NEW! Jude's Peanut Butter Chocolate Ripple Dairy Ice Cream (Sainsbury's)

As promised, today's review is the subject of last night's dessert porn: Jude's Peanut Butter Chocolate Ripple Dairy Ice Cream. The lovely One Treat messaged me a couple of weeks ago informing me of its existence in Sainsbury's, but to be honest I was a tad put-off by the lack of chunks and relatively high price. Then on Tuesday Emily sent me a message on instagram asking me if I had tried the ice cream, and with that I decided that there were just too many cues to ignore. I soon realised it was on offer so popped on down to Sainsbury's yesterday and forked out the £3.00 (usually £3.50) for the 500ml tub. It had better be good. 

"Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Peanut Pieces and Chocolate Ripple."

I haven't bought Jude's ice cream before, despite reading many positive reviews, so if -like me- you don't know much about him, here's a bit of background for you: 

"He wanted to create the world’s tastiest ice cream with milk from local cows. In his barn at home he set to work and soon the whole family joined in. In the winter of 2002 he carried the first tubs across the field to the village pub and Jude’s Ice Cream was born.
He lovingly named it after his wife."

Aww. I don't know about you, but I always appreciate a good back story and I hoped this admiration would continue once the striking looking stripey tub was open.

Crikey! The super-strong scent of salted peanuts saluted my nostrils the moment I peeled back the lid. Perhaps that should have been unsurprising considering that peanut butter is ranked number 3 on the ingredients list, and accounts for 10% of the total tub -a fact that pleased me greatly. I was a little taken aback at the lack of chocolate ripple immediately evident, but I soon uncovered it when I dug down.

The ice cream was dense, but I could easily and immediately spoon it out without too much of a struggle. I've mentioned a number of times how I'm not a fan of ice creams that melt quickly, but I knew from the thick consistency that I wasn't going to have to eat this against the clock for fear of becoming a sticky mess.

What I hadn't acknowledged in my eagerness to construct my cone was the sheer abundance of chopped peanut pieces that studded every single spoonful. I know this might sound odd considering that I'm a devout lover of the chunks in Ben & Jerry's -but I don't actually like nuts in ice cream! The walnuts in B&J's chunky monkey used to frustrate me so much that I rarely bought it despite adoring banana ice cream. Would this be the downfall of this Jude's tub that both looked and smelt divine?

No. In fact the peanut pieces were crisp, and added further flavour and welcome texture to the otherwise silken ice cream without becoming obtrusive. The flavour was sheer heaven for my peanut butter addicted taste-buds, delivering the true salty-sweet balance that so often gets lost in pb flavoured treats. Jude's have got the ratio spot on with the chocolate ripple, allowing the sweetness to occasionally crop up and cut through the nuttiness. Yum. 

Jude's Peanut Butter Ice Cream with Peanut Pieces and Chocolate Ripple is definitely worthy of the high price point -especially as the company donate 10% of their profits to charity. It's a cleverly thought out, indulgent ice cream that (even as a student) I won't mind paying the extra money for every now and then. For normal days, I'll stick to the childish (and cheaper) Co-Op PB&J ice cream.  

9/10

One Treat has written reviews on Jude's Salted Caramel, Brown Butter Pecan and Flat White flavours too, which you can find here.