Four new Ben & Jerry’s non-dairy flavors are available for sale by the pint at the Ben & Jerry’s scoop shop in East Memphis (5007 Black Rd.). The new vegan flavors are made with an almond milk base.
Eventually, Ben & Jerry’s will also be selling the vegan flavors by the scoop, but an employee at the shop said the bulk non-dairy ice cream hasn’t arrived yet. They do, however, have almond milk in stock to make non-dairy milkshakes with the new flavors as soon as they arrive.
Until then, customers can purchase non-dairy P.B. & Cookies, Chunky Monkey, Chocolate Fudge Brownie, and Caramel Coffee Fudge by the pint. A few weekends ago, I popped into the shop with a few friends, and we grabbed a couple of pints to enjoy inside the store. An employee gave us plastic spoons, and he even warmed the pints, which were frozen rock solid, in the microwave for a few seconds so they’d be easier to eat.
I went with P.B. & Cookies — vanilla ice cream with chocolate sandwich cookies and a crunchy peanut butter swirl.
I’ve sampled plenty of almond milk-based vegan ice cream in my day, but the new Ben & Jerry’s version take the cake for the creamiest. One of my friends exclaimed, “This is just like dairy ice cream!”
The P.B. & Cookies had just the right balance of salty (from the peanut butter) and sweet, and the large chunks of sandwich cookies (think Oreos) peppered throughout were like little treasures waiting to be excavated with my flimsy plastic spoon. I ate my fair share in the store that night and took the rest home. But the next day, I immediately dug back in as soon as the sleep cleared from my eyes. Ice cream for breakfast? Don’t mind if I do.
