There is no better feeling than having a half dozen pints of ice cream delivered to your door, especially when you live in New Orleans. With weeks of heat indexes over 110 degrees in our foreseeable future, we need refreshing treats to make it through the hard times. While I love the fatty goodness in Haagen Dazs, I can only eat so much of their coffee ice cream before bed. (I didn’t need to look up how to spell their name, I just know because I eat that much ice cream.) While a pint of Americone Dream by Ben & Jerry’s is my go-to cheat meal, it isn’t really ice cream. (It’s more of a sundae in a pint.) With trends pushing towards healthier options, there hasn’t been a lot of innovation for pure ice cream eaters that are willing to ignore counting calories, in order to consume that which tastes the best. Enter Heritage Kulfi!
For those who don’t know, kulfi is South Asia’s version of ice cream. You probably haven’t had the chance to grab it from street vendors in Mumbai, but you might have seen it on the dessert menu of your local Indian restaurant. Hopefully, you have but there is a good chance you’ve never met it. You’re probably more familiar with gelato, Italy’s version of ice cream, but all of these are quite similar. They are made from a base of milk and sugar, before you add whatever flavors you want. Heritage Kulfi has clearly embraced the flavors of the Indian subcontinent, rather than trying to please the general American public. We’re all for it!
Alphonso Mango, Cardamom Chai, Coconut, Earl Grey, Pistachio, Rosewater, Saffron, and Vanilla Bean are their current lineup. I taste tested all of those except the Cardamom Chai and Saffron. I love saffron, so I’d imagine that one will be great, but I’d bet good money that the Cardamom Chai would be my favorite. I am a sucker for chai. I like my chai with lots of sugar and based on my experience with their other flavors, I know they won’t disappoint. So, let’s talk about those other flavors.
Look at the picture above. We dedicate our entire freezer door to ice cream. We even have two kinds of ice cream for our dogs. This is a dairy based house. As always, I’ll be perfectly honest right from the start. It took me very little time to crush five of those pints. I won’t say the exact number of days, but it was well less than a week. Unfortunately, the coconut is still in the freezer. Why don’t I like it? Because I don’t like coconut and it tastes like coconut. Like, it really tastes like coconut.
Across the board, my favorite thing about Heritage Kulfi is that they went all in on flavor, above all else. They aren’t being shy or timid. The early grey is well steeped. Compare it to a strong coffee ice cream, rather than one of those weak attempts. The rosewater is floral without tasting like perfume. The alphonso mango is incredibly addictive. It probably was my favorite, in terms of flavor and texture. The vanilla is exactly what you’d want in vanilla ice cream. The pistachio has to cost them a fortune to make. It was filled with actual pieces of pistachio. The flavors were bold. I can’t ask for anything more from them when it comes to flavor. They are absolutely on point.
As for texture, there might be some room for improvement. The alphonso mango was perfect, as soon as I opened the first pint and peeled that little piece of paper/plastic that protects the ice cream. If you eat a lot of Haagen Dazs, you’ll know that you need to leave it on the counter for a few minutes. Haagen Dazs has an incredibly high fat content, which makes it freeze harder and stay frozen for longer. You need to let the temperature rise a bit, so that you can scoop it and enjoy it properly. I thought that might be the case here, since the fat content is also high, but it wasn’t the same. Interestingly enough, after a first small tasting of one bite on the day of arrival, I let it sit for a day in the freezer with that seal removed. When I came back, it was much smoother in my mouth. Each was a little different, most likely based on whether it had real mango, real pistachio, or real coconut pieces in it, which makes sense. It took a little extra work to crack the texture code, but in the end, it was an absolutely enjoyable experience.
I can’t wait to try the other two flavors and hope for far more in the future. My freezer usually has Haagen Dazs coffee, Ben & Jerry’s Americone Dream, and Breyer’s Natural Vanilla (for protein shakes) in it at all times, but there is a new player in the lineup thanks to Heritage Kulfi. That Alphonso Mango is a total staple that needs to be stocked at all times.
Also, I need to say something about their shipping. Look at the featured photo for this article. That packaging is absolutely insane. We’ve had other major companies, like McConnell’s (also amazing) ship us pints, and it has never come in anything that visually appealing. They’ve absolutely crushed it with making sure you eat with your eyes first.
Before everyone says, how can Hungry & Fit recommend such a calorically dense ice cream to their audience? Please remember, we’re all about having your cake and having abs too. Everything comes down to balance, and restrictive diets are often the reason people cannot sustain their progress over long periods of time. Have a scoop every night after dinner, be active in your lifestyle, hit the gym, and all will be fine. Just don’t eat quite as much ice cream, or kulfi, as we do!
Stay hungry and fit, and check our YouTube page for a long and unedited review of these same products! Also, check out HERITAGE KULFI‘s official website for more information!
I will eat the coconut ice cream