strongly flavored with lime. There are patches in the ice cream that are like little super-concentrated pockets of lime flavor. That's not particularly good, but it's not bad either. I can't see the manatees feeling more passionate about the lime than I did.



The strongest flavor by far is the meringue tufts that float through the ice cream like happy little clouds. If cereal marshmallows had a fluffy texture, they would taste like the meringue in this ice cream. Ben & Jerry, if you're still reading, how's about we cut out the middleman and just do a meringue ice cream, because that was an awesomely good part.

The little bits of pie crust are soft and taste like fresh graham cracker. I was surprised that there is not more of the crust (and in larger chunks), as they were a really tasty addition. In fact, I think manatees are sad that they don't often get to taste pie crust.

I wish the lime had been stronger, the crust more plentiful, and that I could have an entire pint just of the meringue. But even with all that said (and my brilliant tie-in aside), I still have to rate this pretty high. It's not Mission To Marzipan, but it is darn good.

(I also have to give a special shout out to Chris, who did the graphics -- actually, he does most of my graphics -- for the "Oh The Humanatee" pint. You go to 11!)



PURCHASED FROM:
Vons Supermarket