Have you ever had pandan ice cream? Perhaps it’s time for an exotic ice cream sundae!
|
KAREN HOCHMAN is Editorial Director of THE NIBBLE.
|
|
August 2007
Updated July 2009 |
|
Gourmet Ice Cream Sodas & Sundaes With Vosges Haut Chocolat Exotic Ice Cream
Easy Recipes For Sundaes Using Exotic Flavors From Around The World
CAPSULE REPORT: Things don’t have to be plain old vanilla. Vosges Haut Chocolat, which has been shaking things up with exotic flavors for 10 years, ported its international palette of spices into ice cream several years ago—and we’ve been hooked ever since. From delicate curry ice cream and spicy chile ice cream to pandan and wattleseed, two lesser-known spices that must be experienced, Vosges brings a recipe for exotic ice cream sundaes and ice cream sodas that will turn just another hot day into hot excitement.
There’s ice cream and there’s ice cream. When you’re looking for something off the beaten path, beat a path to Vosges Haut Chocolat. The chocolatier, who introduced America to such flavors as naga, pandan and wattleseed in its chocolates, now serves them up in superpremium ice cream.
-
Naga. Sweet Indian curry and fresh young coconut are blended in a creamy custard ice cream. Curry is a mixture of different spices, and there are many different curry blends. Don’t think spicy chicken curry here, but a gentle curry that elevates coconut ice cream to a new level. The eagle-eyed may note that all of the other flavors are named for their spices. Why isn’t this named Coconut Curry, or some variation thereinof? Naga is the name of the truffle that Vosges launched its business with, a curry and coconut chocolate inspired by, and named for, the the Nagaland tribes of India. The company makes a variety of products in the “naga” flavor.
- Pandan. Chocolate ice cream is flavored with pandan leaf extract, a leaf that is a popular flavoring for rice and other dishes in Filipino, Indonesian, Malaysian and Thai cuisines. It comes from a tree in the screwpine genus, and has an exotic touch of pine nut flavor, in addition to the strangely familiar taste of vanilla wafers.
-
Red Fire. Our favorite flavor—but we love spicy “Aztec” chocolate bars—Red Fire combines ancho and chipotle chiles with cinnamon, in a dark chocolate base. The early Central Americans flavored their cacahuatl with chiles and cinnamon, but it never tasted this good!
|
Add some fire to your chocolate ice cream:
Red Fire with ancho and chipotle chiles,
plus cinnamon. |
Wattleseed: A popular new flavoring from Australia. |
Wattleseed. Wattleseeds are the edible seed of Australian acacia trees, and were traditionally eaten either green and cooked, or dried and milled to a flour by aboriginal people. An Australian food developer turned it into a flavoring more than 20 years ago. It became a commercial success because of its enchanting flavor profile, which is best expressed as a combination of chocolate, coffee and hazelnut flavors. If these are favorite flavors of yours, you’ll want to get more than one pint. Pandan is widely used by Australian chefs to flavor whipped cream, dessert sauces and of course, ice cream. Now, you don’t have to fly all the way to Australia to enjoy it. |
Exotic Ice Cream Soda & Sundae Recipe Ideas
We’ve combined Vosges ice cream with Boylan’s all natural soda—wild child meets All-American boy. (Read our review of Boylan’s sodas—a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.)
Vosges Naga Ice Cream: For an exotic
treat, grate fresh lime zest on top |
- Wattleseed Ice Cream
+ Boylan’s
all natural root beer
- Pandan Ice Cream + Boylan’s
Ginger Ale
- Naga Ice Cream + Boylan’s Lime
Seltzer Water
- Pandan sundae with warm ginger
sauce, topped with crumbled vanilla
wafers
- Naga Ice Cream + grated lime zest
- Wattleseed Ice Cream
+ chocolate
stout
- Red Fire Ice Cream milkshake
topped with Mexican vanilla bean-infused whipped cream* and
crushed Red Fire Pecans
|
*Infuse the bean in the cream for an hour before whipping, instead of adding vanilla extract.
But any way you scoop it, the new line is good news for ice cream lovers.
VOSGES HAUT CHOCOLAT EXOTIC ICE CREAM
Naga, Pandan, Red Fire, Wattleseed
- 4 Pints
$45.00
Suggested Retail Price
Purchase online at
VosgesChocolate.com
For a smaller order, check the website for retailers that carry the line. Vosges also has five chocolate stores that sell the ice cream: Chicago (Lincoln Park and Downtown), New York City (Madison Avenue and Soho), and Las Vegas (Caesars Forum Shops)
|
|
Prices and flavor availability are verified at publication but are subject to change. Shipping is additional.
|
