You know, sometimes I just love living in Scottsdale. Among its charms are the many small businesses. I've been going heavy on Zak's Chocolate products this year, and the one I have today is another collaboration. This is Guatemala Chocolate Ice Cream made by Super Chunks Sweets & Treats with chocolate from Zak's. Super Chunks is in Old Town (conveniently placed for locals and tourists alike). While I have not visited their shop yet, I have read about them (their desserts are quite photogenic). They're a husband and wife team just like Zak's is, which is cool.
I purchased this ice cream from Zak's (it recently came back in stock after a short time away); I'm not sure if it's something that Super Chunks keeps on hand, too, or not. Point being that you may or may not have to plan ahead a big to get it. It came in a simple white container. And yes, this is a small, pint size. That works for me as this is normally the size I get on those occasions when I am buying ice cream.
The color is lighter than I had expected; it's a soft, milky brown. I served some up in a little condiment bowl in my attempt to get a photo. Ice cream is one of the products I've had the most trouble photographing over the years--although I think the chocolate pasta was worse. Staging is the difficult part, you know? (And you can see here that I don't have a nice, rounded ice cream scoop. That would have given it a more even look in the bowl.)
The chocolate here is the Guatemala Lachua 70% (click here for that review). I was struck instantly by how genuine the chocolate flavor is in the ice cream. It isn't that it's super dark or deep, as you can tell from the light color. You can taste the creamy milkiness, though the chocolate flavor is still in the center. It is excellent chocolate flavor despite not being a "super dark" chocolate ice cream. Because after all, "super dark" isn't the definition of good, anyway. I'm a big proponent of classics, or of letting each product be the best version of itself. So I usually choose vanilla ice cream over chocolate because when I want good chocolate flavor, I reach for a chocolate bar rather than ice cream. So I like that this ice cream still retains that creamy feel that is specific to ice cream.
And yet even in doing so, it delivers that wonderful chocolate flavor. You could almost, then, call this more of a milk chocolate (after all, it is chocolate plus cream). I don't taste all the flavor notes I listed in the chocolate bar, but there is still more nuanced flavor here than is typical for ice cream. And I'll also add this note. One of the best-tasting chocolate ice creams I can remember having had (I don't recall who made it) unfortunately had a slightly grainy texture, perhaps from cocoa powder. So I will add that the texture here is perfectly normal.
This is an excellent collaboration (as well as a reminder that I do need to give Super Chunks Sweets & Treats a visit sometime). How you approach it is of course entirely up to you. Maybe you'll serve it up in condiment bowls like I did or maybe you'll just cuddle up to the pint with a spoon. Or maybe it'll be an accent to a special occasion dessert--some birthday or anniversary cake, perhaps?
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