Saturday, February 24, 2018

Talenti Chocolate Caramel Blondie Gelato #48

[2018 only] My batting average for new products feels like it's below .100 right now but thankfully my local Price Chopper is starting to update as they burn off 2017 backlog. Now Nick already covered the new Almond Butter & Honey flavor, and Cold Brew Coffee Sorbetto isn't my thing, so let's happily dive in to a pint of...

Talenti Chocolate Caramel Blondie Gelato #48
chocolate and dulce de leche gelato
with salted caramel swirl and mini blondie pieces

Pretty minimalistic start.

So it says Belgian chocolate and dulce de leche were slowly cooked in to the base gelato, so basically it's a chocolate base with a bit of.... something to it. I often use "complexity" to describe a situation like this but that's not specific enough right now. The DdL has added a certain sticking point to the flavor note. I think the problem is that it's not doing anything for me. It's like the flavor is askew in such an unfamiliar way, it's almost like it has a bit of soda flavor to it.

If you hit a big puddle of sauce, it's definitely tasty and very buttery. When I get too much though, I long for it to be balanced with something. That's where the blondie pieces should come in, but they are very hard to describe as well. I keep trying to find more so I can sample them better. I got a flavor blast of something from a larger piece but again I lack the culinary knowledge to properly convey how they taste. It's like for a millisecond you go "oh yeah, it tastes like...." and in the next millisecond it's gone.

[time jump three hours] I wound up having a few more bites when we got back today and I think the problem is that I really don't like this gelato... I guess I just don't understand or appreciate the flavor profile here. Blondies can be a neat thing but I swear someone was trying to be super creative without actually factoring in how this would taste in mass production.

Honestly, I would skip this one unless you are pretty confident you can still enjoy it. I just don't see this one having mass appeal. Here's hoping a couple of you have tried this and can chime in with some better commentary than I can muster at the moment.

On Second Scoop: I started off with some bites that had lots of swirl and thought "ahhh, I was too hard on this one", but as soon as that swirl fades, I go back to thinking that I just don't like this one. Like other products I've tried, it's not that it's terrible or intolerable, but it triggers that reaction of "why am I bothering to eat this?". There's a reason that you don't see a lot of blondie mixed with chocolate flavors around.

Verdict?  just didn't click
Buy Again?  nope


LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Talenti really needs to work on their formula - too much inconsistency with quality.

Danielle said...

I've only seen the honey almond flavor at my local shoprite and it just doesn't appeal to me

Anonymous said...

Odd choice of flavors considering there mix-ins are usually not a dominant factor.

Thanks for reviewing

Anonymous said...

I thought the dulce de leche added some nice complexity to the chocolate base. I wish there had been more blondie pieces mixed in - but I did like the chewiness they added. I don't love this flavor, but I liked it. I would consider buying it again.

I am dying to the the honey almond flavor, but haven't seen it anywhere. I did find the honey, salted caramel, roasted almond flavor from Haagen Dazs - it's incredible. I also found the midnight cookies and cream. I haven't had any luck find the other Haagen Dazs flavors and zero luck with Ben and Jerry's.